• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.28 no.12
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• pp.2283-2287
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• 2007

Amyloid fibril formation of amyloid β/A4 protein (Aβ) is critical to understand the pathological mechanism of Alzheimer's disease and develop controlling strategy toward the neurodegenerative disease. For this purpose, dequalinium (DQ) has been employed as a specific modifier for Aβ aggregation and its subsequent cytotoxicity. In the presence of DQ, the final thioflavin-T binding fluorescence of Aβ aggregates decreased significantly. It was the altered morphology of Aβ aggregates in a form of the bundles of the fibrils, distinctive from normal single-stranded amyloid fibrils, and the resulting reduced β-sheet content that were responsible for the decreased fluorescence. The morphological transition of Aβ aggregates assessed with atomic force microscope indicated that the bundle structure observed with DQ appeared to be resulted from the initial multimeric seed structure rather than lateral association of preformed single-stranded fibrils. Investigation of the seeding effect of the DQ-induced Aβ aggregates clearly demonstrated that the seed structure has determined the final morphology of Aβ aggregates as well as the aggregative kinetics by shortening the lag phase. In addition, the cytotoxicity was also varied depending on the final morphology of the aggregates. Taken together, DQ has been considered to be a useful chemical probe to control the cytotoxicity of the amyloid fibrils by influencing the seed structures which turned out to be central to develop therapeutic strategy by inducing the amyloid fibrils in different shapes with varied toxicities.

• Composites Research
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• v.12 no.6
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• pp.53-64
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• 1999

Microstructural morphology and bending strengths of moulded composites of thermotropic liquid crystalline polymer(LCP) and polyamide 6 (PA6) have been studied as a function of epoxy fraction. Injection-moulding of a composite plaque at a temperature below the melting point of the LCP fibrils generated a multi-layered structure: the surface skin layer with thickness of $65\;-\;120{\mu\textrm{m}}$ exhibiting a transverse orientation; the sub-skin layer with an orientation in the flow direction; the core layer with arc-curved flow patterns. The plaques containing epoxy 4.8vol% exhibited superior bending strength and large fracture strain. With an increase of epoxy fraction equal to and beyond 4.8vol%, geometry of LCP domains was changed from fibrillar shape to lamella-like one, which caused a shear-mode fracture. An analysis of the bending strength of the composite plaques by using a symmetric layered model beam suggested that addition of epoxy component altered not only the microstructural geometry but also the elastic moduli and strengths of the respective layers.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.495-500
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• 1998

Ultrastructural changes of the isolated and cultured protoplasts from ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) callus were studies with electron microscopy. In the 3-day-cultured protoplasts, the cell organelles such as rough endoplasmic reticulum, ribosome, Golgi complex, mitochondria, proplastid increased in number and observed microtubules. Many vesicles derived from the Golgi complex were evenly distributed in the cytoplasm. Some of such vesicles protruded the outer surface of the plasmalemma, and formed the protuberances. Vacuole derived from endoplasmic reticulum included Golgi vesicles by the invagination of vacuoles. These vacuoles migrated toward the plasmalemma by a fusion process (exocytosis), after fusing the plasmalemma the cell wall materials released from the outer surface of the plasmalemma, and lastly deposited on the plasmalemma. Proplastids containing many starch grains, and microtubules parallel to the plasmalemma were observed near the plasmalemma. Connected fibrils which were observed on the outer surface of the 3-day-cultured protoplast were interpreted as the component of cellulose.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.429-434
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• 2000

Isolated protoplasts from ginseng (Panax ginseng C. A. Meyer) callus tissue were cultured in modified MS media supplemented with various concentrations of dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO). The cell wall regeneration rate and cell division efficiency of the protoplasts were increased significantly by 1% DMSO treatment. However, there was no difference in the viability of protoplasts between the DMSO treatment and non-treatment. Transmission electron microscopy revealed that the microtubules were oriented in parallel manner to the plasmalemma after 3 days of culture in medium with 1% DMSO. Further, interconnected cellulose microfibrils were observed on the outer surface of the 3-day-cultured protoplasts by scanning electron microscopy These structures shown by electron microscopy were not observed in protoplasts cultured on DMSO-free media. This studies indicates that DMSO supplemented in culture media seemed to stimulate the cell wall regeneration and cell divisions of protoplasts by forming microtubule organizing centers (MTOC).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.8
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• pp.1204-1209
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• 2002

Polymerization of heated or unheated pig skin collagen using microbial transglutaminase (MTGase) was investigated. Pig skin collagen samples were heated or left unheated, then enzymatically polymerized with MTGase. SDS-PAGE was conducted to confirm the intermolecular polymer and the results showed similar bands between samples without MTGase and unheated samples with MTGase. The polymerized product of pig skin collagen was not formed in unheated samples, even when MTGase was added during incubation. Different results were obtained from samples heated at $80^{\circ}C$ and $100^{\circ}C$ for 2 min, whereas the SDS-PAGE pattern indicated that a polymer band was generated in both cases. The heat treatment successfully modified the native structure of collagen and also made collagen more reactable in the MTGase polymerization system. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) investigation of pig skin collagen showed a biopolymer structure through intermolecular collagen crosslinking, while there were no intermolecular crosslinks in samples not treated with MTGase. There were no significant differences in fibril diameter between treated samples and controls. These results suggest that heat treatment of native pig skin collagen enhanced the polymerization capability of MTGase.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.1095-1103
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• 2008

The effects of resin finish and dyeabilities of four kinds of Iyocell fabrics that were manufactured by four kinds of pulps were investigated. The dyeabilities of Iyocell fabrics were similar, but differed from cotton fabric. In early stage of 30 minutes, cotton fabric was shown higher dye exhaustion ratio than Iyocell fabrics, however after then cotton fabric did not increase dye exhaustion, Iyocell fabrics increased continuously. At last, the dye exhaustion ratio of Iyocell fabrics were about 75% and that of cotton fabric was 65%. Two kinds of experimental procedures were applied for Iyocell fabrics. One was what the fabrics were treated with resins and washed with cellulase, and then dyed with reactive dyes. The other procedure was the fabrics were dyed with reactive dyes, and then applied the resin treatments and cellulase washing. After fibrillation and washing the undyed Iyocell fabric and the Iyocell fabric that was dyed with C.I.Reactive Red 120, their weight loss ratios were 3.5% and 2.8%, respectively. Dyeing with reactive dyes caused the crosslinking between cellulose and dyes and the crosslinking decreased fibrillation. The weight loss by enzyme washing of Iyocell fabrics decreased by the glyoxal and melamine resin treatments. The reduction of weight loss can be caused by fibrillation decrease. Dyeing and resin treating can be showed the synergic effect on the reduction of fibrillation. The effect of glyoxal resin on the reduction of fibrillation was a little better than that of melamine resin.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.228-238
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• 2007

Since molecular structure of hnRNP is not available in foreseeable future, it is best to construct a working model for hnRNP structure. A geometric problem, assembly of $700{\pm}20$ nucleotides with 48 proteins, is visualized by a frame work in which all the proteins participate in primary binding, followed by secondary, tertiary and quaternary binding with neighboring proteins without additional import. Thus, 40S hnRNP contains crown-like secondary structure (48 stemloops) and appearance of 6 petal (octamers) rose-like architectures. The proteins are wrapped by RNA. Co-transcriptional folding for RNP fibril of FMR1 gene can produce 2,571 stem-loops with frequency of 1 stem-loop/15.3 nucleotides and 53 40S hnRNP beaded structure. By spliceosome driven reactions, there occurs removal of 16 separate lariated RNPs, joining 17 separate beaded exonic structures and anchoring EJC on each exon junction. Skipping exon 12 has 5'GU, 3'AG and very compact folding pattern with frequency of 1 stem-loop per 12 nucleotides in short exon length (63 nucleotides). 5' end of exon 12 contains SS (Splicing Silencer) element of UAGGU. In exons 10, 15 and 17 where both regular and alternative splice sites exist, SS (hnRNP A1 binding site) is observed at the regular splicing site. End products are mature FMR-1 mRNP, 4 species of Pri-microRNAs derived from introns 7,9,15 and 3'UTR of exon17, respectively. There may also be some other regulatory RNAs containing ALU/Line elements as well.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.310-316
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• 2006

In this study, activated carbon in a powder form was used to remove dissolved ammonia which causes a fouling smell in water. Since the adsorption capacity of common powder activated carbon is not high enough, we prepared powder activated carbon deposited on an acid solution to enhance the adsorption capacity. The acid-impregnated activated carbon was applied on the surface of porous fibril support ($10{\sim}50{\mu}m$) by which adsorption and separation processes take place simultaneously by varying effective pressure. As the result, the ammonia removal efficiency is above 60% in the mixing process which is 10~15% higher than general powder activated carbon. From the result of an experiment on the pure permeable test of a dynamic membrane, its transmittance is 400~700 LMH (liter per hour), indicating that the prepared membrane works as a microfiltration membrane. Therefore, it is expected that the membrane prepared in this way would improve the efficiency of water treatment than conventional membranes.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2014.03a
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• pp.237-249
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• 2014

Deposition of amyloid-${\beta}$ ($A{\beta}$) proteins is the conventional pathological hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The $A{\beta}$ protein formed from the amyloid precursor protein is predominated by the 40 residue protein ($A{\beta}40$) and by the 42 residue protein ($A{\beta}42$). While $A{\beta}40$ and $A{\beta}42$ differ in only two amino acid residues at the C-terminal end, $A{\beta}42$ is much more prone to aggregate and exhibits more neurotoxicity than $A{\beta}40$. Here, we investigate the molecular origin of the difference in the aggregation propensity of these two proteins by performing fully atomistic, explicit-water molecular dynamics simulations. Then, it is followed by the solvation thermodynamic analysis based on the integral-equation theory of liquids. We find that $A{\beta}42$ displays higher tendency to adopt ${\beta}$-sheet conformations than $A{\beta}40$, which would consequently facilitate the conversion to the ${\beta}$-sheet rich fibril structure. Furthermore, the solvation thermodynamic analysis on the simulated protein conformations indicates that $A{\beta}42$ is more hydrophobic than $A{\beta}40$, implying that the surrounding water imparts a larger thermodynamic driving force for the self-assembly of $A{\beta}42$. Taken together, our results provide structural and thermodynamic grounds on why $A{\beta}42$ is more aggregation-prone than $A{\beta}40$ in aqueous environments.

• Proceeding of EDISON Challenge
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• 2015.03a
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• pp.14-23
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• 2015

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common types of degenerative dementia. As a considerable cause of Alzheimer's disease, neurotoxic plaques composed of 39 to 42 residue-long amyloid beta($A{\beta}$) fibrils have been found in the patient's brain in large quantity. A previous study found that erythrosine B (ER), a red color food dye approved by FDA, inhibits the formation of amyloid beta fibril structures. Here, in an attempt to elucidate the inhibition mechanism, we performed molecular dynamics simulations to demonstrate the conformational change of $A{\beta}40$ induced by 2 ERs in atomistic detail. During the simulation, the ERs bound to the surfaces of both N-terminus and C-terminus regions of $A{\beta}40$ rapidly. The observed stacking of the ERs and the aromatic side chains near the N-terminus region suggests a possible inhibition mechanism in which disturbing the inter-chain stacking of PHEs destabilizes beta-sheet enriched in amyloid beta fibrils. The bound ERs block water molecules and thereby help stabilizing alpha helical structure at the main chain of C-terminus and interrupt the formation of the salt-bridge ASP23-LYS28 at the same time. Our findings can help better understanding of the current and upcoming treatment studies for Alzheimer's disease by suggesting inhibition mechanism of ER on the conformational transition of $A{\beta}40$ at the molecular level.