• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.992-997
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• 2007

Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic drug which is widely used for cancer therapy including cervical cancer. The purpose of this study is to elucidate synergistic effect of Cisplatin and Berberine on the apoptosis of HeLa cells and to determine whether oxidants are formed as part of apoptotic process. Apoptotic death of HeLa cells by cisplatin and berberine was confirmed by chromatin condensation of HeLa cells and flow cytometric analysis of intracellular ROS(reactive oxygen species) production. In MTT assay, Cell viability was decreased and enhanced ROS generation in combination of cisplatin and berberine significantly, as compared with cisplatin only. Synergistic effect of Cisplatin and Berberine on the inhibition of cell growth by apoptosis was clearly observed and ROS may play an important role in apoptosis. This effect suggest the possibility lowering the concentration of chemotherapeutic drugs, which alleviate the side effect of drugs.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.72-76
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• 2016

Cell death pathways such as apoptosis can be activated in response to oxidative stress, enabling the disposal of damaged cells. In contrast, controlled intracellular redox events are proposed to be a significant event during apoptosis signaling, regardless of the initiating stimulus. In this scenario oxidants act as second messengers, mediating the post-translational modification of specific regulatory proteins. The exact mechanism of this signaling is unclear, but increased understanding offers the potential to promote or inhibit apoptosis through modulating the redox environment of cells. Peroxiredoxins are thiol peroxidases that remove hydroperoxides, and are also emerging as important players in cellular redox signaling. This review discusses the potential role of peroxiredoxins in the regulation of apoptosis, and also their ability to act as biomarkers of redox changes during the initiation and progression of cell death.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.118-123
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• 2019

Glutamate acts as an important neurotransmitter in brain. However, high concentration of glutamate showed an excitatory neurotoxicity and resulted to neuronal cell death. Neuronal cell death is known for one of the reason of Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disease. We tried to find neuroprotective medicinal plants by neuroprotection activity against glutamate injured HT22 cells as a model system. In the course of bioscreening of various medicinal plants, Taraxacum platycarpum extract showed significant neuroprotective activity. We tried to elucidate mechanisms of neuroprotective activity. T. platycarpum extract reduced ROS and intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ concentration increased by glutamate induced neurotoxicity. In addition, mitochondrial membrane potential was restored to the control level. Also, glutathione level, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase activity were increased by T. platycarpum extract treatment. These data suggested that T. platycarpum showed neuroprotective activity via antioxidative activity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Environmental Sciences Society Conference
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• 2020.10a
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• pp.218-218
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• 2020

Astaxanthin, a natural antioxidant carotenoid, has been thought to provide health benefits by decreasing the risk of oxidative stress?related diseases. In the present study, we investigated the effect of an astaxanthin during the autophagic cell death induced by bisphenol A (BPA) which is known major environmental pollutants. We found that astaxanthin significantly blocked the autophagic cell death via inhibition of intracellular Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) in normal human dermal fibroblasts. Astaxanthin significantly inhibited the phosphorylation mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) responsible for the expression of LC3-II and Beclin-1 in BPA-treated normal human dermal fibroblasts. We suggest that astaxanthin blocks autophagic cell death induced by BPA via the inhibition of ROS-mediated signaling events in human dermal fibroblasts.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.275-281
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• 2014

After harvesting the medicinal parts of Curcuma longa, the remaining underground parts were discarded. From the remaining underground parts of Curcuma longa quercetin-3-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside-7-O-${\alpha}$-L-rhamnopyranoside (Q37) was isolated. The antioxidant activities in vitro and lifespan-extension effect of Q37 were elucidated using the Caenorhabditis elegans. The 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging effect of Q37 showed similar potent activities in comparison with vitamin C. Q37 also showed potent superoxide quenching activities as measured by the riboflavin- and xanthine-originated superoxide quenching activity tests. Q37 prolonged lifespan of worms under normal culture condition. In terms of protective effect of Q37 on the stress conditions such as thermal and oxidative stresses, Q37-treated worms exhibited enhanced survival rate, as compared to control worms. To know the possible mechanism of Q37-mediated increased lifespan and stress resistance of worms, we examined the activities of Q37on superoxide dismutase (SOD), and invested intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels. The results revealed that Q37 was able to elevate SOD activity of worms and reduce intracellular ROS accumulation in a dose-dependent manner.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.41 no.5
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• pp.401-412
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• 2018

Oxymatrine (OMT) often used in treatment for chronic hepatitis B virus infection in clinic. However, OMT-induced liver injury has been reported. In this study, we aim to investigate the possible mechanism of OMT-induced hepatotoxicity in human normal liver cells (L02). Exposed cells to OMT, the cell viability was decreased and apoptosis rate increased, the intracellular markers of oxidative stress were changed. Simultaneously, OMT altered apoptotic related proteins levels, including Bcl-2, Bax and pro-caspase-8/-9/-3. In addition, OMT enhanced the protein levels of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress makers (GRP78/Bip, CHOP, and cleaved-Caspase-4) and phosphorylation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (p-JNK), as well as the mRNA levels of GRP78/Bip, CHOP, caspase-4, and ER stress sensors (IREI, ATF6, and PERK). Pre-treatment with Z-VAD-fmk, JNK inhibitor SP600125 and N-acetyl-l-cysteine (NAC), a ROS scavenger, partly improved the survival rates and restored OMT-induced cellular damage, and reduced caspase-3 cleavage. SP600125 or NAC reduced OMT-induced p-JNK and NAC significantly lowered caspase-4. Furthermore, 4-PBA, the ER stress inhibitor, weakened inhibitory effect of OMT on cells, on the contrary, TM worsen. 4-PBA also reduced the levels of p-JNK and cleaved-caspase-3 proteins. Therefore, OMT-induced injury in L02 cells was related to ROS mediated p-JNK and ER stress induction. Antioxidant, by inhibition of p-JNK or ER stress, may be a feasible method to alleviate OMT-induced liver injury.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2010

Environmental-friendly agriculture (EFA) is defined as the cultivation of crops with reduced amounts or without chemical-synthetic pesticides. Recently, the use of chemical pesticides has decreased significantly; therefore, we cultivated peppers following EFA- and conventional methods and compared their antioxidant activities. To accomplish this, the environmental-friendly cultivated peppers (EFPE) and conventionally cultivated peppers (CCPE) were extracted with 70% methanol and the effects of the extracts on the cell viability, intracellular ROS generation, lipid peroxidation and catalase activity of HepG2 cells were evaluated. EFPE showed a stronger protective effect against oxidative stress induced-cell death than that of CCPE. EFPE also reduced intracellular ROS generation (42.7% to 26.4%) following treatment with hydrogen peroxide more effectively than that of CCPE (24.2% to 6.3%). Furthermore, EFPE and CCPE showed protective effects against lipid peroxidation and induced catalase activity, although these effects were not statistically significant. Taken together, these results suggest that EFPE showed stronger antioxidant activities than CCPE, and thus represent evidence that EFA with biocontrol materials may improve the functional properties of crops and/or secondary metabolites with antioxidant activities when compared with conventional agricultural practices.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.153-159
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• 2016

(-)-Epicatechin gallate (ECG) is a polyphenol compound of green tea exhibiting biological activities, such as antioxidant and anticancer effects. To examine the effect of ECG on porcine oocytes during in vitro maturation (IVM), oocytes were treated with 0-, 5-, 15-, and $25{\mu}M$ ECG. After maturation, we investigated nuclear maturation, intracellular glutathione (GSH) and reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels and subsequent embryonic development after parthenogenetic activation (PA) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). After 42 hours of IVM, the $5{\mu}M$ group exhibited significantly increased (p< 0.05) nuclear maturation (89.8%) compared with the control group (86.1%). However, the $25{\mu}M$ group observed significantly decreased (p< 0.05) nuclear maturation (83.5%). In intracellular maturation assessment the 5-, 15-, and $25{\mu}M$ groups had significantly increased (p< 0.05) GSH levels and decreased ROS levels compared with the controls. The 5- and $15{\mu}M$ group showed significantly increased (p< 0.05) embryo formation rates and total cell number of blastocysts after PA (18% and 68.9, 15% and 85.1 vs. 12% and 59.5, respectively) compared with controls. Although the $25{\mu}M$ group observed significantly lower blastocyst formation rates after PA (27.6% vs. 23.2%) than control group, the $5{\mu}M$ group showed significantly increased blastocyst formation rates after PA (37.2% vs. 23.2%) compared to the control group. Furthermore, the $5{\mu}M$ group measured significantly increased blastocyst formation rates (20.7% vs. 8.6%) and total cell number after IVF ($88.3{\pm}1.5$ vs. $58.0{\pm}3.6$) compared to the control group. The treatment of $5{\mu}M$ ECG during IVM affectively improved the porcine embryonic developmental competence by regulating intracellular oxidative stress during IVM.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.983-989
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• 2008

Two flavonoids, isorhamnetin 3-O-$\beta$-D-glucopyranoside (1) and quercetin 3-O-$\beta$-D-glucopyranoside (2), from slander glasswort (Salicornia herbacea, Korean name hamcho) were isolated. Antioxidative and matrix metalloproteinase-9(MMP-9) inhibitory effects of these compounds were investigated in HT 1080 cell lines. These compounds suppressed the electron spin resonance (ESR) signal intensity on generation of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical in a free-cellular system. Their scavenging effects on generation of intercellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) also exhibited similar trends with DPPH radical in the free cellular system. Also, a control group combined only with Fe(II)-$H_{2}O_2$ resulted in DNA apoptosis by oxidative stress, whereas treatments with these compounds suppressed radical-mediated DNA damage. Intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels were slightly increased in the presence of compound 1 and 2. Moreover, these compounds led to the reduction of the expression levels of MMP-9 without cytotoxic influence. These results suggest that these compounds have a potential as a valuable natural antioxidant and MMP inhibitor related to oxidative stress. Therefore, these compounds not only can be developed as a candidate for a therapeutic potential but also a source for use as ingredients of health foods or functional foods to prevent metastasis involving MMP-9, closely related to ROS.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.605-613
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• 2014

We have previously shown that paraquat (PQ)-induced oxidative stress causes dramatic damage in various human cell lines. Naringenin (NG) is an active flavanone, which has been reported to have beneficial bioactivities, including antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, and antitumorigenic activities, with a relatively low toxicity to normal cells. In this study, we intended to assess the cytoprotective effect of NG against PQ-induced toxicity in the human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B cell line. Co-treatment with NG in PQ-treated BEAS-2B cells can reduce PQ-induced cellular toxicity. NG can also decrease the generation of intracellular ROS caused by PQ treatment. We also observed that treatment with NG in PQ-exposed BEAS-2B cells can significantly induce the expression of antioxidant-related genes, including GPX2, GPX3, GPX5, and GPX7. NG co-treatment can also activate the NRF2 transcription factor and promote its nuclear translocation. In addition, NG co-treatment can induce the expression of NRF2-downstream target genes such as that of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) and NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1). A small interfering RNA study revealed that the knockdown of NRF2 can abrogate NG-mediated protection of the cells from PQ-induced cellular toxicity. We propose that NG effectively alleviates PQ-induced cytotoxicity in human bronchial epithelial BEAS-2B cells through the NRF2-regulated antioxidant defense pathway, and NG might be a good therapeutic candidate molecule in oxidative stress-related diseases.