• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.336-341
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• 2004

Leptin, resisitn and PAI-1 (plasminogen activator inhibitor-1) are synthesized and secreted by rodent fat cells and recently postulated to be an important link to obesity. This study was conducted to characterize the hormonal regulation of leptin, resistin, and PAI-1 gene expression in the 3T3-L1 adipocytes. The cells were treated with 0.5 $\mu$M insulin, 1 $\mu$M dexamethasone (Dex), or 0.05 $\mu$M triiodothyronine (T3) for 72 hours. The mRNA levels of each peptide were measured by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. The mRNA level of the leptin-producing ob gene was significantly increased by insulin, Dex, and T3 by 3.2-, 3.1- and 2.7-fold, respectively, compared to the control (p < 0.05). The level of resistin mRNA was increased by insulin, Dex, and T3 by 2.7-, 2.5- and 2-fold, respectively, compared to the control (p < 0.05). Likewise, the level of PAI-1 mRNA was significantly increased by insulin, Dex, and T3 compared to the control (p < 0.05). Taken together, our results suggest that insulin, Dex, and T3 may regulate the gene expression of leptin, resistin, and PAI-1 in 3T3-L1 adipocytes.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제43권4호
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• pp.168-176
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• 2013

Purpose: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of dexamethasone (Dex) at various concentrations on the apoptosis and mineralization of human periodontal ligament (hPDL) cells. Methods: hPDL cells were obtained from the mid-third of premolars extracted for orthodontic reasons, and a primary culture of hPDL cells was prepared using an explant technique. Groups of cells were divided according to the concentration of Dex (0, 1, 10, 100, and 1,000 nM). A 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay was performed for evaluation of cellular viability, and alkaline phosphatase activity was examined for osteogenic differentiation of hPDL cells. Alizarin Red S staining was performed for observation of mineralization, and real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed for the evaluation of related genes. Results: Increasing the Dex concentration was found to reduce cellular viability, with an increase in alkaline phosphatase activity and mineralization. Within the range of Dex concentrations tested in this study, 100 nM of Dex was found to promote the most vigorous differentiation and mineralization of hPDL cells. Dex-induced osteogenic differentiation and mineralization was accompanied by an increase in the level of osteogenic and apoptosis-related genes and a reduction in the level of antiapoptotic genes. The decrease in hPDL cellular viability by glucocorticoid may be explained in part by the increased prevalence of cell apoptosis, as demonstrated by BAX expression and decreased expression of the antiapoptotic gene, Bcl-2. Conclusions: An increase in hPDL cell differentiation rather than cellular viability at an early stage is likely to be a key factor in glucocorticoid induced mineralization. In addition, apoptosis might play an important role in Dex-induced tissue regeneration; however, further study is needed for investigation of the precise mechanism.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제32권3호
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• pp.445-456
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• 2002

치주조직 재생을 위해서는 새로운 백악질과 치조골 그리고, 치주인대의 재생이 필요하며, 이러한 재생을 담당할 세포의 분화가 필수적이다. 이러한 분화를 담당하는 것은 치주인대세포이며, 이 중 골아세포의 분화가 중요하다. 본 실험의 목적은 치주조직 재생에 있어서 중요한 요소인 치주인대세포의 골아세포성 세포로의 분화를 관찰하며, Dex가 광물화에 미치는 영향과 농도에 따른 차이를 알아보고자 시행하였다. 또한, 광물화시 발현되는 여러 골기질 단백질 중 Matrix GlaProtein의 발현양상도 관찰하였다. 교정치료를 목적으로 내원한 환자의 제1소구치 부위의 정상치은을 절제하고, 건강한 제1소구치를 발거하여 치은섬유아세포와 치주인대세포를 분리, 배양하여, ascorbic acid와 ${\beta}$-glycerophosphate 투여군을 실험1군, ascorbic acid, ${\beta}$-glycerophosphate, Dex 100nM 투여군을 실험 2군, ascorbic acid, ${\beta}$-glycerophosphate, Dex $5{\mu}M$ 투여군을 실험3군, 그리고, 단순 배양만 시킨군을 대조군으로 하여 비교하였다. 시간경과에 따른 치주인대세포 형태의 변화 양상은 초기에 방추형 혹은 다각형의 단일층 형태에서 7일경에는 세포 크기와 수가 증가하여 복합층 형태로 변화했으며, 배양 14일 이후에는 세포들의 방향성이 없어지고, 더욱 치밀해 졌다. 골 결절형성은 치주인 대세포의 Dex 투여군에서만 21일째에 나타났으며, $5{\mu}M$ 투여군에서 100nM 투여군보다 더 많이 나타났다. ALP 활성도를 비교해보면 치주인대세포에서 0, 7일 경에는 활성도를 보이지 않았으며, 14일경에 높은 활성도롤 나타냈으며, 21일에도 비슷한 활성도를 유지하였다. MGP 유전자 발현 양상은 대조군과 실험군 모두에서 Matrix Gla Protein에 대한 유전자의 발현이 나타났으며，그 발현양상은 모든 시기에서 일정하였다. 이상의 결과로 보아 치주인대세포는 골아세포로의 분화가 가능하며, Dex는 농도의존적으로 광물화에 영향을 미치는 것으로 사료된다. 그리고, MGP는 치주인대세포에서 발현이 감지되었으며, 광물화에는 영향을 미치지 않는 것으로 사료된다.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• 제39권1호
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• pp.46-53
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• 2015

Background: Glucocorticoids (GCs) are commonly used in many chemotherapeutic protocols and play an important role in the normal regulation of bone remodeling. However, the prolonged use of GCs results in osteoporosis, which is partially due to apoptosis of osteoblasts and osteocytes. In this study, effects of Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) on GC-treated murine osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells and a GC-induced osteoporosis mouse model were investigated. Methods: MC3T3-E1 cells were exposed to dexamethasone (Dex) with or without KRG and cell viability was measured by the 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Realtime polymerase chain reaction was performed to evaluate the apoptotic gene expression; osteogenic gene expression and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity were also measured. Western blotting was performed to evaluate the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) proteins. A GC-induced osteoporosis animal model was used for in vivo study. Results and conclusion: The MTT assay revealed that Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) prevents loss of cell viability caused by Dex-induced apoptosis in MC3T3E1 cells. Real-time polymerase chain reaction data showed that groups treated with both Dex and KRG exhibited lower mRNA levels of caspase-3 and -9, whereas the mRNA levels of Bcl2, IAPs, and XIAP increased. Moreover, groups treated with both Dex and KRG demonstrated increased mRNA levels of ALP, RUNX2, and bone morphogenic proteins as well as increased ALP activity in MC3T3-E1 cells, compared to cells treated with Dex only. In addition, KRG increased protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation and decreased c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) phosphorylation. Moreover, microcomputed tomography analysis of the femurs showed that GC implantation caused trabecular bone loss. However, a significant reduction of bone loss was observed in the KRG-treated group. These results suggest that the molecular mechanism of KRG in the GC-induced apoptosis may lead to the development of therapeutic strategies to prevent and/or delay osteoporosis.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• 제34권2호
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• pp.333-344
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• 2004

The enamel matrix derivative (EMD) has been recently used in the periodontal regenerative techniques. The present study was established to investigate the influence of EMD on human periodontal ligament cells using expression of mRNA of periodontal ligament specific gene (PDLs)17, PDLs22, type I collagen when EMD applied to periodontal ligament cells. Periodontal ligament cells were obtained from a healthy periodontium and cultured in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) plus 10% fetal bovine serum and ${\beta}-glycerophosphate$ with ascorbic acid. Test groups were two; One adds EMD in culture media and another added EMD and Dexamethasone (DEX) in culture media. Positive control group added DEX in culture media, and negative control group adds niether of EMD nor DEX. $Emdogain^{(R)}$ (Biora, Sweden, 30 mg/ml) was diluted by 75 ${\mu}g/ml$ concentration to culture media. For reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), total RNA isolated on days 0, 7, 14 and 21. mRNA of PDLs17 was expressed on days 14 and 21 in EMD or DEX group, and expressed on days 7, 14 and 21 in EMD plus DEX group, the other side, expressed on days 21 in negative control group. mRNA of PDLs22 expressed on days 7, 14 and 21 in EMD group, and expressed on days 14 and 21 in DEX group, and expressed on days 7, 14 and 21 in EMD plus DEX group. Negative control group expressed on days 14 and 21. Type I collagen was expressed on all days and all groups. These results indicate that EMD promotes differentiation of periodontal ligament cells, and this is considered to offer basis that can apply EMD to periodontal tissue regeneration technique.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• 제46권8호
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• pp.795-802
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• 2003

목 적 : 지방조직에 존재하는 OB 유전자에서 전사된 호르몬인 leptin은 여러 가지 생리적 요인이나, 호르몬에 의해서 영향을 받는다. Leptin의 발현에 대한 호르몬에 대한 연구가 많은 동물 실험들을 상대로 시도되고 있으나 사람에서 OB 유전자와 leptin 분비를 조절하는 호르몬의 영향 및 상호작용에 대해서는 아직 명확히 밝혀져 있지 않다. 본 연구는 사람의 복강에서 추출한 조직배양에서 OB 유전자와 leptin 분비를 조절하는 호르몬의 영향 및 상호작용에 대해서 알아보고자 하였다. 방 법 : 복부수술을 위하여 입원한 환자 7명을 대상으로 복강 내 지방조직을 절제하여 배양액에 호르몬을 첨가하지 않은 상태와 배양액에 인슐린, dexamethasone 및, 성장호르몬을 단독으로 첨가하거나, 인슐린과 dexamethasone을 동시에 첨가하거나, 인슐린과 dexamethasone과 성장호르몬을 같이 첨가한 상태에서 48시간 배양한 후 RNA를 추출하여 경쟁적 역전사 중합반응(competitive RT-PCR)을 시행하여 OB 유전자의 발현을 측정하고, human leptin IRMA Kit를 사용하여 지방조직에서 분비되는 배양액 내 leptin 양을 측정하였다. 결 과 : 인슐린은 단독으로는 OB 유전자 발현과 leptin 분비에는 영향을 미치지 못하였다. Dexamethasone은 OB 유전자의 발현과 leptin 분비를 증가시켰는데, 48시간 배양 후에 대조군에 비해 의미있게 증가하였다. 인슐린과 dexamethasone을 같이 배양시에는 OB 유전자 발현에 있어서는 의미있는 차이는 없었으나, leptin 분비는 48시간 배양 후 대조군에 비해 의미있게 증가하였다. 또한 성장호르몬 단독으로는 OB 유전자의 발현에 영향을 미치지는 못하나, 인슐린, dexamethasone, 성장호르몬을 같이 배양시에 인슐린과 dexamethasone의 OB 유전자 발현과 leptin 분비증가 능력을 억제시켰다. 결 론 : 인슐린 단독으로는 leptin 분비를 증가시키지 못하나, dexamethasone에 의해 상승작용이 나타나고, 이는 dexamethasone이 OB 유전자 발현을 증가시킨 후에 인슐린이 세포질내에서의 leptin 분비를 증가시킨다고 추정할 수 있다. 성장호르몬의 억제효과는 성장호르몬이 인슐린이나 dexamethasone에 대한 지방조직의 반응성을 변화시킴으로써 간접적으로 leptin의 발현을 조절할 것으로 추정되며, dexamethasone이 OB 유전자 발현을 증가시킨 후에 인슐린이 세포질 내에서의 leptin 분비를 증가시킨다는 것에 대한 연구가 더 필요하리라 사료된다.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제39권8호
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• pp.631-638
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• 2016

Glutathione peroxidase 3 (GPx3), an antioxidant enzyme, acts as a modulator of redox signaling, has immunomodulatory function, and catalyzes the detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS). GPx3 has been identified as a tumor suppressor in many cancers. Although hyper-methylation of the GPx3 promoter has been shown to down-regulate its expression, other mechanisms by which GPx3 expression is regulated have not been reported. The aim of this study was to further elucidate the mechanisms of GPx3 regulation. GPx3 gene analysis predicted the presence of ten glucocorticoid response elements (GREs) on the GPx3 gene. This result prompted us to investigate whether GPx3 expression is regulated by the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), which is implicated in tumor response to chemotherapy. The corticosteroid dexamethasone (Dex) was used to examine the possible relationship between GR and GPx3 expression. Dex significantly induced GPx3 expression in H1299, H1650, and H1975 cell lines, which exhibit low levels of GPx3 expression under normal conditions. The results of EMSA and ChIP-PCR suggest that GR binds directly to GRE 6 and 7, both of which are located near the GPx3 promoter. Assessment of GPx3 transcription efficiency using a luciferase reporter system showed that blocking formation of the GR-GRE complexes reduced luciferase activity by 7-8-fold. Suppression of GR expression by siRNA transfection also induced down-regulation of GPx3. These data indicate that GPx3 expression can be regulated independently via epigenetic or GR-mediated mechanisms in lung cancer cells, and suggest that GPx3 could potentiate glucocorticoid (GC)-mediated anti-infla-mmatory signaling in lung cancer cells.

• Molecules and Cells
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• 제38권10호
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• pp.866-875
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• 2015

COPI vesicles are essential to the retrograde transport of proteins in the early secretory pathway. The COPI coatomer complex consists of seven subunits, termed ${\alpha}-$, ${\beta}-$, ${\beta}^{\prime}-$, ${\gamma}-$, ${\delta}-$, ${\varepsilon}-$, and ${\zeta}$-COP, in yeast and mammals. Plant genomes have homologs of these subunits, but the essentiality of their cellular functions has hampered the functional characterization of the subunit genes in plants. Here we have employed virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) and dexamethasone (DEX)-inducible RNAi of the COPI subunit genes to study the in vivo functions of the COPI coatomer complex in plants. The ${\beta}^{\prime}-$, ${\gamma}-$, and ${\delta}$-COP subunits localized to the Golgi as GFP-fusion proteins and interacted with each other in the Golgi. Silencing of ${\beta}^{\prime}-$, ${\gamma}-$, and ${\delta}$-COP by VIGS resulted in growth arrest and acute plant death in Nicotiana benthamiana, with the affected leaf cells exhibiting morphological markers of programmed cell death. Depletion of the COPI subunits resulted in disruption of the Golgi structure and accumulation of autolysosome-like structures in earlier stages of gene silencing. In tobacco BY-2 cells, DEX-inducible RNAi of ${\beta}^{\prime}$-COP caused aberrant cell plate formation during cytokinesis. Collectively, these results suggest that COPI vesicles are essential to plant growth and survival by maintaining the Golgi apparatus and modulating cell plate formation.

• 대한소아치과학회지
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• 제32권2호
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• pp.207-216
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• 2005

Mutans streptococci는 치아우식증과 관련이 있다고 보고되고 있으며, 이 streptococci 종 중에서 S. mutans나 S. sobrinus가 인간의 치아우식증에서 가장 일반적으로 나타난다. 치아우식증에서 이 세균종의 분포는 인종과 지역에 따라 다양하다. 본 연구에서는 2-6세인 52명의 치아우식증 환자에서 비우식부위와 우식부위로부터 치태를 채취하여 DNA를 추출한 후 dex와 gtf 유전자에 기초한 S. mutans와 S. sobrinus에 특이한 primer를 제작한 후 PCR을 시행하여 S. mutans와 S. sobrinus의 분포도를 조사하여 다음과 같은 결과를 얻었다. 1. 어린이 치아우식증 환자에서 S. mutans나 S. sobrinus가 발견된 어린이는 37명(71.2%)이었다. 2. 이들 어린이 중에서, S. mutans 또는 S. sobrinus가 비우식부위에서만 발견된 어린이는 3명(5.8%), 우식부위에서만 발견된 어린이는 22명(42.3%), 두 부위 모두에서 발견된 어린이는 12명(23.1%)이었다. 3. S. mutans나 S. sobrinus가 나타난 비우식부위 치태는 15개(28.8%), 우식부위치태는 34개(65.4%)였다. 4. 비우식부위의 경우 S. mutans만 출현한 어린이는 52명 중 8명(15.4%), S. sobrinus만 출현한 어린이는 6명(11.5%), 두 세균종이 같이 출현한 어린이는 1명(1.9%)이었다. 5. 우식부위에서 S. mutans만 출현한 어린이는 52명 중 24명(46.2%), S. sobrinus만 출현한 어린이는 2명(3.8%), 두 세균종이 같이 출현한 어린이는 8명(15.4%)이었다. 6. S. mutans는 gtf에 기초한 primer, S. sobrinus는 dex에 기초한 primer가 PCR에서 효과적으로 각각의 세균을 검출하였다. 이상의 결과로 미루어 우리나라 어린이의 경우 치아우식증은 MS와 밀접한 연관성이 있으며, MS중에서도 S. mutans가 중요하다고 판단된다. 한편 S. mutans와 S. sobrinus의 동반출현은 치아우식증과 더욱 밀접한 관련이 있는 것으로 보인다.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• 제45권3호
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• pp.246-255
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• 2007

Mutans streptococci have been implicated as cariogenic bacteria in dental caries because they can produce high levels of dental caries-causing lactic acid and extracellular polysaccharide. The aim of this study was to isolate and characterize the mutans streptococci from the dental plaque obtained from Koreans. The dental plaque samples were collected from the anterior and molar teeth of both jaws in 155 subjects (aged 2 to 33.2 years, average age $13.7{\pm}4.7\;years$). The samples were diluted by 100-fold in $1{\times}\;PBS$ and plated on mitis-salivarius bacitracin (MSB) agar plates. The mutans streptococci grown on MSB plates were screened by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) targeting dextranase gene (dex). The mutans streptococci were identified at the species level using a 16S rDNA sequencing comparison method. The biochemical tests were carried out to biotype the mutans streptococci. Ninety-five strains of the mutans streptococci out of 358 colonies, which were derived from 141 subjects, were isolated. Of them, 77 strains and 18 strains were Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus, respectively. The biotyping data showed that 62, 1, 20, 10, and 2 strains were biotypes I, II, IV, V and variant, respectively. Of the two strains of variant biotype, one strains was similar to biotype IV except that it was positive to the arginine hydrolysis test. We considered this one strain a new biotype, and classified it as biotype VII. In conclusion, S. mutans and its biotype I was most frequently isolated in Korean dental plaque. The mutans streptococci strains isolated in this study might be useful for the study of the pathogenesis and the prevention of dental caries.