• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.166-171
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• 2004

In this study, we introduced enzymatic pretreatment method, together with ozone treatment for sludge digestion. We optimized the amount of enzyme and ozone, respectively for the successful sludge pretreatment. As a result, we found that as more enzyme is used, higher sludge hydrolysis efficiency was obtained. When we treated sludge by ozone ranging from 0.01g $O_3$/g SS to 0.04 g $O_3$/g SS without enzyme treatment, 0.04 g $O_3$/g SS showed the highest increase of SCOD. Meanwhile, when protease was used together with the same ozone dosage ranges, 0.03g $O_3$/g SS ozonation resulted in the highest increase of SCOD. The sludge pretreatment was optimized by controlling the amount of enzyme and ozone.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.489-493
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• 1988

To obtain a new yeast strain that is able to efficiently produce ethanol from starch, the glucoamylase gene of Saccharomyces diastaticus was transformed into S. cerevisiae without a cloning vector. The competent cells of S. cerevisiae, induced by the treatment of Li$_2$SO$_4$, were transformed with the partial BamHI-digests of chromosomal DNA of S. diastaticus, and the transformants were selected by their abilities to utilize and ferment starch. The transformants, which appeared at a frequency of 8.5$\times$10$^{-7}$, were able to withstand up to 800 ppm of copper sulfate like the recipient and retained the phenotypic expression of the recipient with the exception of the acquisition of STA gene and MAL gene, as regards fermentation of carbohydrates. The enzymatic properties of glucoamylases produced by transformants were very similar to those produced by S. diastaticus as based on optimium pH and temperature.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.117-122
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• 2006

Background: Caveolin, a family of integral membrane proteins are a principal component of caveolae membranes. In this study, we investigated the effect of p38 kinase on differentiation and on inflammatory responses in sodium nitroprusside (SNP)-treated chondrocytes. Methods: Rabbit articular chondrocytes were prepared from cartilage slices of 2-week-old New Zealand white rabbits by enzymatic digestion. SNP was used as a nitric oxide (NO) donor. In this experiments measuring SNP dose response, primary chondrocytes were treated with various concentrations of SNP for 24h. The time course of the SNP response was determined by incubating cells with 1mM SNP for the indicated time period $(0{\sim}24h)$. The cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and type II collagen expression levels were determined by immunoblot analysis, and prostaglandin $E_2\;(PGE_2)$ assay was used to measure the COX-2 activity. The tyrosine phosphorylation of caveolin-1 was determined by immunoblot analysis and immunostaining. Results: SNP treatment stimulated tyrosine phosphorylation of caveolin-1 and activation of p38 kinase. SNP additionally caused dedifferentiation and inflammatory response. We showed previously that SNP treatment stimulated activation of p38 kinase and ERK-1/-2. Inhibition of p38 kinase with SB203580 reduced caveolin-1 tyrosine phosphorylation and COX-2 expression but enhanced dedifferentiation, whereas inhibition of ERK with PD98059 did not affect caveolin-1 tyrosine phosphorylation levels, suggesting that ERK at least is not related to dedifferentiation and COX-2 expression through caveolin-1 tyrosine phosphorylation. Conclusion: Our results indicate that SNP in articular chondrocytes stimulates dedifferentiation and inflammatory response via p38 kinase signaling in association with caveolin-1 phosphorylation.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.199-206
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• 2001

In 1980s, the fragmentation or subdivision of protein deposits at the periphery of protein storage vacuole was suggested as the only route of PB development in pea cotyledon cells. Since then, other independant processes such as terminal dilation , transformation and de novo development have been discussed as alternative routes for PB development, and today, these multiple mechanisms of PB development are accepted as a result of active investigations. For analysis of the protein accumulations in the ER cisternae during seed development, immunocytochemical gold labellings were applyed on the single cells separated by enzymatic digestion from cotyledon tissue. Anti-legumin labellings at the early stage, and anti-vicilin labellings at the intermediate stage were observed on the protein-filled ER. The $\alpha-Tip$, which is the ER retention protein, was labelled somewhat at late stage, and PPase, a sort of tonoplast membrane protein, was labelled at early stage.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.571-575
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• 1993

Effect of surface hydrophobicity of soybean peptides on serum cholesterol in rats was investigated. Soybean protein(ISP), casein(CNP), and their peptic hydrolyzates fractionated by acid precipitations (SHT, SH8, SH6, SH4, CHT, CH6, CH5, CH4) were fed to rats and the concentration of serum cholesterol and the fecal steroid excretion were measured. And surface hydrophobicities of the peptide fractions were measured by determining by the ANS flourescence intensity and SDS binding capacity. It was found that the higher the surface hydrophobicity of peptides was, the more the fecal steroids excreted(r=0.801) and the lower the concentration of serum cholesterol became(r=-0.868). However, there was no relationship between SDS surface hydrophobicity and fecal steroids or serum cholesterol. ANS surface hydrophobicity of soybean protein was increased by enzymatic hydrolysis. These results suggest that high surface hydrophobicity of peptides formed during digestion is responsible for the hypocholestrolemic effect of soybean protein through the hydrophobic interaction between the peptides and bile salts in rats.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.196-203
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• 2013

Recent accumulating studies have reported that hypoxic preconditioning during ex vivo expansion enhanced the self-renewal or differentiation of various stem cells and provide an important strategy for the adequate modulation of oxygen in culture conditions, which might increase the functional bioactivity of these cells for cardiac regeneration. In this study, we proposed a novel priming protocol to increase the functional bioactivity of cardiac progenitor cells (CPCs) for the treatment of cardiac regeneration. Firstly, patient-derived c-$kit^+$ CPCs isolated from the atrium of human hearts by enzymatic digestion and secondly, pivotal target molecules identified their differentiation into specific cell lineages. We observed that hCPCs, in response to hypoxia, strongly activated ERK phosphorylation in ex vivo culture conditioning. Interestingly, pre-treatment with an ERK inhibitor, U0126, significantly enhanced cellular proliferation and tubular formation capacities of CPCs. Furthermore, we observed that hCPCs efficiently maintained the expression of the c-kit, a typical stem cell marker of CPCs, under both hypoxic conditioning and ERK inhibition. We also show that hCPCs, after preconditioning of both hypoxic and ERK inhibition, are capable of differentiating into smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and cardiomyocytes (CMs), but not endothelial cells (ECs), as demonstrated by the strong expression of ${\alpha}$-SMA, Nkx2.5, and cTnT, respectively. From our results, we conclude that the functional bioactivity of patient-derived hCPCs and their ability to differentiate into SMCs and CMs can be efficiently increased under specifically defined culture conditions such as short-term hypoxic preconditioning and ERK inhibition.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.923-929
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• 2010

Colostral whey prepared from colostrum (pooled from first six post-partum milkings) was heated for 10 min at $100^{\circ}C$ Heated colostral whey was incubated with 1% enzymes (protein equivalent basis) for 15, 30, 60, 90, and 120 min at $50^{\circ}C$. Papain, pepsin, trypsin, and alcalase produced different degrees of hydrolysis (DH), 10.66%, 12.42%, 10.83%, and 25.31%, respectively, at an incubation time of 120 min. The SDS-PAGE reveals that significant amounts of bovine serum albumin (BSA), ${\beta}$-lactoglobulin (${\beta}$-LG), and ${\alpha}$-lactalbumin (${\alpha}$-LA) survived papain digestion. In contrast, pepsin completely removed BSA but not ${\beta}$-LG present in heated colostral whey. Alcalase completely eliminated BSA, ${\beta}$-LG, and ${\alpha}$-LA. This differential hydrolysis was confirmed by reversed-phase HPLC analysis. Using ion-exchange chromatography, fraction-1 (F-1) was obtained from alcalase hydrolysate at a NaCl gradient concentration of 0.25 M. Reversed-phase HPLC chromatograms of alcalase F-1 showed numerous small peaks, which probably indicate that a variety of new peptides were produced. Iron content of alcalase F-1 was 28.94 ppm, which was the highest among all enzyme fractions, whereas iron content of colostral whey was 36.56 ppm. Main amino acids contained in alcalase F-1 were Thr (15.45%), Glu (14.12%), and Ser (10.39%). Therefore, alcalase can be used to generate good iron-binding peptides in heated colostral whey, and the resulting iron-binding peptides could be suitable as a value-added food ingredient for food supplements.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.35 no.5
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• pp.757-763
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• 2003

L-Arabinose inhibits intestinal sucrase in an uncompetitive manner and, consequently, inhibits the absorption of sucrose from the small intestine. The addition of $3{\sim}5%$ L-arabinose to sucrose causes about a 60% reduction in the digestion of sucrose in the small intestine. In addition, it reduces the increase of the levels of blood sugar, insulin, triglycerides, and cholesterol caused by the ingestion of sucrose. The taste of L-arabinose is quite similar to that of sucrose, with approximately 50% the sweetness of sucrose. Naturally occurring arabinose is an L-form and a noncaloric sugar that is not metabolized in animals. L-Arabinose is a common component of plant cell walls and is widely distributed in the plant kingdom. It is the main component of cereal hemicellulose, such as corn, wheat, and rice, pectic substances of beet, apple pulps, and some plant gums. L-Arabinose can be produced by either the acid hydrolysis or the enzymatic hydrolysis of some plant gums, corn fiber, and beet pulps. This novel sugar has a potential to be used as a food additive for improving obesity and maintaining good health.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.182-186
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• 2000

Chondroitin sulfates proteoglycans were isolated from human placenta. For the identification of enzymatic digestion products of isolated proteoglycan, strong anion exchange-high performance liquid chromatography (SAX-HPLC) was performed. By the action of chondroitin ABC and chondroitin B lyase, three unsaturated disaccharides 2-acetamide-2-deoxy-3-O-($\beta$-D-gluco-4-enepyranosyluronic acid)-D-galactose ($\delta$Di-OS), 2-acetamide-2-deoxy-3-O-($\beta$-D-gluco-4-enepyranosyluronic acid)-6-O-su lfo-D-galactose ($\delta$Di-6S) and 2-acetamide-2-deoxy-3-O-($\beta$-D-gl uco-4-enepyranosyluronic acid)-4-O-sulfo-D-galactose ($\delta$Di-4S) were produced from the human placenta proteoglycan. The anticoagulant activity of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan was evaluated by activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT) assay and thrombin time (TT) assay. The clotting times of aPTT and TT were increased from 72 to 144 sec and 19 to 27 sec, respectively. The Immune-modulating activity of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycan was examined by cell proliferation assay and these results suggest that it may play a role in suppression of the function of immune-related cells.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.273-278
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• 2000

Transforming growth factor-$\beta$ (IGF-$\beta$)s are multifunctional small polypeptides synthesized in most cell types. TGF-$\beta$ exerts pivotal effects on both bone formation and resorption. In addition, increasing lines of evidence implicate TGF-$\beta$ as a potential coupling factor between these two processes during bone remodeling. In the present study, the expression form and the activation mechanism of latent-TGF-$\beta$ were investigated using specific antibodies for each isoform. TGF-$\beta$s were observed to be synthesized and accumulated in a large amount in cultured osteoblastic cells. The estimated molecular weights of intracellular TGF-$\beta$2 and -$\beta$3 were 49 and 55 kDa, respectively. Based on proteolytic digestion study and immunofluorescence observation, these precursor forms seemed to be accumulated in distinct intracellular compartments. To examine whether the internal pool of TGF-$\beta$ was possiblely regulated by external signals, their biological activites were examined in a conditioned media of this cell. Although the intact conditioned media did not contain detectable TGF-$\beta$ activity, heat-treatment or acid-activation of the conditioned media revealed significant TGF-$\beta$ activity. Furthermore, in the presence of estrogen, this activity was dramatically diminished. It is known that activation of latent TGF-$\beta$ can be achieved by different chemical and enzymatic treatments, or by incubation with certain cell types. This extracellular activation was suggested as a key step in the regulation of TGF-$\beta$ activity. In addition to these extracellular activation, this study suggests that the synthesis and intracellular processing are important regulation steps for TGF-$\beta$ action. In addition, this regulation Is specific for TGF-$\beta$ type 2, because the change was not observed in TGF-$\beta$3 in osteoblastic cell line.