• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.970-972
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• 2013

We examined the relative growth of Microstomus achne during early life stages of laboratory-reared larvae and juveniles. Turning points in the relative growth of preanal length and upper jaw length against total length occurred during the settlement period (11.12-19.91 mm in total length). However, turning points in the relative growth of head length and eye diameter, as compared to total length, occurred during metamorphosis (17.57-22.47 mm in total length). Our results suggest that Microstomus achne concentrates its energy on the feeding apparatus (jaw) and digestive organs (intestine) rather than sensory or neural organs (eye, head) during early larval stage growth.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Developmental Biology Conference
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• 2001.02a
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• pp.46-49
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• 2001

R. Philippinarum is dioecious and oviparous. In the early vitellogenic oocyte, the Golgi apparatus and mitochondria present in the perinuclear region are involved in the formation of lipid droplets and in lipid granule formation. In the late vitellogenic oocyte, the endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria in the cytoplasm are involved in the formation of proteid yolk granules. At this time, exogenous lipid granular substance and glycogen particles in the germinal epithelium are passed into the ooplasm of oocyte through the microvilli of the vitelline envelope. Ripe oocytes are about 55-60 $\mu$ m in diameter. The spawning period was once a year between early June and early October, and the main spawning occurred between July and August when seawater temperature was approximately 20 C. The reproductive cycle of this species can be categorized into five successive stages: early active stage (February to March), late active stage (April to May), ripe stage (April to August), partially spawned stage (June to October), and spent/inactive stage (August to March). Gonad developmental phases by histological qualitative analysis showed similar results with those of quantitative image analysis.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.463-468
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• 2011

This study investigated the changes of plasminogen activators (PAs) activity, expression and localization of tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) during the estrous cycle in pigs. Estrous cycle was sorted into three group by pre-ovulation (Pre-Ov), post-ovulation (Post-Ov) and early to mid-luteal stages (Early to mid-L). Analysis for immunohistochemistry was confirmed by location of tPA and uPA. Porcine uterus tissue was cut into $1{\times}1$ cm squares, and were incubated in DMEM/F-12 medium for 1 h at $38^{\circ}C$, 5% $CO_2$ for measurement of PA activity. Western blotting was implemented for measurement of PA quantity. In results, the blood vessels and secretory glands were increased in Post-Ov stage than Pre-Ov and Early to mid-L stages. The tPA and uPA was located mainly within lumen of blood vessels and secretory glands. The PA activity in Post-Ov ($0.99{\pm}0.03$) stage were significantly (p<0.01) higher than Pre-Ov stage ($0.51{\pm}0.03$) and Early to mid-L stage ($0.21{\pm}0.04$). Expression of PAs were significantly (p<0.05) higher in Early to mid-L stage than other stages. These results indicate that PAs activity and expression may change in uterus tissue during the estrous cycle in pigs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Sericultural Science Conference
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• 2003.10a
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• pp.143-143
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• 2003

Among all animal species, a few have the remarkable capacity to regenerate a missing part of their body after amputation. The early process of epimorphic regeneration in which dedifferentiation and cell proliferation are involved, provides a useful model to investigate the mechanism of normal development as well as differentiation. To better understand early stage of head regeneration, we have generated 5'-end sequence of 1,592 expressed sequence tags (ESTs) from cDNA library of regenerating tissue. (omitted)

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.147-158
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• 2014

Differentiated nuclei can experimentally be returned to an undifferentiated embryonic status after nuclear transfer (NT) to unfertilized metaphase II (MII) oocytes. Nuclear reprogramming is triggered immediately after somatic cell nucleus transfer (SCNT) into recipient cytoplasm and this period is regarded as a key stage for optimizing reprogramming. In a recent study (Dai et al., 2010), use of m-carboxycinnamic acid bishydroxamide (CBHA) as a histone deacetylase inhibitor during the in vitro early culture of murine cloned embryos modifies the acetylation status of somatic nuclei and increases the developmental competence of SCNT embryos. Thus, we examined the effects of CBHA treatment on the in vitro preimplantation development of porcine SCNT embryos and on the acetylated status of histone H3K9 on cloned embryos at the zygote stage. We performed the three groups SCNT: SCNT (NT), CBHA treatment at the porcine fetus fibroblast cells (PFFs) used as donor cells prior to SCNT (CBHA-C) and CBHA treatment at the porcine SCNT embryos during the in vitro early culture after oocyte activation (CBHA-Z). The PFFs were treated with a $15{\mu}M$ of CBHA (8 h) for the early culture and the porcine cloned embryos were treated with a $100{\mu}M$ concentration of CBHA during the in vitro early culture (10 h). Cleavage rates and development to the blastocyst stage were assessed. No significant difference was observed the cleavage rate among the groups (82.6%, 76.4% and 82.2%, respectively). However, the development competence to the blastocyst stage was significantly increased in CBHA-Z embryos (22.7%) as compared to SCNT and CBHA-C embryos (8.6% and 4.1%)(p<0.05). Total cell numbers and viable cell numbers at the blastocyst stage of porcine SCNT embryos were increased in CBHA-Z embryos as compared to those in CBHA-C embryos (p<0.05). Signal level of histone acetylation (H3K9ac) at the zygote stage of SCNT was increased in CBHA-Z embryos as compared to SCNT and CBHA-C embryos. The results of the present study suggested that treatment with CBHA during the in vitro early culture (10 h) had significantly increased the developmental competence and histone acetylation level at the zygote stage.

• BMB Reports
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.553-558
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• 2022

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is dangerous cancer that often evades early detection because it is asymptomatic and an effective detection method is lacking. For people with chronic liver inflammation who are at high risk of developing HCC, a sensitive detection method for HCC is needed. In a meta-analysis of The Cancer Genome Atlas pan-cancer methylation database, we identified a CpG island in the USP44 promoter that is methylated specifically in HCC. We developed methylation-sensitive high-resolution melting (MS-HRM) analysis to measure the methylation levels of the USP promoter in cell-free DNA isolated from patients. Our MS-HRM assay correctly identified 40% of patients with early-stage HCC, whereas the α-fetoprotein test, which is currently used to detect HCC, correctly identified only 25% of early-stage HCC patients. These results demonstrate that USP44 MS-HRM analysis is suitable for HCC surveillance.

• Journal of Crop Science and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.281-286
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• 2007

Gibberellins are growth hormones that play a pivotal role in the growth and development of plants. Present investigations were carried to check the effect of nitrogen(N) and silicon(Si) on bioactive $GA_1$ and its immediate precursor $GA_{20}$ at different growth stages of two rice cultivars with different maturity traits. It was observed that the endogenous bioactive $GA_1$ level gradually increased during vegetative stage and anthesis stage of both Junghwabyeo(early flowering cultivar) and Daesanbyeo(late flowering cultivar). However, the $GA_1$ and $GA_{20}$ content start decreasing during the seed filling stage in both rice cultivars, which indicated a possible relationship of bioactive $GA_1$ and floral development. Our results also confirmed that early 13-hydroxylation pathway was operated at all developmental stages of rice plant. Variation in the levels of the endogenous gibberellins in rice shoots were measured by GCMS-SIM using $^2H_2$-labeled gibberellins as internal standards. Combined application of N and Si enhanced growth parameters and reduced lodging index of both rice cultivars. It was thus concluded that the level of physiologically active $GA_1$ increased during vegetative and early reproductive stage, but starts declining at seed filling stage.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2003.06a
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• pp.96-96
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• 2003

Nek2 (NIMA-related protein) is a mammalian cell cycle-regulated kinase that involves in chromosome condensation and centrosome regulation and NuMA (nuclear mitotic apparatus protein) is involved in spindle assembly during a cell cycle. The cellular distribution and organization of the centrosomal components is completely unknown during fertilization and embryonic development. We examined distribution of two well-known centrosomal proteins, Nek2 and NuMA in mouse gametes and embryos to get an insight in the reorganization of centrosomal proteins during germ cell development and early fertilization. Spermatogenic cells, gametes, and embryos were analyzed with anti-Nek2 or -NuMA antibodies by immunological assay, RT-PCR, and overexpression through gene transfection. Mitotically or meiotically active spermatogenic cells were intensively stained with these antibodies in both centrosomes and cytoplasm, whereas the oocytes showed different staining patterns depending on the meiotic stages. During maturation, GV, GVBD, and MI stage were clearly stained with NuMA antibody in the nucleus or cytoplasm at MII. Also, Nek2 was detectable in cytoplasm as scattered spots or chromosome associated at MII. In early developmental embryo, NuMA was detected in nucleus of each blastomere, while Nek2 was detected in cytoplasm. In contrast to previously reported results, Nek2 and NuMA were detected in both decondensing head, and the centriole of demembranated and decondensed sperm or whole body of trypsin-treated sperm for Nek2. During meiotic progress in oocytes, transcripts levels were the highest in MI stage and then downregulated in MII. Also, it shows dramatically change in early developmental embryos, firstly, it was increased until 4 cell stage and reduced in 8 cell stage, and finally, transcript levels were upregulated until blastoscyst. This finding suggests that cnetrosomal component may play an important role in reorganizing of functional centrosome during fertilization process and subsequent development.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.23 no.5
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• pp.519-532
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• 2013

The purpose of this study was to make a comparative analysis of dietary habits, snacks, eating out and fast-food intake between students with a relatively early sexual maturity and others with a relatively late sexual maturity in a bid to grasp the impact of dietary behaviors on sexual maturity. The subjects in this study were 565 boys and girls who resided in Seoul and Gyeonggi province. They included fifth- and sixth-grade school children and seventh-grade middle school students. To classify the selected students according to the level of sexual maturity, the students of the same month age were divided into two groups in consideration of the stage of their sexual maturity and that of the other age groups. The early mature group was significantly taller and weighed more than the late mature group irrespective of gender. According to Tanner stages, the boys of the early mature group reached a 3.03 stage of sexual maturity when the sexual organs were taken into account, and those of the late mature group reached a 1.50 stage of sexual maturity. The girls of the early mature group reached a 3.43 stage of sexual maturity on the basis of breast, and those of the late mature group reached a 2.73 stage of sexual maturity. Concerning eating out, the early mature group ate out more frequently than the late mature group. In regard to snacks, the early mature group had a snack more often. The findings of the study indicated that there were differences in physical development and some dietary behaviors according to sexual maturity. The early mature group had a snack and ate out relatively more often than the late mature group, which showed that some dietary behaviors had an impact on the sexual maturity of the teens who arrived at the age of puberty.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 2017

Background: Ginsenoside Rg1 is a class of steroid glycoside and triterpene saponin in Panax ginseng. Many studies suggest that Rg1 suppresses adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1. However, the detail molecular mechanism of Rg1 on adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 is still not fully understood. Methods: 3T3-L1 preadipocyte was used to evaluate the effect of Rg1 on adipocyte development in the differentiation in a stage-dependent manner in vitro. Oil Red O staining and Nile red staining were conducted to measure intracellular lipid accumulation and superoxide production, respectively. We analyzed the protein expression using Western blot in vitro. The zebrafish model was used to investigate whether Rg1 suppresses the early stage of fat accumulation in vivo. Results: Rg1 decreased lipid accumulation in early-stage differentiation of 3T3-L1 compared with intermediate and later stages of adipocyte differentiation. Rg1 dramatically increased CAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) homologous protein-10 (CHOP10) and subsequently reduced the $C/EBP{\beta}$ transcriptional activity that prohibited the initiation of adipogenic marker expression as well as triglyceride synthase. Rg1 decreased the expression of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 and glycogen synthase kinase $3{\beta}$, which are also essential for stimulating the expression of $CEBP{\beta}$. Rg1 also reduced reactive oxygen species production because of the downregulated protein level of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate hydrogen (NADPH) oxidase 4 (NOX4). While Rg1 increased the endogenous antioxidant enzymes, it also dramatically decreased the accumulation of lipid and triglyceride in high fat diet-induced obese zebrafish. Conclusion: We demonstrated that Rg1 suppresses early-stage differentiation via the activation of CHOP10 and attenuates fat accumulation in vivo. These results indicate that Rg1 might have the potential to reduce body fat accumulation in the early stage of obesity.