• Toxicological Research
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• v.17
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• pp.251-256
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• 2001

The expression of phase II detoxifying enzymes is affected by a variety of compounds and the induction of the enzymes plays an essential role in chemoprevention. A variety of phytochemicals such as sulfur-containing chemoprotective agents (SCC) may trigger cellular signals and activate phase II gene expression through ARE activation. see induces glutathione S-transferases. Studies were conducted to investigate the role of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) in the induction of GST (e.g. rGSTA2) by sec. We also studied the MAP kinase pathway responsible for the GST expression by see and compared that with the pathway activated by oxidative stress as a result of sulfur amino acids deprivation (SAAD). see inhibited phosphorylation of ERK1/2 although the effect of see on JNK and p38 MAP kinase was minimal. Wortmannin and LY294002. PI3-kinase inhibitors. abolished the increases in rGSTA2 mRNA and protein levels by SCC. Deprivation of cystine and methionine caused oxidative stress in H4IIE cells. as evidenced by a decrease in the reduced glutathione and an increase in prooxidant production. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay revealed that the ARE complex consisting of Nrf-1/2 and Maf proteins was activated 12~48 h. The rGSTA2 mRNA and protein levels were increased by SAAD. Activation of ARE and induction of rGSTA2 were both completely inhibited by PI3-kinase inhibitors. Inhibition of p38 MAP kinase by SB203580 prevented the ARE-mediated rGSTA2 induction. The results of this study showed that PI3-kinase might play an essential role in the ARE-mediated rGSTA2 induction by see or SAAD and that the dual MAP kinase pathways were responsible for the enzyme induction.

• Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.19-26
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• 2007

Glutathione S-transferases(GSTs, EC 2.5.1.18), glyoxalase-I(EC 4.4.1.5) and alliin lyase(alliinase, EC 4.4.1.4) are important enzyme systems in plant bodies. The first two are mainly detoxifying enzymes that utilize glutathione(GSH) in the defense mechanism, and the last one is mainly involved in secondary metabolism and relevant to sulfur compounds derived from GSH. The activities of the three enzymes have been investigated in soluble extracts of vegetable crops, including pumpkin, cabbage, broccoli, radish, carrot, potato, sweet potato, mungbean, and onion. GST activities were detected in all of the vegetables, and the extract of onion bulb exhibited the highest specific activity(648 nmol/min/mgP). The putative GSTs of most of the vegetables were found to be induced by ethanol. The activities of GSTs in onion bulb were found to be markedly inhibited by S-hexyl glutathione and were also inhibited by S-butyl glutathione and S-propyl glutathione. The anti-CmGSTF1 antiserum recognized a thick band for putative onion GST. The estimated glyoxalase-I activity level was also high in onion bulb(4540 nmol/min/mgP), indicating that the thick band detected by Western blot analysis might result from partial recognition of glyoxalase-I by the antiserum. The specific activities for glyoxalase-I were moderate in radish and carrot, and the extracts of other vegetables had rather low levels of activities. The extract of onion also showed the highest specific activity level for alliinase(2069nmol pyruvate/mgP). The extracts of other vegetables also had alliinase activities, although the estimated values were much lower than that of onion.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.21-25
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• 2007

The root of Rosa rugosa has been used in folkloric medicine as a treatment agent for diabetes. In the present study, we investigated whether (+)-catechin isolated from this plant can change the activities of hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes in rats treated with bromobenzene. Pretreatment with (+)-catechin gave no effects on the activities of aminopyrine N-demethylase and aniline hydroxylase, enzymes forming toxic bromobenzene epoxide intermediates and glutathione Stransferase, an enzyme removing toxic epoxides. However, the activity of epoxide hydrolase, an enzyme detoxifying the bromobenzene toxic intermediates was mildly recovered by (+)-catechin treatment.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.190-193
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• 2008

Bovine hepatic extract is recognized as possessing detoxifying activity against various liver diseases. In orderto develop a process for its mass production, various enzymatic hydrolysis conditions were tested, and bovine hepatic extracts were prepared. These extracts were then examined for composition, microorganism levels, and vitamin $B_{12}$ content. Among the enzymes tested, papain was selected based on yields for dry residue and amino nitrogen. The other enzymes tested included bromelain, ficin, pancreatin, and protease NP. The optimal hydrolysis conditions were established at 65$^{\circ}C$ for 24 hr, with an addition of 1%(w/w) papain to the beef liver. The prepared spray-dried bovine hepatic extract showed an 11% recovery yield on a raw beef liver basis, with 95% dry residue and 11.8% total nitrogen content. Microorganisms were not detected in the dried extract, and its vitamin $B_{12}$ content was 4.1 ${\mu}$g/g. In summary, the conditions established in this study could be applied for the high yield mass production of bovine hepatic extract.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.159-162
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• 2001

Plant stress incurred by flooding was studied in terms of oxidative stress, using greened rice seedlings subjected to a complete submergence followed by re-exposure to air under illumination ($30W/m^2$). It appeared that shoot tissues of the seedlings suffered oxygen deficiency during the flooding treatment, pertinent to the general concept. Interestingly enough, however, membrane peroxidation in shoots was enhanced by the submergence, as assessed by the content of 2-thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS), and the re-aeration resulted in a rapid reduction of TBARS content. Such pattern of response was also seen in the change in the steady state level of $H_2O_2$. In contrast, superoxide dismutase and glutathione reductase that are involved in the detoxifying processes of superoxide in plant cells were significantly activated only during the re-aeration. These results allowed us to suggest the followings as a working hypothesis. Photorespiration-linked production of $H_2O_2$ may largely contribute to the increase in $H_2O_2$ level as well as TBARS production in shoots during the submergence. An abrupt re-supply of $CO_2$ by the re-aeration brings the photosynthetic apparatus back to full operation, suppressing photorespiration and probably causing a momentary, excess formation of superoxide and its dismutation product through side reaction, which gives rise to activating substrate-inducible antioxidative enzymes.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.127-133
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• 2007

Metformin is a drug used to lower blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes via activation of adenosine monophosphate (AMP)-activated protein kinase (AMPK). The primary objective of this study was to investigate whether metformin at the pharmacologically effective concentrations affects the expressions of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase and phase II antioxidant genes in the H4IIE cell. Treatment of the cells with either metformin or 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide riboside (AICAR) abrogated tert-butylhydroxyquinone (t-BHQ) induction of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase, a rate limiting enzyme of GSH synthesis. The ability of t-BHQ to induce glutathione S-transferases (GSTs), a major class of phase II detoxifying enzymes that playa critical role in protecting cells from oxidative stress or electrophiles, was also inhibited by the agents. Transcriptional gene repression by metformin was verified by the GSTA2 promoter luciferase assay. Moreover, either metformin or AICAR treatment significantly decreased t-BHQ-dependent induction of other GSTs (i.e., $GST{\mu}$ and $GST{\pi}$ forms). Taken together, our data indicate that metformin treatment may result in the repression of ${\gamma}$-glutamylcysteine synthetase and glutathione S-transferase genes possibly via AMPK activation.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.67-72
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• 2008

The use of doxorubicin, which is one of the most effective anticancer agents, is often limited by occurrence of acquired resistance in tumor cells. GSH has been shown to be involved in the development of this drug resistance. Transcription factor Nrf2 governs the expression of GSH synthesizing glutamylcysteine ligase (GCL), as well as multiple phase 2 detoxifying enzymes. Here we show that Nrf2 is one of factors determining doxorubicin sensitivity. Nrf2-deficient fibroblasts (murine embryonic fibroblasts, MEF) were more susceptible to doxorubicin mediated cell death than wild-type cells. Doxorubicin treatment elevated levels of Nrf2-regulated genes including NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase (Nqo1) and GCL in wild-type fibroblasts, while no induction was observed in Nrf2-deficient cells. Doxorubicin resistance in human ovarian SK-OV cells was reversed by treatment with L-buthionine-sulfoxamine (BSO), which is depleting intracellular GSH. Finally, transfection of SK-OV cells with Nrf2 siRNA resulted in exacerbated cytotoxicity following doxorubicin treatment compared to scrambled RNA control. These results indicate that the Nrf2 pathway, which plays a protective role in normal cells, can be a potential target to control cancer cell resistance to anticancer agents.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.641-645
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• 2007

Delphinidin, an aglycone form of anthocyanins, was demonstrated to have anti-carcinogenic potential. The compound at $50\;{\mu}g/mL$ caused a significant increase of quinone reductase activity, an anti-carcinogenic marker enzyme, in mouse hepatoma cell lines (Hepa1c1c7 and BPRc1). Delphinidin enhanced the expression of other detoxifying or antioxidant enzymes including glutathione s-transferase, gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, heme oxygenase 1, and glutathione reductase. It suppressed the proliferation of murine hepatoma cells in a dose-dependent manner, with approximately $IC_{50}$ of $70\;{\mu}g/mL$. These results suggest that delphinidin might be useful for cancer prevention.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.91-99
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• 2019

Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascades in fungi are ubiquitously conserved signaling pathways that regulate stress responses, vegetative growth, pathogenicity, and many other developmental processes. Previously, we reported that the AbSte7 gene, which encodes a mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK) in Alternaria brassicicola, plays a central role in pathogenicity against host cabbage plants. In this research, we further characterized the role of AbSte7 in the pathogenicity of this fungus using ${\Delta}AbSte7$ mutants. Disruption of the AbSte7 gene of A. brassicicola reduced accumulation of metabolites toxic to the host plant in liquid culture media. The ${\Delta}AbSte7$ mutants could not efficiently detoxify cruciferous phytoalexin brassinin, possibly due to reduced expression of the brassinin hydrolase gene involved in detoxifying brassinin. Disruption of the AbSte7 gene also severely impaired fungal detoxification of reactive oxygen species. AbSte7 gene disruption reduced the enzymatic activity of cell walldegrading enzymes, including cellulase, ${\beta}$-glucosidase, pectin methylesterase, polymethyl-galacturonase, and polygalacturonic acid transeliminase, during host plant infection. Altogether, the data strongly suggest the MAPKK gene AbSte7 plays a pivotal role in A. brassicicola during host infection by regulating multiple steps, and thus increasing pathogenicity and inhibiting host defenses.

• BMB Reports
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• v.56 no.11
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• pp.575-583
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• 2023

Mitochondria, fundamental cellular organelles that govern energy metabolism, hold a pivotal role in cellular vitality. While consuming dioxygen to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the electron transfer process within mitochondria can engender the formation of reactive oxygen species that exert dual roles in endothelial homeostatic signaling and oxidative stress. In the context of the intricate electron transfer process, several metal ions that include copper, iron, zinc, and manganese serve as crucial cofactors in mitochondrial metalloenzymes to mediate the synthesis of ATP and antioxidant defense. In this mini review, we provide a comprehensive understanding of the coordination chemistry of mitochondrial cuproenzymes. In detail, cytochrome c oxidase (CcO) reduces dioxygen to water coupled with proton pumping to generate an electrochemical gradient, while superoxide dismutase 1 (SOD1) functions in detoxifying superoxide into hydrogen peroxide. With an emphasis on the catalytic reactions of the copper metalloenzymes and insights into their ligand environment, we also outline the metalation process of these enzymes throughout the copper trafficking system. The impairment of copper homeostasis can trigger mitochondrial dysfunction, and potentially lead to the development of copper-related disorders. We describe the current knowledge regarding copper-mediated toxicity mechanisms, thereby shedding light on prospective therapeutic strategies for pathologies intertwined with copper dyshomeostasis.