• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.25-33
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• 2002

Serotonin transporter(5-HTT) is one of the major action site of antidepressants in neuronal cells. According to the recent studies, it is known that the functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the 5-HTT gene(5-HTT linked polymorphism repetitive element in promoter region, 5-HTTLPR) is associated with antidepressant responsiveness, and the distributions of 5-HTTLPR is various among the different populations. Our preliminary study suggested that it is possible to measure the endophenotype of 5-HTTLPR genotype by examining the pharmacodynamic research of the 5-HTT in platelet membranes. However, there are limitations to predicting the antidepressant responsiveness only from the endophenotypic characteristics of 5-HTT gene promoter polymorphism, and therefore we propose to use the pharmacogenomic methods for overcoming these limitations. We found that the significant correlations existed among the genetic polymorphisms of biogenic amine transporters whose structure and characteristics are similar to the 5-HTT, and the predictable odds ratio of antidepressant responsiveness are increased significantly by combining the effect with other associated polymorphisms, compared to the effect of 5-HTT promoter polymorphism only. These results support the hypothesis that antidepressant treatment has to be individualized according to the genetic and ethnic background of depressed patients. It would be possible to develope the evaluation tools to predict the antidepressant responsiveness and its side effect profile, if scientists reveal the genes related to the action mechanism as well as the metabolism of antidepressants so as to discover the interaction of those genes and contribution of endogenotypes toward antidepressant responsiveness.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.157-166
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• 2015

Purpose: The effects of water extract and distillate from the mixture of black goat meat and medicinal herb on MG-63 osteoblast proliferation and mouse bone marrow derived osteoclast formation were investigated. Methods: Proximate composition, volatile basic nitrogen (VBN), mineral content, free amino acid composition and free fatty acid composition in black goat meat were determined. Water extract and distillate were prepared with three groups; goat meat only (BG-E, BG-D), six herbs added group (BG-E6, BG-D6), and eight herbs added group (BG-E8, BG-D8). Osteoblast proliferation, mineralization and calcium uptake activity of MG-63 cells were measured and tartrate resistant acid phosphatase activity of osteoclasts was analyzed. Results: Black goat meat had remarkably low fat and high level of calcium. Glutamic acid was the most abundant amino acid. Herbs added extract groups (BG-E6 and BG-E8) showed increased MG-63 cell proliferation in a concentration dependent manner, while all the distillates did not show the effect. All extracts and distillates showed significantly increased osteoblast mineralization depending on the concentration. In particular, herb added extract, BG-E6, increased 170.3% of control and the distillate of BG-D and BG-D6 increased up to 168.5% and 159.8%, respectively. Calcium uptake activities of all water extracts showed remarkable increase of BG-E6 and BG-E8 up to 615.5% and 628.1% of control, respectively. Ditillates had no effect except BG-D6. All water extracts significantly reduced the activity of tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) in osteoclasts derived from mouse bone marrow. Conclusion: Combination of black goat meat and medicinal herb increased the MG-63 cell proliferation and effectively inhibited osteoclast differentiation in both water extracts and distillate of them, which implies that they could be used as potent functional food materials for bone health.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.45 no.7
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• pp.1057-1064
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• 2016

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of fermented herbal mixtures (FHMs) in HepG2 and PC12 cells. Two different types of fermented herbal mixtures consisted of Chrysanthemum morifolium, Ganoderma lucidum, Acanthopanax senticosus, Schisandra chinensis, Hovenia dulcis thumb, and Lycii fructus. FHM-A and FHM-B were separately fermented with Prunellae Spica, Portulaca oleracea (FHM-A) and Acorus gramineus, Pycnostelma paniculatum (FHM-B). Total phenolic content of FHM-B was higher than that of FHM-A. ORAC values in both FHM-A and FHM-B increased in a dose-dependent manner, and antioxidant activities against peroxyl radicals were higher in FHM-A than FHM-B. Both FHM-A and FHM-B effectively ameliorated AAPH- and ethanol-induced oxidative stress in HepG2 cells. They also suppressed lipid formation induced by ethanol treatment. In addition, FHM-A and FHM-B prevented $H_2O_2$-induced PC12 cell death. FHM-B showed a relatively stronger protective effect than that of FMB-A. Taken together, these findings show that a fermented herbal mixture could be used in healthy and functional food design for oxidative stress-related diseases.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.196-204
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• 2009

This study was carried out to investigate the in vivo and in vitro inhibitory effect of a traditional herbal complex (HC) extract prepared from a mixture of four oriental herbs (Dioscorea Rhizoma, Glycine soja Sieb. et Zucc, Bombycis corpus, Fermented Glycine soja) that have been widely used for the treatment and prevention of diabetes mellitus on hyperglycemia. The water extract of HC showed potent inhibitory effect on $\alpha$-glucosidase with $IC_{50}$ value of 1.24 mg/mL. Additionally, the ethanol extract of HC was also found to exhibit significant inhibitory effect against protein tyrosine phosphatase $1{\beta}$ ($PTP1{\beta}$), which is known as a major regulator of both insulin and leptin signaling. In the $PTP1{\beta}$ inhibitory assay, the most active n-hexane fraction obtained from the ethanol extract of HC, was identified as a mixture of fatty acid derivatives by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In high-fat diet-low dose streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat, the water extract of HC improved the oral glucose intolerance as compared with rosiglitazone. HC also caused a marked decrease of body weight and fasting blood glucose and a significant improvement on glucose tolerance in metabolic syndrome mice model. These findings support that this traditional HC may be useful in the control of blood glucose in diabetes mellitus and metabolic syndrome.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.252-263
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• 2008

The purpose of this study was to determine trophic state, based on nutrients (TN, TP), transparency (SD), and chlorophyll-${\alpha}$ (Chl) and identify their empirical relations of TN-Chl, TP-Chl and Chl-SD depending on the dataset used along with dynamics of conductivity and suspended solids. Analysis of trophic states showed that more than half of 36 reservoirs were judged as eutrophic-hypertrophic conditions depending on the trophic variables. Seasonal values of TP varied by nearly 500% and showed greater in August than any other months. In contrast, TN varied within less than 90% and all monthly mean values of TN were never fall less than 1.2 mg L$^{-1}$ indicating low seasonal variations and high ambient concentrations (eutrophic-hypertrophic state). Analysis of empirical relations in the trophic variables showed that transparency had greater functional relations with Chl (R$^2$=0.31, p<0.001) than TP (R$^2$=0.15, p<0.001) and TN (R$^2$=0.20, p<0.001). Ratios of TN : TP in the ambient water indicated that most reservoirs showed a potential phosphorous limitation on the algal growth. Thus, algal biomass, based on Chl values, was more regulated by phosphorous than nitrogen. Analysis of linear regression model, based on log-transformed annual mean values, showed that only 30% in the variation of Chl was explained by TP (R$^2$=0.295, p=0.001, n=36) and 15% by TN (R$^2$=0.151, p=0.019, n=36). However, linear regression model, based on individual system, showed that Chl-TP model had strong positive relations (R$^2$=0.62, p=0.002, n=12), whereas the model had no any relations (p=0.892, n=12). Overall, our data suggested that averaging effect in the empirical model developments may influence the significance in the statistical analysis.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.197-210
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• 2012

In this research, we executed a questionnaire survey targeting men and women in 20' or more who reside in the metropolitan area and have experienced purchasing the vehicles in order to study how Promotion Mix Activity affects Brand assets, and ultimately what kind of relation it has with Purchase intention. In the statistical process of collected data, we analyzed the data by using SPSS 12.0 for Windows statistical package and AMOS 7.0 program. As the result of analysis, first, when we analyzed the relation of the Promotion Mix Activity and Brand Assets of the companies, the more affirmative the assessment on the advertising activities of the companies was, the higher the brand popularity, royalty and image increased, And it appeared that as the assessment on PR activities of the companies got more affirmative, the brand popularity, image and royalty increased. Second, as the result of the analysis of the relation between salespersons' Promotion Activities and Brand assets, it appeared that salespersons' social capacity improved Brand awareness and royalty and their strategic capacity improved Brand awareness, royalty and image. Third, seeing the result of the analysis on the relation between Brand assets and Purchase intention, it was shown that Brand popularity had a meaningful positive(+) effect upon satisfaction and repurchase(oral) intention, and Brand royalty had a meaningful positive(+) effect upon satisfaction and repurchase(oral) intention. In addition, it appeared that Brand image had a meaningful positive(+) effect upon satisfaction and repurchase(oral) intention, and finally it could be known that Brand assets had a close correlation with Purchase intention. Therefore, this research established the color marketing strategy as follows. First, we shall build up the functional role such as aesthetic favor, information communication, protection of ecosystem, publicity reinforcement etc. so as to emphasize the properties of the package design; second, we have to construct the color marketing strategy to convey the images of the commodity besides the psychological and physiological utility which colors grants, the utility used in visual conveyance as communication media; third, we should build the color marketing strategy for the integration of company image; finally we have to compose the colors fitted for the company and product style and introduce design marketing using company colors.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.130-137
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• 2010

Objectives: So far it has been reported that acupuncture increases cerebral blood supply and stimulates the functional activity of brain nerve cells. Previous studies have demonstrated that frequently used electro-acupuncture (EA) therapies for stroke increased regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in normal volunteers. Though ST 36-ST 41 EA is another prevailing therapy for stroke, there had been no report about its effect on rCBF. This study was to evaluate the effect of ST 36-ST 41 EA on rCBF in normal volunteers using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Methods: In the resting state, $^{99m}Tc$-ECD brain SPECT scans were performed on 10 normal volunteers (5 males, 5 female, mean age $23.6{\pm}0.5$ years). On the other study day, 7 days after the resting examination, 15 minutesEA were applied at ST 36 and ST 41 on the right side of the subjects. Immediately after ST36-ST41 EA, the second SPECT images were obtained in the same manner as the resting state. Significant increases and decreases of rCBF after EA were estimated by comparing their SPECT images with those of the resting state using paired t statistics at every voxel, which were analyzed by SPM with a threshold of p = 0.01, uncorrected (extent threshold: k=100 voxels). Results: EA applied at the right ST36-ST41 significantly increased rCBF in the right inferior parietal lobule (Brodmann area [BA] 40), right retrosubicular area (BA 48), left inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), left fusiform gyrus (BA 37), left inferior parietal lobule (BA 39), left inferior temporal gyrus (BA 20), and left somatosensory association cortex (BA 7). However, right ST36-ST41 EA significantly decreased rCBF in the right parahippocampal gyrus (BA 35), right cerebellum, left frontopolar area (BA 10), left orbitofrontal area (BA 11), left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA 9), and left dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (BA 32). Conclusions: These results demonstrate that rightST36-ST41 EA increased rCBF prominently in both inferior parietal lobule (BA 40) and right retrosubicular area (BA 48), which suggest that there be correlation between specific EA and corresponding rCBF.

• Childhood Kidney Diseases
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.127-135
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• 2000

Purpose: Cyclosporine(CsA) is a potent immunosuppressant but the use of CsA is associated with various side effects, especially nephrotoxicity. In tile kidney, salt depletion activates tile renin-angiotensin-aldosteron(RAS) system and accentuates chronic CsA nephropathy. We postulate that angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors(ACEI) can prevent chronic CsA nephropathy, since ACEI may inhibit this cascades. This study was aimed to assess the effect of ACEI on chronic cyclosporin nephropathy in salt depleted rats. Methods: 36 Fischer-344 rats were divided into 6 goups. Group I received normal salt diet(NSD). Group II received a low salt diet(LSD). Group III received CsA with a NSD. Group IV received CsA with a LSD. Group V received NSD+CsA with ACEI. Group VI received LSD+CsA with ACEI. Rats were sacrificed after six weeks and the glomerular filtration rate(GFR), serum sodium, potassium and whole blood cyclosporine levels were measured. Renal tissues me sampled for the observation of histological changes. Results: No differences in blood CsA level & serum sodium were found between groups during the course of this experiment. Serum potassium in group VI was significantly increased compared with group IV and V (P<0.05). In groups treated with CsA only and in those where CsA was combined with ACEI, GFR was found to be significantly more decreased in LSD than NSD, and GFR in group V was significantly decreased in comparison with group III (P<0.05). Renal histologic lesions associated with CsA which consisted of cortical interstitial fibrosis, tubular atrophy and hyalinization of arterioles were more severe in tile LSD group. But, no differences were observed between tile groups treated with CsA and ACEI, and the groups treated with only CsA. Conclusion: Salt depletion associated with the activation of the RAS system accentuated chronic CsA nephrotoxicity, but, ACEI could not reduce the functional and morphological changes of salt depleted kidneys, in which nephropathy can be exacerbated in spite of the blocking of the angiotensin II pathway. further studies are required to elucidate whether Am ameliorated the effect of salt-depleted CsA nephrotoxicity upon the effective renal blood flow.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.42 no.4
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• pp.481-487
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• 2010

The nutritional components, antioxidant, and neuroprotective effects of water and a 50% methanol extract from litchi fruit pericarp were investigated. The most abundant mineral, amino acid, and fatty acid were K, proline, and palmitic acid, respectively. In addition, the total water phenolics and 50% methanol extracts were 8.02 and 12.28 mg/g, respectively. The DPPH, ABTS radical scavenging activities and ferric reducing antioxidant power of the water and 50% methanol extracts showed dose-dependent antioxidant activity. In a cell viability assay using MTT, almost all extracts showed a protective effect against $H_2O_2$-induced neurotoxicity, and lactate dehydrogenase leakage was also inhibited by the pericarp extracts. In particular, the 50% methanol extract showed a higher cell membrane protective effect than the water extract at the highest concentration. Consequently, these data suggest that litchi fruit pericarp can be utilized as an effective and safe functional food substances for natural antioxidants and may reduce the risk of neurodegenerative disorders.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.370-376
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• 2014

Although the grasshopper Oxya chinensis sinuosa has long been used as food in Korea, there is little data on its functional effects. In this study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory effect of O. c. sinuosa ethanol extract (OCE) in RAW 264.7 mouse macrophage cells treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for induction of inflammation. First, we determined that there is no cytotoxicity at $2,000{\mu}g/ml$ or less of OCE in RAW 264.7 cells. To evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of OCE, we investigated expression levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ and interleukin (IL)-6, and pro-inflammatory enzymes such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2) in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells. In addition, we examined whether OCE could inhibit translocation of NF-${\kappa}B$ p65 into the nucleus in LPS induced RAW 264.7 cells. As a result, we found that the mRNA and protein levels of TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-6 decreased in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells after treatment with OCE in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, we confirmed a $2,000{\mu}g/ml$ concentration of OCE inhibited translocation of NF-${\kappa}B$ p65 by immunnostaining and Western blot analysis, and a decrease in the protein expression levels of iNOS and COX-2. Accordingly, we suppose that OCE has an anti-inflammatory effect through down-regulation of TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-6, iNOS, and COX-2 related to ${\kappa}B$ p65 inflammatory signaling pathways.