• KSBB Journal
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.217-226
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• 2009

p53 undergoes various post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, ubiquitination, sumoylation, acetylation, methylation, and poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation. Modification of p53 widely affects to various functions of p53. Acetylation and phosphorylation of p53 have been studied for regulating its transcriptional activity which is observed in various stress condition. Otherwise, ubiquitination of p53 by Mdm2 has been well-studied as a canonical ubiquitin-mediated proteasomal degradation pathway. Moreover several investigators have recently reported that ubiquitination of p53 modulates not only its proteasome-dependent degradation by poly-ubiquitination but also its localization and transcriptional activity by mono-ubiquitination which usually does not serve the proteasome dependent degradation. Here we review recent studies on the cellular functions of p53 regulated by post-translational modifications, particularly focusing on mechanisms of ubiquitination.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.199-205
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• 1998

The present study was performed to analyze the expression of LH genes in the rat ovary. Expression of LH subunit genes in the rat ovary was demonstrated by amplification of ovarian RNA by RT-PCR. The ovarian $LH_\beta$ transcripts contained at least two parts of the published cDNA structure, the pituitary exons 1, 2 and 3 and the part of testicular ex on 1 in the major trancripts form in rat testis. Using RIA, significant amount of LH-like molecules were detected in crude ovarian extracts, and the competition curves with increasing amount of tissue extracts were parallel with those of standard peptide, indicating that the ovarian immunoreactive LH-like material is similar to authentic pituitary LH molecule. The administration of PMSG to immature rats resulted in a sharp decrease of the ovarian LH contents after 24 h post-injection. In conclusion, these findings demonstrate that genes for LH subunits are expressed in the rat ovary, and suggest that LH can playa central role in regulation of female reproduction with both endocrine (by pituitary LH) and auto- and/or para-crine (by ovarian LH) manner.

• The Korean Journal of Malacology
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.77-82
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• 2002

This study was performed to find out the optimal kind of additive and concentration of ethylene glycol (EG) as the cryoprotectant on the D-shaped larvae of arkshell, Scapharca broughtonii. The larvae in straws was carried in the programed freezer set uo at 0$^{\circ}C$, frozen to -12$^{\circ}C$ by the freezing rate of -1$^{\circ}C$/min, held for 10 minutes, seeded at -12$^{\circ}C$, finally refrozen to -35$^{\circ}C$ by the freezing rate of -1$^{\circ}C$/min and then directly plunged into liquid nitrogen. The survival of larvae frozen in 1.0 M and 2.0 M ethylene glycol added with 0.5 M sucrose were high (50.5 ${\pm}$ 1.3% and 51.9 ${\pm}$ 1.7%, respectively) in the early D-shaped larvae cryopreserved in 1 M and 2 M ethylene glycol diluted with 0.2 M and 0.5 M fructose, glucose and sucrose. In the late D-shaped larvae were cryopreserved according to five concentrations of ethylene glycol added with 0.5 M sucrose, the survival of larvae frozen in 2.0 M ethylene glycol was the highest as 51.9 ${\pm}$ 1.7%. The morphological differences in cells between unfrozen and frozen-thawed D-shaped larvae were not found by the scanning and transmission electron microscopy.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.105-117
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• 2020

Agaricus blazei Murill (Almond mushroom) has many beneficial effects, such as anti-cancer, immuneenhancement, and anti-obesity. Also, its skin benefits have been reported for antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and whitening. In order to elucidate these effects, many studies have been conducted. In this study, we reconfirmed the skin efficacy of the extract of the mushrooms mushrooms. The Agaricus blazei extract showed inhibition of melanin synthesis, enhancement of collagen synthesis, and up-regulation of gene expression (hyaluronan syntahase-2, 3 and aquaporin-3) at 100 ㎍/mL. and identified the ingredients from the extract. We further investigated them to find an applicability as cosmetic ingredients. The ingredients were confirmed comparison of their spectroscopic data with literature values. They were identified as being ergosterol (1), 5-dihydroergosterol (2), cerevisterol (3), cerebroside B (4), cerebroside D (5), adenosine (6), and benzoic acid (7). Among these compounds, we evaluated skin efficacy for two cerebrosides and three ergosterol derivatives that have not been reported its efficacy. As a result, 5-dihydroergosterol (2) inhibited melanogenesis in B16F10 and promoted collagen biosynthesis in human dermal fibroblast. In addition, cerevisterol (3), cerebroside B (4), and cerebroside D (5) inhibited NO production in RAW 264.7 cell. In particular, cerebroside D (5) increased the expression of hyaluronan synthase-2 and aquaporin-3 genes in HaCaT. These results suggest that Agaricus blazei extract and isolated compounds can be used as cosmetic ingredients.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.423-430
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• 2016

Background: The induction of cellular defensive genes such as phase II detoxifying and antioxidant enzymes is a highly effective strategy for protection against carcinogenesis as well as slowing cancer development. Transcription factor Nrf2 (nuclear factor E2-related factor 2) is responsible for activation of phase II enzymes induced by natural chemopreventive compounds. Methods: Red ginseng oil (RGO) was extracted using a supercritical $CO_2$ extraction system and chemical profile of RGO was investigated by GC/MS. Effects of RGO on regulation of the Nrf2/antioxidant response element (ARE) pathway were determined by ARE-luciferase assay, western blotting, and confocal microscopy. Results: The predominant components of RGO were 9,12-octadecadienoic acid (31.48%), bicyclo[10.1.0] tridec-1-ene (22.54%), and 22,23-dihydrostigmasterol (16.90%). RGO treatment significantly increased nuclear translocation of Nrf2 as well as ARE reporter gene activity, leading to upregulation of heme oxygenase-1 and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1. Phosphorylation of the upstream kinases such as apoptosis signal-regulating kinase (ASK)1, mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase (MKK)4/7, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38 MAPK were enhanced by treatment with RGO. In addition, RGO-mediated Nrf2 expression and nuclear translocation was attenuated by JNK inhibitor SP600125 and p38 MAPK inhibitor SB202190. Conclusion: RGO could be used as a potential chemopreventive agent, possibly by induction of Nrf2/ARE-mediated phase II enzymes via ASK1-MKK4/7-JNK and p38 MAPK signaling pathways.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.223-230
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• 2015

Regulator of calcineurin 1 (RCAN1) is an endogenous calcineurin inhibitor that plays an important role in the pathogenesis of diseases related to the calcineurin-NFATc1 signaling pathway. The RCAN1-4 isoform is subject to NFATc1-dependent regulation. During receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL)-stimulated osteoclastogenesis, the calcineurin-NFATc1 pathway is critical. Because there is little information available on the role of RCAN1 in osteoclast differentiation, this study investigated whether changes in RCAN1 expression are related to the calcineurin-NFATc1 pathway and osteoclast differentiation. Mouse bone marrow monocytes (BMMs) were treated with 50 ng/ml of RANKL and M-CSF. Expression levels of NFATc1, calcineurin, and RCAN1 isoforms were determined using RT-PCR and Western blotting. Osteoclast differentiation was examined using tartrate-resistent acid phosphatase (TRAP) staining. To evaluate the effect of RCAN1 overexpression on osteoclastogenesis, cells were transfected with a mouse RCAN1-4 cDNA plasmid. After RANKL stimulation of BMMs, expression of NFATc1 and RCAN1 was increased at the mRNA and protein level, while calcineurin expression was unchanged. When the RCAN1-4 gene construct was transfected, the expression of RCAN1 protein was not increased despite several-fold increases in RCAN1-4 mRNA expression. Regardless of RANKL stimulation, over-expression of RCAN1-4 tended to reduce NFATc1 expression and knock-down of RCAN1 increase it. While BMMs transfected with the RCAN1-4 vector were differentiated into distinct osteoclasts, their phenotypes did not vary from those of mock controls. These results suggest that RCAN1 has a limited effect on the calcineurin-NFATc1 pathway during RANKL-stimulated osteoclast differentiation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.7 s.87
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• pp.990-995
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• 2007

We tested the effect of sodium tungstate, which disturbs the molybdenum cofactor formation, on the activities of aldehyde oxidase(AO) and the growth of maize(Zea mays) primary roots. As reported in other plants, sodium tungstate inhibited AO also in the maize root concentration-dependently. The inhibitory effect of sodium tungstate was observed only when the inhibitor was applied to the living plants. Application of tungstate to the extracted protein did not show any effect. Western analysis revealed slightly decreased level of AO protein in the presence of tungstate, indicating a positive feedback of gene regulation by the product. We also tested the effects of tungstate on the root growth. The elongation of primary root and the development of lateral roots, which are sensitive to the absolute level of auxin, were decreased in the presence of sodium tungstate. However, the gravitropic curvature of the primary root, which is dependent on the relative amount of auxin at both sides, was unaffected. These data suggested the decrease of auxin biosynthesis by the application of tungstate. However, the level of free IAA was unaffected by tungstate application. We discuss the possible explanations for the observed results.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.7 s.87
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• pp.905-909
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• 2007

The dual-function protein redox factor-1 (Ref-1) is essential for base excision repair of oxidatively damaged DNA and also governs the activation of many redox-sensitive transcription factors. We examined the role of Ref-1 in regulation of nitric oxide (NO) synthesis employing adenoviral-mediatedoverexpression of Ref-1 in bradykinin-stimulated endothelial cells. Intracellular NO was detected with the NO-sensitive fluorophore DAF-2. Overexpression of Ref-1 potentiates bradykinin-stimulated NO production in endothelial cells. And, cells ifected with AdRef-1 showed higher fluorescence intensity compared with uninfected or AdD1312-infected cells. In parallel with this, over expression of Ref-1 also stimulated endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) enzyme activity, compared with unifected or AdD1312-infected cells, in bradykinin-stimulated cells as well as in unstimulated cells. These results suggest that Ref-1 implicates in endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation resulting from NO production in vascular system.

• Journal of Korea Society of Industrial Information Systems
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• v.12 no.4
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• pp.138-147
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• 2007

Metabolic pathway is a series of chemical reactions occuning within a cell and can be used for drug development and understanding of life phenomenon. Many biologists are trying to extract metabolic pathway information from huge literatures for their metabolic-circuit regulation study. We propose a text-mining technique based on the keyword and pattern. Proposed technique utilizes a web robot to collect huge papers and stores them into a local database. We use gene ontology to increase compound recognition rate and NCBI Tokenizer library to recognize useful information without compound destruction. Furthermore, we obtain useful sentence patterns representing metabolic pathway from papers and KEGG database. We have extracted 66 patterns in 20,000 documents for Glycosphingolipid species from KEGG, a representative metabolic database. We verify our system for nineteen compounds in Glycosphingolipid species. The result shows that the recall is 95.1%, the precision 96.3%, and the processing time 15 seconds. Proposed text mining system is expected to be used for metabolic pathway reconstruction.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.161-168
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• 2012

The abnormal maturation and ossification of articular chondrocytes play a central role in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis (OA). Inhibiting the enzymatic degradation of the extracellular matrix and maintaining the cellular phenotype are two of the major goals of interest in managing OA. Ginseng is frequently taken orally, as a crude substance, as a traditional medicine in Asian countries. Ginsenoside $Rb_1$, a major component of ginseng that contains an aglycone with a dammarane skeleton, has been reported to exhibit various biological activities, including anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effects. However, a chondroprotective effect of ginsenoside $Rb_1$ related to OA has not yet been reported. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the chondroprotective effect of ginsenoside $Rb_1$ on the regulation of pro-inflammatory factors and chondrogenic genes. Cultured rat articular chondrocytes were treated with 100 ${\mu}M$ ginsenoside $Rb_1$ and/or 500 ${\mu}M$ hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) and assessed for viability, reactive oxygen species production, nitric oxide (NO) release, and chondrogenic gene expression. Ginsenoside $Rb_1$ treatment resulted in reductions in the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokine and NO in $H_2O_2$-treated chondrocytes. The expression levels of chondrogenic genes, such as type II collagen and SOX9, were increased in the presence of ginsenoside $Rb_1$, whereas the expression levels of inflammatory genes related to chondrocytes, such as MMP1 and MMP13, were reduced by approximately 50%. These results suggest that ginsenoside $Rb_1$ has potential for use as a therapeutic agent in OA patients.