• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.141-147
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• 2015

Background: Adipocytes, which are the main cellular component of adipose tissue, are the building blocks of obesity. The nuclear hormone receptor $PPAR{\gamma}$ is a major regulator of adipocyte differentiation and development. Obesity, which is one of the most dangerous yet silent diseases of all time, is fast becoming a critical area of research focus. Methods: In this study, we initially aimed to investigate whether the ginsenoside Rf, a compound that is only present in Panax ginseng Meyer, interacts with $PPAR{\gamma}$ by molecular docking simulations. After we performed the docking simulation the result has been analyzed with several different software programs, including Discovery Studio, Pymol, Chimera, Ligplus, and Pose View. All of the programs identified the same mechanism of interaction between $PPAR{\gamma}$ and Rf, at the same active site. To determine the drug-like and biological activities of Rf, we calculate its absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion, and toxic (ADMET) and prediction of activity spectra for substances (PASS) properties. Considering the results obtained from the computational investigations, the focus was on the in vitro experiments. Results: Because the docking simulations predicted the formation of structural bonds between Rf and $PPAR{\gamma}$, we also investigated whether any evidence for these bonds could be observed at the cellular level. These experiments revealed that Rf treatment of 3T3-L1 adipocytes downregulated the expression levels of $PPAR{\gamma}$ and perilipin, and also decreased the amount of lipid accumulated at different doses. Conclusion: The ginsenoside Rf appears to be promising compound that could prove useful in antiobesity treatments.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.50-58
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• 2006

Translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP), also known as histamine releasing factor (HRF), is found abundantly in different eukaryotic cell types. The sequence homology of TCTP between different species is very high, belonging to the MSS4/DSS4 superfamily of proteins. TCTP is involved in both cell growth and human late allergy reaction, as well as having a calcium binding property; however, its primary biological functions remain to be clearly elucidated. In regard to many possible functions, the TCTP of Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) is known to bind with an antimalarial agent, artemisinin, which is activated by heme. It is assumed that the endoperoxide-bridge of artemisinin is opened up by heme to form a free radical, which then eventually alkylates, probably to the Cys14 of PfTCTP. Study of the docking of artemisinin with heme, and subsequently with PfTCTP, was carried out to verify the above hypothesis on the basis of structural interactions. The three dimensional (3D) structure of PfTCTP was built by homology modeling, using the NMR structure of the TCTP of Schizosaccharomyces pombe as a template. The quality of the model was examined based on its secondary structure and biological function, as well as with the use of structure evaluating programs. The interactions between artemisinin, heme and PfTCTP were then studied using the docking program, FlexiDock. The center of the peroxide bond of artemisinin and the Fe of heme were docked within a short distance of $2.6{\AA}$, implying the strong possibility of an interaction between the two molecules, as proposed. When the activated form of artemisinin was docked on the PfTCTP, the C4-radical of the drug faced towards the sulfur of Cys14 within a distance of $2.48{\AA}$, again suggesting the possibility of alkylation having occurred. These results confirm the proposed mechanism of the antimalarial effect of artemisinin, which will provide a reliable method for establishing the mechanism of its biological activity using a molecular modeling study.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.42-46
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• 1986

The binding characteristics of five cephalosporins, cefamandole, ceftriaxone, cefoxitin, latamoxef, and cefotetan to bovine serum albumin (BSA) was examined by UV difference spectrophotometry. 2-(4'-hydroxybenzeneazo) benzoic acid was used as the spectrophotometric probe. Competitive bindings between the probe and cephalosporins were observed. Based on the Scatchard plot, the BSA appeared to have two classes of binding sites in BSA binding with cephalosporins. The number of primary binding sites appears to be one, secondary binding sites appears to be three. The binding constants were found as follows: BSA-HBAB; $K_1^{obs}$=8.39$\times$$10^4$ $M^{-1}$, $K_2^{obs}$=1.60$\times$$10^4$ $M^{-1}$, BSA-Cefamandole; $K_1^{obs}$=5.44$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, $K_2^{obs}$=0.74$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, BSA-Cefotriaxone; $K_1^{obs}$=6.78$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, $K_2^{obs}$=0.88$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, BSA-Cefoxitin; $K_1^{obs}$=7.24$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, $K_2^{obs}$=1.13$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, BSA-Latamoxef; $K_1^{obs}$=8.87$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, $K_2^{obs}$=1.92$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, BSA-Cefotetan; $K_1^{obs}$=15.41$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$, $K_2^{obs}$=2.7$\times$$10^3$ $M^{-1}$.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.397-407
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• 1993

The muscarinic antagonist l-[benzilic-4,4'-$^3H$]quinuclidinyl benzilate([$^3H$]QNB) bound to a single class of muscarinic receptor with high affinity in guinea pig ileal membranes. The $K_{D}$ and B$_{max}$ values for [$^3H$]QNB calculated from analysis of saturation isotherms were 54 pM and 156fmol/mg, respectively. H$_{1}$-blockers inhibited [$^3H$]QNB binding to ileal membranes with $K_{i}$ values ranged from 0.008 $\mu{M}$ to 1.6 $\mu{M}$. The pseudo-Hill coefficients of H$_{1}$-blockers for inhibition of [$^3H$]QNB binding to the ileal membranes were close to unit. The $K_{i}$ values for H$_{1}$-blockers were similar to the $K_{M}$ values calculated by Schild plot of functional data obtained from inhibition of the carbachol-induced contraction in guinea-pig ileum, suggesting that binding of H$_{1}$-blockers vs [$^3H$]QNB in ileal membranes represents an interaction with a receptor of physiological relevance. The $K_{H}$ values of H$_{1}$-blockers for H$_{1}$-receptor estimated from inhibition of the histamine-induced contraction were the range of 0.15 nM to 56.5 nM. The $K_{M}$/K$_{H}$ ratio of H$_{1}$-blockers varied over a wide range of 3 to 2300. Thus, the antihistaminic potencies of H$_{1}$-blockers do not correlate with their antimuscarinic potencies, which suggest that antihistamines have different antimuscarinic potencies in therapeutic blood levels causing similar antiallergic effect. Among 13 traditional antihistaminics examined in this study, drug having the highest and the lowest $K_{M}$/K$_{H}$ ratio is triprolidine and diphenidol, respectively. The present results demonstrate that the antimuscarinic property of antihistamines is not necessary for their antiallergic effect, and data on the affinity of antihistamines for muscarinic and H$_{1}$-receptors can be an important parameter in the selection and evaluation of these drugs.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.105-111
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• 2015

The beta2-adrenergic receptor (${\beta}2AR$) belongs to the G protein coupled receptor (GPCR) family, which is the largest family of cell surface receptors in humans. Extra attention has been focused on the human GPCRs because they have been studied as important protein targets for pharmaceutical drug development. In fact, approximately 40% of marketed drugs directly work on GPCRs. GPCRs respond to various extracellular stimuli, such as sensory signals, neurotransmitters, chemokines, and hormones, to induce structural changes at the cytoplasmic surface, activating downstream signaling pathways, primarily through interactions with heterotrimeric G proteins or through G-protein independent pathways, such as arrestin. Most GPCRs, except for rhodhopsin, which contains covalently linked 11 cis-retinal, bind to diffusible ligands, having various conformational states between inactive and active structures. The first human GPCR structure was determined using an inverse agonist bound ${\beta}2AR$ in 2007 and since then, more than 20 distinct GPCR structures have been solved. However, most GPCR structures were solved as inactive forms, and an agonist bound fully active structure is still hard to obtain. In a structural point of view, ${\beta}2AR$ is relatively well studied since its fully active structure as a complex with G protein as well as several inactive structures are available. The structural comparison of inactive and active states gives an important clue in understanding the activation mechanism of ${\beta}2AR$. In this review, structural features of inactive and active states of ${\beta}2AR$, the interaction of ${\beta}2AR$ with heterotrimeric G protein, and the comparison with ${\beta}1AR$ will be discussed.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.25-29
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of atorvastatin on the pharmacokinetics of nifedipine (6 mg/kg) after oral administration of nifedipine with or without atorvastatin (0.5 and 2.0 mg/kg) in rats, and also was to evaluate to the effect of atorvastatin on the CYP3A4 activity. The 50% inhibiting concentration ($IC_{50}$) values of atorvastatin on CYP3A4 activity is 46.1 ${\mu}M$. Atorvastatin inhibited CYP3A4 enzyme activity in a concentration-dependent manner. Coadministration of atorvastatin increased significantly (p<0.05, 2.0 mg/kg) the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC) and the peak concentration ($C_{max}$) of nifedipine compared to the control group. The relative bioavailability (RB%) of nifedipine was increased from 1.15- to 1.37-fold. Coadministration of atorvastatin did not significantly change the terminal half-life ($T_{1/2}$) and the time to reach the peak concentration ($T_{max}$) of nifedipine. Based on these results, we can make a conclusion that the significant changes of these pharmacokinetic parameters might be due to atorvastatin, which possesses the potency to inhibit the metabolizing enzyme (CYP3A4) in the liver and intestinal mucosa, and also inhibit the P-glycoprotein (P-gp) efflux pump in the intestinal mucosa. It might be suggested that atorvastatin altered disposition of nifedipine by inhibition of both the first-pass metabolism and P-glycoprotein efflux pump in the small intestine of rats. In conclusion, the presence of atorvastatin significantly enhanced the oral bioavailability of nifedipine, suggesting that concurrent use of atorvastatin with nifedipine should require close monitoring for potential drug interation.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.53-61
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• 2016

Toxoplasma gondii is an intracellular Apicomplexan parasite and a causative agent of toxoplasmosis in human. It causes encephalitis, uveitis, chorioretinitis, and congenital infection. T. gondii invades the host cell by forming a moving junction (MJ) complex. This complex formation is initiated by intermolecular interactions between the two secretory parasitic proteins-namely, apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) and rhoptry neck protein 2 (RON2) and is critically essential for the host invasion process. By this study, we propose two potential leads, NSC95522 and NSC179676 that can efficiently target the AMA1 hydrophobic cleft, which is a hotspot for targeting MJ complex formation. The proposed leads are the result of an exhaustive conformational search-based virtual screen with multilevel precision scoring of the docking affinities. These two compounds surpassed all the precision levels of docking and also the stringent post docking and cumulative molecular dynamics evaluations. Moreover, the backbone flexibility of hotspot residues in the hydrophobic cleft, which has been previously reported to be essential for accommodative binding of RON2 to AMA1, was also highly perturbed by these compounds. Furthermore, binding free energy calculations of these two compounds also revealed a significant affinity to AMA1. Machine learning approaches also predicted these two compounds to possess more relevant activities. Hence, these two leads, NSC95522 and NSC179676, may prove to be potential inhibitors targeting AMA1-RON2 complex formation towards combating toxoplasmosis.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.53-59
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• 2015

In developing countries threat of cholera is a significant health concern whenever water purification and sewage disposal systems are inadequate. Vibrio cholerae is one of the responsible bacteria involved in cholera disease. The complete genome sequence of V. cholerae deciphers the presence of various genes and hypothetical proteins whose function are not yet understood. Hence analyzing and annotating the structure and function of hypothetical proteins is important for understanding the V. cholerae. V. cholerae O139 is the most common and pathogenic bacterial strain among various V. cholerae strains. In this study sequence of six hypothetical proteins of V. cholerae O139 has been annotated from NCBI. Various computational tools and databases have been used to determine domain family, protein-protein interaction, solubility of protein, ligand binding sites etc. The three dimensional structure of two proteins were modeled and their ligand binding sites were identified. We have found domains and families of only one protein. The analysis revealed that these proteins might have antibiotic resistance activity, DNA breaking-rejoining activity, integrase enzyme activity, restriction endonuclease, etc. Structural prediction of these proteins and detection of binding sites from this study would indicate a potential target aiding docking studies for therapeutic designing against cholera.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.71-77
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• 2006

The goal of this study was to analyze the effects of genistein, a widely used tyrosine kinase inhibitor, on cloned Shaw-type $K^+$ currents, Kv3.1 which were stably expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, using the whole-cell configuration of patch-clamp techniques. In whole-cell recordings, genistein at external concentrations from 10 to $100{\mu}M$ accelerated the rate of inactivation of Kv3.1 currents, thereby concentration-dependently reducing the current at the end of depolarizing pulse with an $IC_{50}$ value of $15.71{\pm}0.67{\mu}M$ and a Hill coefficient of $3.28{\pm}0.35$ (n=5). The time constant of activation at a 300 ms depolarizing test pulses from -80 mV to +40 mV was $1.01{\pm}0.04$ ms and $0.90{\pm}0.05$ ms (n=9) under control conditions and in the presence of $20{\mu}M$ genistein, respectively, indicating that the activation kinetics was not significantly modified by genistein. Genistein $(20{\mu}M)$ slowed the deactivation of the tail current elicited upon repolarization to -40 mV, thus inducing a crossover phenomenon. These results suggest that drug unbinding is required before Kv3.1 channels can close. Genistein-induced block was voltage-dependent, increasing in the voltage range $(-20\'mV{\sim}0\'mV)$ for channel opening, suggesting an open channel interaction. Genistein $(20{\mu}M)$ produced use-dependent block of Kv3.1 at a stimulation frequency of 1 Hz. The voltage dependence of steady-state inactivation of Kv3.1 was not changed by $20{\mu}M$ genistein. Our results indicate that genistein blocks directly Kv3.1 currents in concentration-, voltage-, time-dependent manners and the action of genistein on Kv3.1 is independent of tyrosine kinase inhibition.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.322-326
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• 1995

General pharmacology of LB20304, a quinolone antibiotic, were examined in terms of general behaviour, cardiovascular, and central nervous system. LB20304 at oral dose of 2,000 mg/kg did not induce significant behavioural changes in mice. In contrast with ciprofloxacin, LB20304 at dose of 20 mg/kg, iv. did not show any observable effects on the blood pressure in rats. Displacement of [$^3$H]muscimol binding to the rat brain synaptic membranes was measured. LB20304 was shown to be about five times less potent than ciprofloxacin in specific GABA receptor binding. Drug interaction between LB20304 and 4-biphenyl acetic acid, an active metabolite of fenbufen, was assessed in mice by measuring convulsion and/or subsequent death. A single oral pretreatment with 4-BPA at 400 mg/kg increased the incidence of convulsion and death after oral administration of ciprofloxacin at the doses of 25, 50, and 100 from zero of five to three of five, two of five, and four of five, respectively, whereas LB20304 alone or combination with 4-BPA caused neither convulsions nor death at the doses of 12.5, 25, 50, and 100 mg/kg, respectively. Quinolones-induced epileptogenic activities were assessed by a direct intracerebral injection of test articles. The CD$_{50}$ values (nmole) are as follows; 169.47, 35.36, 105.29, and 88.67 for LB20304, ciprofloxacin, of loxacin, and lomefloxacin, respectively. From these data, LB 20304 at therapeutic doses seems to be much more safe than any other quinolones tested.d.