• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.279-285
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• 1995

To characterize non-adrenergic non-cholinergic(NANC) nerve mediated contractile responses in circular smooth muscle of bovine reticular groove, we investigated NANC relaxation and contraction induced by electric field stimulation to enteric nerves. In the presence of atropine($1{\mu}M$) and guanethidine($50{\mu}M$), electric field stimulation at frequency of 1 to 16Hz(square pulses, 0.5ms duration, 70V) evoked clear-cut relaxations through stimulations. Transient 'rebound contraction' was occured when the stimulus was switched off. All of the responses (relaxation and rebound contraction) were dose-dependently blocked by Nw-nitro-$_{\small{L}}$-arginine methyl ester(L-NAME), an inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis, and methylene blue, and inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase. Tetraethyl ammonium(TEA), a potassium channel blocker, did not block the NANC relaxations.

• Korea-Australia Rheology Journal
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.59-69
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• 2009

The prediction of pressure drop for a droplet flow in a confined micro channel is presented using FE-FTM (Finite Element - Front Tracking Method). A single droplet is passing through 5:1:5 contraction - straight narrow channel - expansion flow domain. The pressure drop is investigated especially when the droplet flows in the straight narrow channel. We explore the effects of droplet size, capillary number (Ca), viscosity ratio ($\chi$) between droplet and medium, and fluid elasticity represented by the Oldroyd-B constitutive model on the excess pressure drop (${\Delta}p^+$) against single phase flow. The tightly fitted droplets in the narrow channel are mainly considered in the range of $0.001{\leq}Ca{\leq}1$ and $0.01{\leq}{\chi}{\leq}100$. In Newtonian droplet/Newtonian medium, two characteristic features are observed. First, an approximate relation ${\Delta}p^+{\sim}{\chi}$ observed for ${\chi}{\geq}1$. The excess pressure drop necessary for droplet flow is roughly proportional to $\chi$. Second, ${\Delta}p^+$ seems inversely proportional to Ca, which is represented as ${\Delta}p^+{\sim}Ca^m$ with negative m irrespective of $\chi$. In addition, we observe that the film thickness (${\delta}_f$) between droplet interface and channel wall decreases with decreasing Ca, showing ${\delta}_f{\sim}Ca^n$ Can with positive n independent of $\chi$. Consequently, the excess pressure drop (${\Delta}p^+$) is strongly dependent on the film thickness (${\delta}_f$). The droplets larger than the channel width show enhancement of ${\Delta}p^+$, whereas the smaller droplets show no significant change in ${\Delta}p^+$. Also, the droplet deformation in the narrow channel is affected by the flow history of the contraction flow at the entrance region, but rather surprisingly ${\Delta}p^+$ is not affected by this flow history. Instead, ${\Delta}p^+$ is more dependent on ${\delta}_f$ irrespective of the droplet shape. As for the effect of fluid elasticity, an increase in ${\delta}_f$ induced by the normal stress difference in viscoelastic medium results in a drastic reduction of ${\Delta}p^+$.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.236-254
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• 1996

This study was carried out to investigate the tracheal muscle relaxation of water extracts of three kinds of Coptis rhizoma and also compare their effects with berberine and palmatine, which are the important alkaloid components of Coptis rhizoma, in isolated rat tracheal smooth muscle. As a result Coptis chinenis showed significant tracheal muscle relaxation on KCI-induced contraction and more markedly on carbachol-induced contraction in dose-dependent manner. Coptis japoinin exhibited also tracheal muscle relaxation on both contraction with slightly weaker activities than those of Coptis chinensts. The activities of the root hair of Coptis chinensis were the most weakest in three rhizomas. Berberine and palmatine had strong tracheal muscle relaxation, especially, on carbachol-induced contraction, however, their activities on KCI-induced contraction were weaker than that of Coptis chinenis. The inhibitory effects of three kinds of Coptis rhizoma on the contraction by KCI and carbachol were investigated to explain the process of their tracheal muscle relaxation. All rhizomas inhibited the contraction by both agents, among them, Coptis japonica showed the most significant effect, so indicating that the tracheal muscle relaxation of Coptis rhizoma may be concerned with the blocking of muscarine receptor and $Ca^{2+}$channel.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.687-694
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• 2017

Plumbagin, a hydroxy 1,4-naphthoquinone compound from plant metabolites, exhibits anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal activities via modulating various signaling molecules. However, its effects on vascular functions are rarely studied except in pulmonary and coronary arteries where NADPH oxidase (NOX) inhibition was suggested as a mechanism. Here we investigate the effects of plumbagin on the contractility of skeletal artery (deep femoral artery, DFA), mesenteric artery (MA) and renal artery (RA) in rats. Although plumbagin alone had no effect on the isometric tone of DFA, $1{\mu}M$ phenylephrine (PhE)-induced partial contraction was largely augmented by plumbagin (${\Delta}T_{Plum}$, 125% of 80 mM KCl-induced contraction at $1{\mu}M$). With relatively higher concentrations (>$5{\mu}M$), plumbagin induced a transient contraction followed by tonic relaxation of DFA. Similar biphasic augmentation of the PhE-induced contraction was observed in MA and RA. VAS2870 and GKT137831, specific NOX4 inhibitors, neither mimicked nor inhibited ${\Delta}T_{Plum}$ in DFA. Also, pretreatment with tiron or catalase did not affect ${\Delta}T_{Plum}$ of DFA. Under the inhibition of PhE-contraction with L-type $Ca^{2+}$ channel blocker (nifedipine, $1{\mu}M$), plumbagin still induced tonic contraction, suggesting $Ca^{2+}$-sensitization mechanism of smooth muscle. Although ${\Delta}T_{Plum}$ was consistently observed under pretreatment with Rho A-kinase inhibitor (Y27632, $1{\mu}M$), a PKC inhibitor (GF 109203X, $10{\mu}M$) largely suppressed ${\Delta}T_{Plum}$. Taken together, it is suggested that plumbagin facilitates the PKC activation in the presence of vasoactive agonists in skeletal arteries. The biphasic contractile effects on the systemic arteries should be considered in the pharmacological studies of plumbagin and 1,4-naphthoquinones.

• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers D
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• v.54 no.5
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• pp.338-347
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• 2005

A computer-based low back muscle evaluation system was designed to simultaneously acquire, process, display, quantify, and correlate electromyographic(EMG) activity with muscle force, and range of motion(ROM) in the lumbar muscle of human. This integrated multi-channel system was designed around notebook PC. Each channel consisted of a time and frequency domain block, and T-F(time-frequency) domain block. The captured data in each channel was used to display and Quantify : raw EMG, histogram, zero crossing, turn, RMS(root mean square), variance, mean, power spectrum, median frequency, mean frequency, wavelet transform, Wigner-Ville distribution, Choi-Williams distribution, and Cohen-Posch distribution. To evaluate the performance of the designed system, the static and dynamic contraction experiments from lumbar(waist) level of human were done. The experiment performed in five subjects, and various parameters were tested and compared. This system could equally well be modified to allow acquisition, processing, and analysis of EMG signals in other studies and applications.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea TC
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• v.49 no.7
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• pp.1-5
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• 2012

At the present time when the limits of the magnetic storage systems appear, the holographic data storage (HDS) devices with high data transfer rate and high recording density are emerging as attractive candidates for next-generation optical storage devices. In this paper, to effectively improve the detection performance that is degraded by the two-dimensional inter-symbol interference under the HDS channel environment and the pixel misalignment, an iterative two-dimensional equalization scheme is proposed based on the contraction mapping theorem. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme, for various holographic channel environments we measure the BER performance using computer simulation and compare the proposed one with the conventional threshold detection scheme, which verifies the superiority of the proposed scheme.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.503-508
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• 2014

Spontaneous myometrial contraction (SMC) in pregnant uterus is greatly related with gestational age and growing in frequency and amplitude toward the end of gestation to initiate labor. But, an accurate mechanism has not been elucidated. In human and rat uterus, all TRPCs except TRPC2 are expressed in pregnant myometrium and among them, TRPC4 are predominant throughout gestation, suggesting a possible role in regulation of SMC. Therefore, we investigated whether the TRP channel may be involved SMC evoked by mechanical stretch in pregnant myometrial strips of rat using isometric tension measurement and patch-clamp technique. In the present results, hypoosmotic cell swelling activated a potent outward rectifying current in G protein-dependent manner in rat pregnant myocyte. The current was significantly potentiated by $1{\mu}M$ lanthanides (a potent TRPC4/5 stimulator) and suppressed by $10{\mu}M$ 2-APB (TRPC4-7 inhibitor). In addition, in isometric tension experiment, SMC which was evoked by passive stretch was greatly potentiated by lanthanide ($1{\mu}M$) and suppressed by 2-APB ($10{\mu}M$), suggesting a possible involvement of TRPC4/5 channel in regulation of SMC in pregnant myometrium. These results provide a possible cellular mechanism for regulation of SMC during pregnancy and provide basic information for developing a new agent for treatment of premature labor.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.59-64
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• 2012

Hypoxic pulmonary vasoconstriction (HPV) is physiologically important response for preventing mismatching between ventilation and perfusion in lungs. The HPV of isolated pulmonary arteries (HPV-PA) usually require a partial pretone by thromboxane agonist (U46619). Because the HPV of ventilated/perfused lungs (HPV-lung) can be triggered without pretone conditioning, we suspected that a putative tissue factor might be responsible for the pretone of HPV. Here we investigated whether HPV can be also observed in precision-cut lung slices (PCLS) from rats. The HPV in PCLS also required partial contraction by U46619. In addition, $K^+$ channel blockers (4AP and TEA) required U46619-pretone to induce significant contraction of PA in PCLS. In contrast, the airways in PCLS showed reversible contraction in response to the $K^+$ channel blockers without pretone conditioning. Also, the airways showed no hypoxic constriction but a relaxation under the partial pretone by U46619. The airways in PCLS showed reliable, concentration-dependent contraction by metacholine ($EC_{50}$, ~210 nM). In summary, the HPV in PCLS is more similar to isolated PA than V/P lungs. The metacholineinduced constriction of bronchioles suggested that the PLCS might be also useful for studying airway physiology in situ.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.6
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• pp.405-413
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• 2011

This study was designed to elucidate high-$K^+$ induced response of circular and longitudinal smooth muscle from human gastric corpus using isometric contraction. Contraction from circular and longitudinal muscle stripes of gastric corpus greater curvature and lesser curvature were compared. Circular smooth muscle from corpus greater curvature showed high $K^+$ (50 mM)-induced tonic contraction. On the contrary, however, longitudinal smooth muscle strips showed high $K^+$ (50 mM)-induced sustained relaxation. To find out the reason for the discrepancy we tested several relaxation mechanisms. Protein kinase blockers like KT5720, PKA inhibitor, and KT5823, PKG inhibitor, did not affect high $K^+$-induced relaxation. $K^+$ channel blockers like tetraethylammonium (TEA), apamin (APA), glibenclamide (Glib) and barium ($Ba^{2+}$) also had no effect. However, N(G)-nitro-L-arginine (L-NNA) and 1H-(1,2,4) oxadiazolo (4,3-A) quinoxalin-1-one (ODQ), an inhibitor of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) and 4-AP (4-aminopyridine), voltage-dependent $K^+$ channel (KV) blocker, inhibited high $K^+$ -induced relaxation, hence reversing to tonic contraction. High $K^+$-induced relaxation was observed in gastric corpus of human stomach, but only in the longitudinal muscles from greater curvature not lesser curvature. L-NNA, ODQ and KV channel blocker sensitive high $K^+$-induced relaxation in longitudinal muscle of higher portion of corpus was also observed. These results suggest that longitudinal smooth muscle from greater curvature of gastric corpus produced high $K^+$-induced relaxation which was activated by NO/sGC pathway and by $K_V$ channel dependent mechanism.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.83-91
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• 1996

Activation of $K^+$ channels induces relaxation of smooth muscles by reducing electrical excitability and cytosolic free $Ca^{2+}$ level. ${\beta}$-adrenergic agonist isoproterenol is known to induce relaxation of the uterine smooth muscle by membrane hyperpolarization and $K^+$ efflux. Recently it is suggested that the activity of $Ca^{2+}$-activated $K^+$ channel was increased by isoproterenol in the uterine myocytes isolated from myometrium of the pregnant rat. However, the type of $K^+$ channel mediating the relaxant effect of isopreterenol in the tissue level has not yet studied. In this work, we investigated the type of $K^+$ channels involved in the isoproterenol-induced relaxation of uterine smooth muscle by measuring the integrated insometric tension of the estrogen-treated isolated nonpregnant rat uterus. Contraction of uterine tissue was induced by oxytocin (0.2nM, 2~3 contractions/min) or high KCl(20~80mM). The result are as follows : 1. Isoproterenol($10^{-10}{\sim}10^{-4}M$) inhibited oxytocin-induced contraction of isolated rat uterus($EC_{50}=1.17{\times}10^{-10}M$). 2. Isoproterenol($10^{-10}{\sim}10^{-4}M$) effectively inhibited uterine contraction induced by low KCl(20~40mM) but little those induced by high KCl(60~80mM). 3. Relaxant effect of isoproterenol($10^{-10}{\sim}10^{-4}M$) on 0.2nM oxytocin-induced contraction was effectively reduced by 4-aminopyridine(3, 10mM) but little by TEA(10~30mM), $Ba^{2+}$($1{\sim}30{\mu}M$) and glibenclamide($100{\mu}M$). Our data suggest that the relaxant effect of isoproterenol is mediated by the $K^+$ channel(s) which can be blocked by 4-aminopyridine.