• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
• /
• v.54 no.4
• /
• pp.265-271
• /
• 2021

Intertidal mud crab (Macrophthalmus japonicus) is an organism with a hard chitinous exoskeleton and has function for an osmotic control in response to the salinity gradient of seawater. Crustacean exoskeletons change in their natural state in response to environmental factors, such as changes in the pH and water temperature, and the presence of pollutant substances and pathogen infection. In this study, the ecotoxicological effects of irgarol exposure and heavy metal distribution were presented by analyzing the surface roughness of the crab exoskeleton. The exoskeleton surface roughness and variation reduced in M. japonicus exposed to irgarol. In addition, it was confirmed that the surface roughness and variation were changed in the field M. japonicus crab according to the distribution of toxic heavy metals(Cd, Pb, Hg) in marine sediments. This change in the surface roughness of the exoskeleton represents a new end-point of the biological response of the crab according to external environmental stressors. This suggests that it may affect the functional aspects of exoskeleton protection, support, and transport. This approach can be utilized as a useful method for monitoring the aquatic environment as an integrated technology of mechanical engineering and biology.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.20 no.7
• /
• pp.135-147
• /
• 2015

Remediation of metal(loid)s-contaminated sites is crucial to protect human and ecosystem. Solidification and stabilization of metal(loid)s by the binder amendment is one of the cost-effective technologies. In this study, metal (loid)s in various field-contaminated soils obtained from steel-making, metal refinery and mining tillage were immobilized by the application of single binders such as diammonium phosphate (DAP), lime, and ladle slag. The efficiency of solidification and stabilization was evaluated by Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) and the Standard, Measurements and Testing programme of European Union (SM&T) extraction processes. In terms of TCLP extraction, the binder was effective in order of lime > DAP > ladle slag. All binders were highly effective in the immobilization of Pb, Zn, Cu, Ni, and Cd. The increased immobilization efficiency is attributed to the increase in the Step III and IV fractions of the SM&T extraction. Lime and ladle slag were highly effective in the immobilization of the metal(loid)s, however, As release increased with DAP due to competition between the phosphate originated from DAP and arsenate. A further study is needed for the better immobilization of multi metal(loid)s using binary binders.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.117-128
• /
• 2002

Metal problems in herbal medicine are not regulate properly by law and public management around world country until this time. General people belief as safety about herbal since natural material. And almost all persons can also purchase by their-self and use by self-prescription in reality. As this result herbal medicines can always occur acute and chronic toxicity by not proper use problems, side-effect and overdose. Heavy metal toxic diseases in historical view point was big accidents that didnot forget including minamata and itai-itai in Japan. These accident's teach to us must not use toxic metal level and not include or at least Pb Hg As Cd in all kind material use and intake by people, especially herbal. Herbal contamination research is beginner state that had not many papers until nowadays. Even if this pan had some papers, it had negative result and bigger and larger than problems level because of one way research trend of not many sample case-report and screening test of dried herbal form in chiefly. Many persons have afraid and risk thinking about herbal, animal and minerals since these cause. Further research related this subject will be needed at fact of epidemiology including case-control and cohort study for more precision research affecting in short and long term intake of oriental medicines

• Herbal Formula Science
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.327-337
• /
• 2020

Objective : Citri Unshius Pericarpium is the dried peel of mature fruit of Citrus unshiu Markovich and has been used to treat indigestion, vomiting, and removal of phlegm. This study investigated the hepatoprotective and antioxidant effect of CEE (Ethanol extract of Citri Unshius Pericarpium) in cadmium (CdCl₂)-treated HepG2 cells. Methods : Component analysis of Citri Unshius Pericarpium was analyzed by UPLC with C₁₈ column. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. The enzyme activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reduced glutathione (GSH) were analyzed using commercially available kits. Results : Cadmium caused severe HepG2 cell death. Cadmium also increased ROS production, consistent with depletion of GSH and inhibition of the SOD enzyme. However, CEE treatment reduced cell death and relieved oxidative stress caused by cadmium toxicity. CEE lowered ROS levels and improved depletion of GSH levels. CEE also enhanced the enzymatic activity of SOD. In component analysis, hesperidin was the most abundant of the five marker compounds (Narigenin, Narigin, Narirutin, Hesperidin and Hesperidin), which assumes that hesperidin partially contributed to the antioxidant activity of CEE. Conclusion : These results suggested that CEE could be a potential substance to solve heavy metal-related health problems. In particular, inhibition of oxidative stress by CEE can be a way to treat liver damage caused by cadmium.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
• /
• v.32 no.9
• /
• pp.3327-3332
• /
• 2011

Antimicrobial peptides have recently gained the much attention because of their ability to make defense system from attacking bacterial infections. Drosocin has been considered as very attractive antibiotic agents because of low toxicity against human erythrocytes and active at the low concentration. We have studied the structureactivity relationship of a glycopeptide drosocin focused on the N-acetyl-D-galactoside at $Thr^{11}$ residue. Based on the radial diffusion assay, we found that the acetylation of carbohydrate moiety increased the antimicrobial activity and the $Pro^{10}$, present in the middle of drosocin plays an important role in the antimicrobial activity. Our results provide a good lead compound for further studies on the design of drosocin-based analogues targeting glyco linked Thr site.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
• /
• v.21 no.3
• /
• pp.6-13
• /
• 2016

The effect of blast oxygen furnace (BOF) slag used as filling materials on the soil environment was studied using column tests that simulated the flow of the BOF slag leachate through the soil layer. The Cu, Mn, Zn, Ni, and F contents of the leachate affected soil were similar to that of the controls (i.e., soils that were not affected by the leachate). The As, Cd, and Pb contents were lower in the leachate affected soils than the controls. The changes in these contaminants contents can be attributed to the interactions between anions such as alkalinity generating anions (e.g., CO₃²⁻, HCO₃⁻, OH⁻) or calcium ions with heavy metals or F, which consequently affected the fate of heavy metals and F in the leachate affected soils. The germination and growth of Spinapis alba in the soils affected by the leachate and the controls were also similar. However, the proportion of alkalophilic bacteria in the soils affected by the leachate significantly increased, and this can be explained by the increased soil pH due to the alkaline leachate. Overall, this study shows that the alkalinity of the BOF slag leachate, rather than the presence of heavy metals and F in the leachate, needs to be considered when the BOF slag is to be reused as structural filling materials.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
• /
• v.46 no.6
• /
• pp.583-586
• /
• 2009

The Tantalum nitride has attracted wide at attention as issues related to the toxicity of Cd-related materials. But in the titration process of Ta$Cl_5$ solution with $NH_4$OH, $NH_4$Cl, as a by product, was remained in the prepared Tantalum precursor. The tantalum precursor with $NH_4$Cl was nitrided by ammonolysis. The red color tone of $Ta_3N_5$ was reduced by the residual $NH_4$Cl reduce. Therefore, amorphous Tantalum precursor was prepared by filtering process with as hydrous ethanol to remove the $NH_4$Cl. In the case of using Tantalum precursor without $NH_4$Cl, we successfully synthesized the Tantalum nitride with good red color. The value of red color tone was improved from $a^*$=36.8 to $a^*$=53.0. The synthesized powder was characterized by XRD, SEM, the Nitrogen / Oxygen Determinator, TG-DTA, and the CIE $L^*a^*b^*$ colorimeter.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.291-296
• /
• 2002

Thanatin, a 21-residue peptide, is an inducible insect peptide with a broad range of activity against bacteria and fungi. It has a C-terminal disulfide loop, like the frog skin secretion antimicrobial peptides of the brevinin family. In this study, we tried to find the effect of a number of amino acids between the disulfide bond. Thanatin showed stronger antibacterial activity to Gram negative bacteria than other mutants, except Th1; whereas, the mutant peptides with deletion had higher activity to Gram positive bacteria than thanatin. An increase in the number of amino acid(s) using the alanine residue decreased the antibacterial activity in all of the bacteria. Th1 with deletion of threonine at position 15 ($Thr^{15}$) showed similar antibacterial activity against Gram-negative bacteria, but had higher activity against the Gram positive bacteria. In order to study the structure-function relationship, we measured liposome disruption by the peptides and CD spectra of the peptides. Th1 also showed the highest liposome leaking activity and α-helical propensity in the sodium dodecyl sulfate solution, compared with other peptides. Liposome disruption activity was closely correlated with the anti-Gram positive bacterial activity. All of the peptides showed no hemolytic activity. Th1 was considered to be useful as an antimicrobial peptide with broad spectrum without toxicity.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.7 no.6
• /
• pp.460-465
• /
• 2013

The hepatoprotective activity of Acanthopanax koreanum Nakai extract (AE) was investigated against D-Galactosamine/Lipopolysaccharide (D-GalN/LPS)-induced liver failure rats compared with that of acanthoic acid (AA) isolated from AE. Although D-GalN/LPS (250 mg/kg body weight/$10{\mu}g/kg$ body weight, i.p.) induced hepatic damage, pretreatments with AE (1 and 3% AE/g day) and AA (0.037% AA, equivalent to 3% AE/g day) alleviated the hepatic damage. This effect was the result of a significant decrease in the activity of alanine transaminase. Concomitantly, both the nitric oxide and IL-6 levels in the plasma were significantly decreased by high-dose AE (AE3) treatment compared to the GalN/LPS control (AE0). This response resulted from the regulation of pro-inflammatory signaling via a decrease in TLR4 and CD14 mRNA levels in the liver. While a high degree of necrosis and hemorrhage were observed in the AE0, pretreatment with AE3 and AA reduced the extent of hepatocyte degeneration, necrosis, hemorrhage and inflammatory cell infiltrates compared to the AE0. In conclusion, these results suggest that especially high-dose AE are capable of alleviating D-GalN/LPS-induced hepatic injury by decreasing hepatic toxicity, thereby mitigating the TLR 4-dependent cytokine release. The anti-inflammatory effect of AE could be contributing to that of AA and AE is better than AA.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• v.13 no.6
• /
• pp.693-699
• /
• 1998

The relationship between bioluminescence of immobilized Photobacterium phosphoreum and toxic substances was investigated to monitor toxic substances in aqueous solution. The sodium alginate was used as an immobilization matrix. A bioluminescence intensity was maximum when OD660 for cell concentration were between 1.0 and 1.2 and the biolumescence was stable at the pH range of between 6.0 and 8.0. The optimum concentration of alginate for immobilization was found to be 5.0%(w/v) in which dilution was carried out with 2.5%(w/v) NaCl solution that is an optimum environmental condition for the growth of P. phosphoreum. The bioluminescence intensity responded against the toxic substances was proportional to the concentration and a regression curve were established with linearity by using specific bioluminescence reduction rate and Gamma values. It was also found that the response was very rapid and sensitive. The response with such rapidity and sensitivity is a very important factor for the real time monitoring. The immobilized cells showed higher sensitive response to the toxic substances than free cells.