• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.271-276
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• 2003

The inoculation of some microorganisms into a microcosm containing soil from a barren lakeside area at Lake Paro in Kangwon-do enhanced plant growth significantly. The direct and viable counts of soil bacteria and soil microbial activities measured by electron transport system assay and fluorescein diacetate hydrolysis assay were higher in inoculated soil. The plant growth promoting effect of this inoculation may be caused by phytohormone production and the solubilization of insoluble phosphates by the inoculated bacteria. Three inoculated strains of Pseudomonas fluorescens produced several plant growth promoting phytohormones, including indole-3-acetic acid (auxin), which was confirmed by thin layer chromatography and GC/MS. P. fluorescens strain B16 and M45 produced 502.4 and 206.1 mg/l of soluble phosphate from Ca3(PO4)2 and hydroxyapatite, respectively. Bacillus megaterium showed similar solubilization rates of insoluble phosphates to those of Pseudomonas spp. We believe that this plant growth promoting capability may be used for the rapid revegetation of barren or disturbed land.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.3.1-3.7
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• 2022

Disulfiram (DSF) is a marketed drug to treat patients with alcohol dependence by inhibiting aldehyde dehydrogenase. Over the last few decades, DSF has been shown to have anticancer effects through different mechanisms. Moreover, this effect can be elevated when used with copper (Cu). Subsequent studies have been conducted on various cancers, but few on lymphoma. This study investigated the anticancer effects of DSF on lymphoma and how this effect changed when treated with Cu. DSF synergistically decreased the metabolic activity of EL4 lymphoma cells when combined with Cu. At 1 µM of DSF alone, the metabolic activity of EL4 cells decreased by 49% compared to the control, whereas it decreased by 87% with a DSF + CuCl₂ treatment. Rhodamine 123 and 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate staining showed that DSF induced the reduction of the mitochondrial membrane potential and promoted the production of reactive oxygen species. In particular, the combined treatment of DSF + Cu induced cell death based on multiple assays, including annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining. Overall, DSF has anticancer effects on lymphoma cells and exhibits synergistic effects when combined with Cu. This study provides some valuable information to broaden the use of DSF in clinics and basic research.

• International Journal of Molecular Medicine
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.2516-2522
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• 2019

Particulate matter (PM), a widespread airborne contaminant, is a complex mixture of solid and liquid particles suspended in the air. Recent studies have demonstrated that PM induces oxidative stress and inflammatory reactions, and may cause certain skin diseases. Afzelin is a flavonoid isolated from Thesium chinense Turcz, which has anti-inflammatory, anticancer and antibacterial properties. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate if afzelin affected inflammatory responses in human keratinocytes exposed to PM. HaCaT cells were treated with PM (25 ㎍/cm2) in the presence or absence of afzelin (200 µM). Here, standard reference material 1649b was used as PM. Cell viability was assessed using the water-soluble tetrazolium salt-1 assay. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was measured using the dichloro-dihydro-​fluorescein diacetate assay. Gene and protein expression were investigated using reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. Levels of secreted inflammatory cytokines were measured using ELISA. The results suggested that afzelin inhibited PM-induced proinflammatory cytokine mRNA expression and protein secretion in HaCaT cells. In addition, afzelin suppressed PM-induced intracellular ROS generation, and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and transcription factor activator protein-1 component c-Fos and c-Jun activation. The results indicated that afzelin exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects in PM-exposed HaCaT. Afzelin may have potential for preventing PM-induced inflammatory skin diseases.

• Korean Journal of Animal Reproduction
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.55-62
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• 1994

This study was carried out to test the effects of fluorescein diacetate(FDA 0${mu}ell$/ml, 0.5${mu}ell$/ml, 5${mu}ell$/ml, 10${mu}ell$/ml or 0${mu}ell$/ml, 5${mu}ell$/ml in PBS) treated before culture on the survival of vitrified mouse morulae in vitrification solution(20% glycerol＋glycerol＋10% ethylene glycol＋30% ficoll＋10% sucrose). The results were summarized as follows; 1. The survival rate of FDA-tested fresh mouse morulae after 24 hours culture was over 96%((P4.8) in the control or treatment groups with various levels of FDA. Because the rate of mouse morulae which developed to hatched blastocysts was higher with the various levels of FDA treatment(67%) than control(50%), it was considered that toxicity of FDA did not affect the survival of mouse morulae. 2. When mouse morulae were FDA-tested in FDA 0(control), 0.5, 5, and 10${mu}ell$/ml treatment after vitrification, the development rate to expanded blastocyst were 66, 82, 64 and 76%, and FDA scores were P4.2(84%), P4.7(94%), P4.2(84%) and P3.9(78%), respectively. There were no significant differences between control and FDA treatments, but there were significant difference between 0.5${mu}ell$/ml)94%) and 10${mu}ell$/ml(78%) treatment(P<0.01). 3. The survival rates of cultured mouse morulae according to FDA-scores(P0=non-fluorescence; P1~P5=according to their fluorescence) after vitrification were P5;92%, P4;67%, P3;42% and P2.P0;0%, respectively. 4. Implantation rates of morulae stage embryos cultured into early blastocysts and implanted into uterine hornes vitrification were 14 and 11% embryos treated control(0${mu}ell$/ml) and FDA 5${mu}ell$/ml and the normal fetus development was 2% embryos for both treatments. Results of this percent study indicated that toxicity of FDA does not affect not only the survival of fresh and vitrified mouse morulae but also the development rate and implantation of fetus after transfer as well. The development rates of mouse morulae with the FDA score of P5, P4 and P3 were 92, 67 and 42%, respectively, it was considered that FDA-test was fit for the judge of survival.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.4328-4334
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• 2015

We determined a method to determine marine planktonic organism viability using Evan's blue, Aniline blue, and 5-choromethyfluorescein diacetate (CMFDA). The Evan's blue and Aniline blue methods produced bright blue light for dead phytoplankton and zooplankton and were the best dyes to detect dead cells. The staining efficiency of Evan's blue and Aniline blue were ${\geq}90%$ of the original field sample. However, it was difficult to test the efficiency of a ship's ballast water treatment system because detection of living cells. In contrast, the CMFDA method, which is based on measuring cell esterase activity using a fluorimetric stain, was the best dye to detect live cells of almost all phytoplankton species, and staining efficiency was 70%. The CMFDA method is similar to the fluorescein diacetate (FDA) staining method. Therefore, we estimated viability of phytoplankton species using a double-staining method by combining CMFDA and FDA to determine optimum staining efficiency. As a result, the frequency of dying cells based on the double-staining method was 95%, which was significantly higher than that of single CMDFA staining. Our results suggest that a CMDFA + FDA assay is more effective to determine survival of marine plankton and that this method was applicable to investigate the efficacy of a ship's ballast water treatment system.

• Journal of Soil and Groundwater Environment
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.37-45
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• 2015

This study was conducted to determine the toxic effect of TNT and RDX on indigenous soil microbes by measuring enzymatic activity. Denitrification activity, dehydrogenase activity, phosphatase activity, and fluorescein diacetate hydrolytic activity were determined for military firing range, field, and paddy soils exposed to TNT, and RDX from 0 to 1,000 mg/kg and 0 to 4,000 mg/kg, respectively, for 2, 4, and 8 weeks. Soil microbial enzymatic activities decreased with higher TNT and RDX concentration and longer exposure time. Microbial enzymatic activities of firing range soil were higher than field and paddy soils, indicating that indigenous microbes in firing range might have been adapted to TNT and RDX due to pre-exposure of the explosives. In addition, the toxicity of TNT and RDX decreased with higher organic matter because TNT and RDX tend to absorb to soil organic matter. No Observable Effect Concentration (NOEC) values of each microbial enzymatic activity were derived by the geometric mean of NOECs from exposure times (2, 4, and 8 weeks) and soil types (firing range, field, paddy soil). The derived NOECs ranged from 45.3 to 55.2 mg/kg for TNT and 286 to 309 mg/kg for RDX.

• Development and Reproduction
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.245-252
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• 2018

To improve survival rates of vitrified pig oocytes, the treatment of cytoskeletal stabilizer on an appropriate time is one of the possible approaches. However, the exact treatment timing and effect of cytoskeletal stabilizer such as cytochalasin B (CB) is not well known during oocyte vitrification procedures. Thus, the present study was conducted to determine optimal treatment timing of CB during vitrification and warming procedures. In experiment 1, the survival rates of the postwarming pig oocytes were analyzed by fluorescein diacetate (FDA) assays with 4 classifications. In results, post-warming oocytes showed significantly (p<0.05) decreased number of alive oocytes (31.8% vs. 86.4%) compared to fresh control. In detail, the significant difference (p<0.05) was found only in strong fluorescence (18.2% vs. 70.5%) not in intermediate fluorescence groups (13.6% vs. 15.9%). In experiment 2, CB was treated before (CB-Vitri) and after (Vitri-CB) vitrification. In results, group of Vitri-CB showed significantly (p<0.05) higher (91.6%) survival rates compared to group of CB-Vitri (83.7%), significantly (p<0.05) and comparable with group of Vitri Control (88.7%) by morphological inspection. In FDA assay results, group of Vitri-CB showed significantly (p<0.05) higher (44.2%) survival rates compared to groups of CB-Vitri (36.7%) and Vitri Control (35.1%). In conclusion, the increased survival rates of post-warming pig oocyte treated with Vitri-CB method are firstly described here. The main finding of present study is that the CB treatment during recovery could be helpful to refresh the post-warming pig oocyte resulting its improved survival rates.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.218-223
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• 1993

Conditions for the release and regeneration of protoplasts form Rhizopus oryzae and intergeneric protoplast fusion between Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus oryzae were studied. High yields of protoplast fusion between Rhizopus oryzae and Aspergillus oxyzae were studied. High yield of protoplasts from young germilings of R. oryzae were obtained by using lytic enzymes containing chitosanase (3 mg/ml), chitinase (3 mg/ml) and Novozym 234 (5 mg/ml). 0.5M glucose was used as the osmotic stabilizer and optimum pH of buffer was determined to be pH 7.5-8.0. Under these conditions, protoplasts were formed after about 3-4 hrs incubation. Approximately, 1.0%-4.9% of these protoplasts were formed after about 3-4 hrs incubation. Approximately, 1.0%-4.9% of these protoplasts regenerated on solid medium with a soft agar overlay. We have also carried out protoplasts fusion between R. oryzae and A. oryzae and have succeeded in obtaining three types of intergeneric fusants. In these experiments, 35% PEG-4000 and 10 mM CaCl$_{2}$ were used as fsogenic agents, and auxotrophic properties were used as a genetic marker to select fusants. Complementation frequency be protoplasts fusion of A. oxyzae and R. oryzae was 4.4% * 10$^{-5}$ . The fusant strains of the first type were prototrophs showing an Aspergillus type morphology with dark-yellow sporulation, those of the second type were also Apergillus type morphology but showed no sporulation. And the strains of the third type stopped growing when fusion products grown on regeneration minimal medium were transferred to fresh minimal medium. The formation of fusion products was observed by fluorescent vital stains for complementary labelling of protoplats from R. oryzae and A. oryzae. Rhodamine 6G and fluorescein diacetate wer useful complementary vital stains of Rhizopus and Aspergillus protoplasts for visualization of requency and type (dicell, multicell) of fusion.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.485-489
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• 2011

The present study was conducted to examine the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation levels and subsequent DNA damage in the bovine cultured somatic cells. Bovine ear skin cells were classified by serum starvation, confluence and cycling cells. Cells were stained in 10 ${\mu}M$ dichlorohydrofluorescein diacetate ($H_2DCFDA$) or 10 ${\mu}M$ hydroxyphenyl fluorescein (HPF) dye to measure the $H_2O_2$ or $^{\cdot}OH$ radical levels. The samples were examined with a fluorescent microscope, and fluorescence intensity was analyzed in each cell. $H_2O_2$ and $^{\cdot}OH$ radical levels of cultured somatic cells were high in confluence group ($7.1{\pm}0.7$ and $8.4{\pm}0.4$ pixels/cell, respectively) and significantly low in serum starvation group ($4.9{\pm}0.4$ and $7.0{\pm}0.4$ pixels/cell, respectively, p<0.05). Comet tail lengths of serum starvation ($148.3{\pm}5.7$ ${\mu}M$) and confluence ($151.1{\pm}5.0$ ${\mu}M$) groups were found to be significantly (p<0.05) increased in comparison to that of cycling group ($137.1{\pm}7.5$ ${\mu}M$). These results suggest that the culture type of donor cells can affect the ROS generation, which leads the DNA fragmentation of the cells.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.35 no.2
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• pp.191-195
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• 2011

The present study was conducted to examine the reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation levels in porcine parthenogenetic embryos. Porcine in vitro matured oocytes were activated by the combination of electric stimulus and 6-DMAP before in vitro culture. Porcine oocytes and parthenogenetic embryos were stained in 10 ${\mu}M$ dichlorohydrofluorescein diacetate (DCF) or 10 ${\mu}M$ hydroxyphenyl fluorescein (HPF) dye each for 30 min at $39^{\circ}C$. The fluorescent emissions from the samples were recoded as JPEG file and the intensity of fluorescence in oocytes and embryos were analyzed. $H_2O_2$ and $^{\cdot}OH$ radical levels of porcine oocytes were reduced immediately after electric stimulation. However, $H_2O_2$ and $^{\cdot}OH$ radical levels of parthenogenetic embryos were increased with time elapsed after electric stimulation from 0 h to 3 h and after DMAP culture. During in vitro culture, $H_2O_2$ and $^{\cdot}OH$ radical levels were gradually increased from the one-cell stage to the two- and four-cell stages. The result of the present study suggests that the ROS was not increased by electric pulse in porcine embryos. Rather than it seems to be associated with the stage of development and the culture condition.