• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.93-100
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• 2008

Targeting protein kinases has been active area in drug discovery. The c-Jun N-terminal kinases(JNKs) have also been target for development of novel therapy in various diseases, since the roles of JNK signaling in pathological conditions were revealed in studies using jnk-deficient mice. Small molecule inhibitors and peptide inhibitors are identified for therapeutic intervention of JNK signaling pathway. SP-600125, an anthrapyrazole small molecule inhibitor for JNK with high potency and selectivity has been widely used for dissecting JNK signaling pathway. CC-401 is the first JNK inhibitor that went into clinical trial for inflammation and leukemia. Inhibitor for mixed lineage kinase (MLK), CEP-1347 also negatively regulates JNK signaling, and tried for potential use in Parkinson's disease. Cell-permeable peptide inhibitor D-JNKI-1 is being developed for the treatment of hearing loss. The current status of these JNK inhibitors and safety issue is discussed in the minireview.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.533-541
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• 1999

Many conventional anticancer drugs display relatively poor selectivity for neoplastic cells, in particular for solid tumors. Furthermore, expression or development of drug resistance, increased glutathione transferases as well as enhanced DNA repair decrease the efficacy of these drugs. Research efforts continue to overcome these problems by understanding these mechanisms and by developing more effective anticancer drugs. Cyclophosphamide is one of the most widely used alkylating anticancer agents. Because of its unique activation mechanism, numerous bioreversible prodrugs of phosphramide mustard, the active species of cyclophosphamide, have been investigated in an attempt to improve the therapeutic index. Solid tumors are particularly resistant to radiation and chemotherapy. There has been considerable interest in designing drugs selective for hypoxic environments prevalent in solid tumors. Much of the work had been centered on nitroheterocyclics that utilize nitroreductase enzyme systems for their activation. In this article, recent developments of anticancer prodrug design are described with a particular emphasis on exploitation of selective metabolic processes for their activation.

• Journal of Radiopharmaceuticals and Molecular Probes
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.17-23
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• 2022

Boron neutron capture therapy is a precision treatment technology that selectively destroys only tumor cells by irradiating thermal neutrons after accumulating boron drugs in tumor cells. Brain tumor is difficult to diagnose and treat due to the low permeability and targeting of drugs caused by the blood-brain-barrier. Crossing the BBB is essential for drug delivery to the brain. In this study, we designed and synthesized a novel compound incorporating benzothiazole to develop a boron drug with high BBB permeability and selectivity for brain tumor cells. In addition, their potential as a BNCT drugs was evaluated.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.139-151
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• 2023

Sulfonylurea herbicides are widely used in agriculture because they have a long residual period and high selectivity. An analytical method was developed using QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe) technique for simultaneous determination of sulfonylurea herbicide residues in agricultural products by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry and for establishment MRL (Maximum Residue Limit) of those herbicides in Korea. Extraction was performed using acetonitrile containing 0.1% formic acid with MgSO₄ (anhydrous magnesium sulfate) and NaCl (sodium chloride) and the extract was cleaned up using MgSO₄ and C₁₈ (octadecyl). The matrix-matched calibration curves were composed of 7 concentration levels from 0.001 to 0.25 mg/kg and their coefficients of determination (R²) exceeded 0.99. The recoveries of three spiking levels (LOQ, 10LOQ, 50LOQ, n=5) were in the range of 71.7-114.9% with relative standard deviations of less than 20.0% for all the five agriculture products. All validation values met criteria of the European Union SANTE/11312/2021 guidelines and Food and Drug Safety Evaluation guidelines. Therefore, the proposed analytical method was accurate, effective, and sensitive for sulfonylurea herbicide residues determination in agricultural commodities.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.117-127
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• 2004

The heterodimeric amino acid transporter family is a subfamily of SLC7 solute transporter family which includes 14-transmembrane cationic amino acid transporters and 12-transmembrane heterodimeric amino acid transporters. The members of heterodimeric amino acid transporter family are linked via a disulfide bond to single membrane spanning glycoproteins such as 4F2hc (4F2 heavy chain) and rBAT $(related\;to\;b^0,\;^+-amino\;acid\;transporter)$. Six members are associated with 4F2hc and one is linked to rBAT. Two additional members were identified as ones associated with unknown heavy chains. The members of heterodimeric amino acid transporter family exhibit diverse substrate selectivity and are expressed in variety of tissues. They play variety of physiological roles including epithelial transport of amino acids as well as the roles to provide cells in general with amino acids for cellular nutrition. The dysfunction or hyperfunction of the members of the heterodimeric amino acid transporter family are involved in some diseases and pathologic conditions. The genetic defects of the renal and intestinal transporters $b^{0,+}AT/BAT1\;(b^{0,+}-type\;amino\;acid\;transporter/b^{0,+}-type\;amino\;acid\;transporter\;1)$ and $y^+LAT1\;(y^+L-type\;amino\;acid\;transporter\;1)$ result in the amino aciduria with sever clinical symptoms such as cystinuria and lysin uric protein intolerance, respectively. LAT1 is proposed to be involved in the progression of malignant tumor. xCT (x-C-type transporter) functions to protect cells against oxidative stress, while its over-function may be damaging neurons leading to the exacerbation of brain damage after brain ischemia. Because of broad substrate selectivity, system L transporters such as LAT1 transport amino acid-related compounds including L-Dopa and function as a drug transporter. System L also interacts with some environmental toxins with amino acid-related structure such as cysteine-conjugated methylmercury. Therefore, these transporter would be candidates for drug targets based on new therapeutic strategies.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.40-47
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• 1999

To search for less toxic antiherpetic agents, the inhibitory effects of natural hesperetin on the plaque formation of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) in Vero cells were examined by the plaque reduction assay in vitro. Hesperetin inhibited plaque formations of HSV-1 and HSV-2 in a dose dependent manner. It also exhibited more potent antiherpetic activity on HSV-2 with selectivity index (SI) of 9.8 than on HSV-1 with SI of 8.4. The combined antiherpetic effects of hesperetin with nucleoside antiherpetic agents, acyclovir and vidarabine, were examined on the multiplication of these two strains of herpesviruses in Vero cells by the combination assay. The results of combination assay were evaluated by the combination index (CI) that was calculated by the multiple drug effect analysis. The combinations of hesperetin with acyclovir on HSV-1 and HSV-2 showed synergistic effects with CI values of $0.29{\sim}0.73$ for 50%, 70%, 90% effective levels and those with vidarabine showed partially synergistic or additive effects with CI values of $0.83{\sim}1.33$.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.97-107
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• 2023

Malaria remains to be one of the most severe global public health concerns. Traditionally, Aspilia Africana and Warburgia ugandensis have been used to treat malaria in several African countries for millennia. In the current study, A. africana calli (AaC), A. africana in vitro roots (AaIR), A. africana wild leaf (AaWL), and W. ugandensis stem bark (WuSB) were dried and pulverized. Fourier transform near-infrared spectroscopy was used to analyze the powdered samples, while 80% ethanolic extracts of each sample were assayed for antiplasmodial activity (against Plasmodium falciparum strains DD2 (chloroquine-resistant) and 3D7 (chloroquine-sensitive)) and cytotoxicity. WuSB showed the highest antiplasmodial activity (IC₅₀ = 1.57 ± 0.210 ㎍/ml and 8.92 ± 0.365 ㎍/ml against P. falciparum 3D7 and DD2, respectively) and selectivity indices (43.90 ± 7.914 and 7.543 ± 0.051 for P. falciparum 3D7 and DD2, respectively). The highest total polyphenolic contents (total phenolic and flavonoid contents of 367.9 ± 3.55 mg GAE/g and 203.9 ± 1.43 mg RUE/g, respectively) were recorded for WuSB and the lowest were recorded for AaC. The antiplasmodial activities of the tested plant tissues correlated positively with total polyphenolic content. The high selectivity indices of WuSB justify its traditional applications in treating malaria and present it as a good candidate for discovering new antimalarial compounds. We recommend elicitation treatment for AaIR, which showed moderate antiplasmodial activity against P. falciparum DD2, to increase its secondary metabolite production for optimal antimalarial activity.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.3088-3092
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• 2013

A novel PVC membrane sensor for perindopril based on perindopril-phosphotungstate ion pair complex was prepared. The influence of membrane composition (i.e. percent of PVC, plasticizer, ion-pair complex, and kind of plasticizer), inner solution, pH of test solution and foreign cations on the electrode performance was investigated. The optimized membrane demonstrates Nernstian response ($30.9{\pm}1.0$ mV per decade) for perindopril cations over a wide linear range from $9.0{\times}10^{-7}$ to $1{\times}10^{-2}$ M at $25^{\circ}C$. The potentiometric response is independent of the pH in the range of 4.0-9.5. The proposed sensor has the advantages of easy preparation, fast response time. The selectivity coefficients indicate excellent selectivity for perindopril over many common cations (e.g., $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Mg^{2+}$, $Cu^{2+}$, $Ni^{2+}$, rhamnose, maltose, glycine and benzamide. The practical applications of this electrode was demonstrated by measuring the concentrations of perindopril in pure solutions and pharmaceutical preparations with satisfactory results.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.101-104
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• 2014

Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by Toxoplasma gondii, with very few therapeutic treatment options. The choices for treatment are pyrimethamine and sulfadiazine, however their utility is limited because of drug toxicity and serious side effects. In this study, ethanol extracts of 13 traditional medicines used to treat Toxoplasma gondii were tested in vitro for their anti-Toxoplasma gondii cytotoxicity. The median effective concentration ($EC_{50}$) values for the herbal extracts ranged from 173 mg/mL to 1995.35 mg/mL. In HeLa cell, the selectivity of Alpinia oxyphylla (2.75), Mucunae Caulis (2.96), Dictamnus dasycarpus (7.52) which was higher than sulfadiazine (2.08). This indicates that Alpinia oxyphylla, Mucunae Caulis, Dictamnus dasycarpus extracts may be sources of new anti-Toxoplasma gondii compounds.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.213-218
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• 2020

This study was conducted to develop a method of analysis for 4-hydroxy-L-isoleucine in the seed extract of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum), a health functional food that contains dietary fiber. The analytical method for 4-hydroxy-L-isoleucine was derived with O-phthaldialdehyde reagent (OPA) and determined by HPLC-PDA. The method was performed on a Capcell Pak C₁₈ UG 120 column (4.6×250 mm, 5 ㎛) in isocratic elution mode using disodium phosphate and acetonitrile. The validation of the developed analytical method was conducted by evaluating several parameters; selectivity, linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), accuracy and repeatability. Excellent linearity (R²=0.999) was observed for 4-hydroxy-L-isoleucine in the concentration range (5-100 ㎍/mL). Observed recoveries of these compounds were found to be between 91.7 and 96.4%. Precision was between 0.2 and 2.4% relative standard deviation (%RSD).