• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.195-202
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• 2003

Chitosan is known to have antibacterial, antitumorogenic, hypolipidemic and immunopotentiating activities, hence finding diverse uses as a component in varying functional foodstuffs. However, some investigators reported it caused mineral absoiption inhibition and excess coagulation. From the chemical viewpoint, conventional chitosans are high-molecule polymers lacking water solubility, which could be related with their possible toxicity. A newly developed low- molecule water soluble chitosan is thought to have low toxicity compared to conventional chitosans. But no investigation was carried out to evaluate its toxicity. In this study, a 28-day subacute oral toxicity study of the water-soluble chitosan was performed in Sprague-Dawley rats of both sexes. Each 36 male and female rats were orally administered with 500, 1,000 and 2,000 mg/kg/day for 28 consecutive days, respectively. Clinical parameters (growth rate, feed and water consumption, daily inspection, urine analysis) during the 28 days indicated the water-soluble chitosan did not induce any abnonnal changes. There were no abnormal findings due to the administration of the test substance in gross and microscopic findings. We had not found alteration in absolute and relative organ weight between the control and treated groups, with only exception in the liver but lacking dose-dependency. The results of hematology and serum biochemistry examination revealed that no treatment related changes were between control and all dose groups. In conclusion, it was suggested that subacute toxicity of the water-soluble chitosan was low and the no-observed adverse effect level was considered to be over 2,000 mg/kg in rats.

• IMMUNE NETWORK
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• v.11 no.5
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• pp.281-287
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• 2011

Background: Biodegradable polymers have increasingly been recognized for various biological applications in recent years. Here we examined the immunostimulatory activities of the novel poly(aspartic acid) conjugated with L-lysine (PLA). Methods: PLA was synthesized by conjugating L-lysine to aspartic acid polymer. PLA-nanoliposomes (PLA-NLs) were prepared from PLA using a microfluidizer. The immunostimulatory activities of PLA-NLs were examined in mouse bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BM-DCs). Results: PLA-NLs increased the number of BM-DCs when added to cultures of GM-CSF-induced DC generation on day 4 after the initiation of cultures. Examination of the phenotypic properties showed that BM-DCs generated in the presence of PLA-NLs are more mature in terms of the expression of MHC class II molecules and major co-stimulatory molecules than BM-DCs generated in the absence of PLA-NLs. In addition, the BM-DCs exhibited enhanced capability to produce cytokines, such as IL-6, IL-12, TNF-${\alpha}$ and IL-$1{\beta}$. Allogeneic mixed lymphocyte reactions also confirmed that the BMDCs were more stimulatory on allogeneic T cells. PLA- NL also induced further growth of immature BM-DCs that were harvested on day 8. Conclusion: These results show that PLA-NLs induce the generation and functional activities of BM-DCs, and suggest that PLA-NLs could be immunostimulating agents that target DCs.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.39-45
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• 2004

Acid amplifying copolymers are synthesized by the copolymerization of tert-butyl methacrylate(tBMA) with acid-sensitive functional group and 4-hydroxy-4'p-styrenesufonyloxyisopropylidene dicyclohexane(HSI) or 4-p-styrenesulfonyloxy-4'-tosyloxyisopropylidenedicyclohexane(STI) with acid-amplifying group as novel polymeric acid amplifying photoresists. Poly(HSI-co-tBMA) film and Poly(STI-co-tBMA) film as acid amplifying photoresists show reasonable thermal stability in the absence of an acid species. Poly(STI-co-tBMA) film exhibits 2X higher photosensitivity, whereas Poly(HSI-co-tBMA) film show 2X lower photosensitivity compared with ptBMA homopolymer. The attachment of acid-amplifying units to polymer backbones could provide a novel way to enhance the photosensitivity of acid-sensitive polymers depending on the structure of acid-amplifying units.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.84-90
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• 1996

New hepatocyte specific copolymers, that have oligosaccharide and biotin residue on the side chain of styrene, were designed and synthesized to use as a multifunctional recognition. In order to measure initial adhesion efficiency, 1mL of copolymer solutions (0.01%, w/v) such as p(VLA-co-VBA) 90 : 10, p(VLA-co-VBA) 80 : 10 and PYLA as a standard were added to polystyrene petri dish, respectively. In the absence and presence of serum, hepatocyte solution of rat by method of Seglen was added. After 60 min, adhesion efficiency was 70%, that is similar to those of the absence of serum. Aggregation capacity between biotin residue in p(VLA-co-VBA) 70 : 30 and avidin was measured by using UV-transmittance.

• Science of Emotion and Sensibility
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.43-50
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• 2016

The uniform nanofibers of polyurethane with different contents of Juniperus Chinensis extracts were successfully prepared by electrospinning method. Polyurethane is widely used as functional polymers in the industrials, medical field as their properties can be tailor-made by adjusting their compositions. Juniperus Chinensis has been reported for anti-tumor, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-viral activities. PU/Juniperus Chinensis extracts composite nanofibers were produced at different Juniperus Chinensis extracts concentrations (0.25, 0.5, 1, 1.5wt.%). The effects of the major parameters in electrospinning process such as tip to collector distance (TCD), voltage, polymer concentration on the average diameter of electrospun nanoweb were investigated. As results, 12wt% PU solution concentration, 8kV applied voltage and 15cm tip to collector distance were identified as optimum conditions for electrospinning the composite nanofibers. The diameter and morphology of the nanocomposite nanofibers were confirmed by a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The resulting fibers exhibited a uniform diameter ranging from 435nm~547nm. It has been found that the average diameters of fibers decreased by the adding of Juniperus Chinensis extracts. These nanowebs can be used for medical materials, protective clothing, and antimicrobial filters.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.155-162
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• 2020

Acetyl xylan esterase (AXE; E.C. 3.1.1.72) is one of the accessory enzymes for xylan degradation, which can remove the terminal acetate residues from xylan polymers. In this study, two genes encoding putative AXEs (LaAXE and BhAXE) were cloned from Lactobacillus antri DSM 16041 and Bacillus halodurans C-125, and constitutively expressed in Escherichia coli. They possess considerable activities towards various substrates such as p-nitrophenyl acetate, 4-methylumbelliferyl acetate, glucose pentaacetate, and 7-amino cephalosporanic acid. LaAXE and BhAXE showed the highest activities at pH 7.0 and 8.0 at 50℃, respectively. These enzymes are AXE members of carbohydrate esterase (CE) family 7 with the cephalosporine-C deacetylase activity for the production of antibiotics precursors. The simultaneous treatment of LaAXE with Thermotoga neapolitana β-xylanase showed 1.44-fold higher synergistic degradation of beechwood xylan than the single treatment of xylanase, whereas BhAXE showed no significant synergism. It was suggested that LaAXE can deacetylate beechwood xylan and enhance the successive accessibility of xylanase towards the resulting substrates. The novel LaAXE originated from a lactic acid bacterium will be utilized for the enzymatic production of D-xylose and xylooligosaccharides.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.550-554
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• 2007

Atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) has been widely used in bioconjugation as it is an efficient and facile method to prepare polymers with pre-designed structures. Quite often, bioconjugation with proteins employs primary amines in proteins as a functional group to attach an initiator. When 2-bromoisobutryl bromide, the most widely used precursor for ATRP initiator, is used, ${\alpha}-halo$ amide initiating groups are formed in the proteins, which are known to exhibit slow initiation behavior in the ATRP process. Here we studied the ATRP of [poly(ethylene glycol)methyl ether] methacrylate (PEGMA) using amide-based initiator. PEGMA differs for both the nature and size of the polymer side branches and shows good solubility in water and a property that made it an ideal candidate for biomaterials. While normal ATRP produced ill-defined p(PEGMA) with amide based initiators, the halogen exchange method and the external additional of deactivator effectively improved the control of ATRP of PEGMA.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.204-204
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• 1999

The plasma source ion implantation(PSII) technique which is a method using high negative voltage pulse in plasma system has the potential to change the surface properties of polymer. PSII technique increase the surface free energy by introducing polar functional groups on the surface so that it improves reactivity, hydrophilicity, adhension, biocompatability, etc. However, the mobility of polymer chains enables the modified surface layers to adapt their composition to interfacial force. This hydrophobic recovery interrupts the stability of modified surfaces to keep for the long time. In this study, poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA), poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)(PHEMA), and polu(2-hydroxypropyl methacylate)(PHPMA) for contact lens application, were modified to improve the wettability with PSII technique and were investigated the surface stabilities. Polymer film was prepared with solution casting(3 wt.% solution) and was annealed at 11$0^{\circ}C$ under vacuum oven to remove solvent completely and to eliminate physical ageing. The thickness of the film measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and surface profilometer was about 10${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. Polymers were treated with different kinds of gases, pulse frequency, pulse with, pulse voltage, and treatment time. Even though PMMA, PHEMA, and PHPMA have similar repeat unit structure, the optimal treatment conditions and the tendency to hydrophobic recovery were different. PHPMA, more hydrophilic polymer than PMMA and PHEMA showd better wettability and stability after mild treatment. Surface tensions were obtained by water and diiodomethane contact angle measurements to monitor the relation between hydrophobic recovery and polymer structure. Different ion species in plasma change the polar component and dispersion component of polymer surface. For better wettability surface, the increase of polar component was a dominant factor. We also characterized modified polymer surfaces using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS), secondary ion mass spectrometry(SIMS), Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy(FT-IR), and SEM.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.279-286
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• 2002

For surface modification of polymers with hydrophilic functional groups, acrylic acid was grafted and immobilized on the surface of polyethylene(PE) by cold-plasma treatment using Ar gas. The modifications were identified by analysis of ATR-IR spectrum and by the measurement of contact angles. Compared to virgin PE significant decreases in contact angle were observed for both the grafted PE and the immobilized PE. The decreases of contact angle were in the range of 47~$53^{\circ}$ for grafted PE and 23~$26^{\circ}$ for immobilized PE. The degree of hydrophilicity depended strongly on the plasma-treating time and discharge power. For the case of grafting it has show that the longer plasma-treating time, the higher hydrophilic character. For the case of immobilization, whereas, higher discharge power and longer exposure to plasma have shown the detrimental effect for the preparation of hydrophilic PE surface due to the decrease of carboxyl group by ablation effect. The decrease in adhesion strength of immobilized PE. compared to grafted PE, was also attributed to the ablation of carboxyl group.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.457-465
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• 2008

Development of various medical systems was accomplished through the progress of biotechnological method for therapy of human diseases. Furthermore, drug delivery systems have been investigated to carry the bioactive materials such as drug or gene in the body effectively. The most important thing in this system is to develop biomedical polymers having biocompatibility, biodegradability, and non-toxicity. Chitosan, a natural polymer, has been importantly considered as biomedical materials due to its good biocompatibility and various bio-active characteristics. Since the property of chitosan is differently explained according to the crystalline structures of chitin, the study for structural analysis of chitin has to proceed to apply as a biomaterial. From this point of view, this article introduced the analysis of crystalline structural of chitin, general property of chitosan and potential characteristics of low molecular weight water-soluble chitosan (LMWSC) as a biomaterials. Furthermore, chemical modification of LMWSC using various functional groups was also performed to enhance its bioavailability and emphasize their potential as drug delivery carriers (DDS).