• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.503-512
• /
• 2017

Background: Chronic heavy alcohol consumption may raise the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus. Saponins inhibit apoptosis of pancreatic islet cells and reduce lipid parameters. The present study was designed to investigate the effect of saponin on chronic ethanol-treated diabetic rats. Methods: Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (LETO) and Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rats were pair-fed a Lieber-DeCarli diet with and without 5% ethanol for 12 wks. Two weeks after starting the pair-feeding with the Lieber-DeCarli diet, intraperitoneal injection of saponin was performed for 10 wks. To perform the experiments, rats were divided as follows: LETO-Control (LC), LETO-Ethanol (LE), LETO-Ethanol-Saponin (LES), OLETF-Control (OC), OLETF-Ethanol (OE), and OLETF-Ethanol-Saponin (OES). Results: The weights of epididymal and mesenteric fat tissue in LES and OES rats were the lightest from among the LETO and OLETF groups, respectively. The secretion of alanine aminotransferase and cholesterol in OES rats decreased significantly compared to their secretion in OC and OE rats, respectively. The islets of the pancreas in LE and OE rats showed clean, unclear, and smaller morphology compared to those of LC, LES, OC, and OES rats. In addition, the expression of insulin in the islets of the pancreas in LC, LES, OC, and OES rats was higher than in LE and OE rats. Conclusion: Saponin may not only be helpful in alleviating the rapid progress of diabetes due to chronic alcohol consumption in diabetic patients, but may also show potential as an antidiabetic drug candidate for diabetic patients who chronically consume alcohol.

• Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.192-199
• /
• 2015

This study was conducted to investigate the movement and home range of the red-tongued viper snake (Gloydius ussuriensis) from June 2006 to June 2009. This snake species inhabits an islet on Jeju Island, Gapado. A total of 132 individual snakes were marked during the study. Among the marked individuals, the number of snakes recaptured more than once was 22 (16.8 %) and the number of individuals recaptured more than twice was eight (6.1 %), indicating a relatively low recapture rate. The durations from capture to recapture varied from 1 to 710 days. However, the capture points were not much different, indicating that the moved distance of snakes and the interval between capture-recapture were not correlated. The home ranges of the Red-tongued viper snakes calculated from data of the snakes which were captured more than three times using the MCP(minimum convex polygon) method were $8{\sim}167m^2(64.0{\pm}57.0m^2)$, suggesting that this snake is relatively sedentary. Home range size differences between female ($Mean=62.0m^2$) and male ($Mean=66.0m^2$) snakes were not significant. In the red-tongued viper population of Gapado, there was no statistically significant relationship between body size and home range size although it was positively correlated (r=0.675). Our results provide valuable data to understand life patterns of the red-tongued viper snakes and will be useful when conducting further ecological studies on other snake species.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.223-228
• /
• 2016

The anatomy and histology of the olfactory organ in Oryzias sinensis was researched using a stereo microscope and light microscope. In the gross structure, the paired olfactory organs on the dorsal part of the head consist of two nostrils (a circular anterior nostril and a slit posterior nostril in a distance), a single olfactory chamber and a single accessory nasal sac. In the histological study, the epithelium of the olfactory chamber is classified into both sensory and non-sensory regions. The sensory epithelium consists of olfactory receptor neurons, supporting cells, basal cells and vesicles, and is islet in distributional pattern. The non-sensory epithelium is composed of stratified epithelial cells and two types of mucous cells (acidic and neutral cells). The epithelium of the accessory nasal sac has swollen stratified epithelial cells, mucous cells with a rich glycoprotein. Such an olfactory anatomy and histology of O. sinensis may reflect its habitat surrounding stagnant and polluted water.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
• /
• v.21 no.6
• /
• pp.1462-1469
• /
• 2007

This study has been carried out to understand the effect of Gangsim-tang on the hyperglycemic mice induced with Streptozotocin(STZ). The 60 mg/kg of streptozotocin(STZ) was treated into mice twice by 24 hrs interval and then 120 mg/kg STZ was treated again 3 days after the earlier treated. Control group was administered mice with 0.9％ saline(2ml/kg), and experimental groups were administered Gangsim-tang extract(GA group, 10 ㎎/㎏/day; GB group, 30 mg/kg/day) after hyperglycemic induction daily for 6 weeks. The body weight of experimental groups was lower than control. The blood glucose concentration increased continuously, reaching to 298.9 mg/dl after 6 weeks, however, experimental groups of the GA and GB groups significantly(p<0.01) decreased in the 4, 5, and 6 weeks groups. Blood glucose tolerance test was not significant between control and experimental groups. We examined the blood transaminase activities to know the effect of herbal medicine on liver function. The glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase(GOT) activity was lower in group GB than in control. The glutamic-pyruvic transaminse(GPT) activity was lower in group GA and GB than in control. The superoxide dismutase(SOD) and catalase activities were higher in the group GA compared to control. The results of immunohistochemical study, Langerhan's islet of pancreas was destructed by treatment of STZ in the control, and a few of insulin positive cells observed in the control and experimental group. These results suggest that administration of Gangsim-tang extract to the hyperglycemic mice induced with STZ not regeneration of ${\beta}-cells$ but control of the blood glucose level.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
• /
• v.19 no.3
• /
• pp.29-44
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this study is to quantitatively and visually analyze the degree of green biotope fragmentation caused by road construction and other development work using FRAGSTATS and GUIDOS tool. Moreover, linking of the endangered species research, we mapped "Biotope Fragmentation Map" of Daejeon-city. The findings of the study are summarized as follows: First, as the result of FRAGSTATS, landscape indices : number of patch(NP), mean patch size (MPS), edge length(TE), mean nearest neighbor distance(MNN), edge shape(LSI) showed meaningful change from fragmentation. Moreover, the result of GUIDOS analysis, middle core-small core-bridge-branch-edge-islet-perforation showed increase of area percentage without large core. Lastly, analysis result of 'Biotope Fragmentation Map' revealed that changing site of large core's size appeared eighteen-site and designated as the special protection area appeared forty-one site. As the result of the two data, overlapping areas that showed both change of core size and revealed special protection areas revealed four site. For example, five species of endangered species appeared on the NO. 4 site in 'Biotope Fragmentation Map'. The findings of this study as summarized above are considered to play an important role in basic data preventing green biotope fragmentation at the planned level from various development work.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
• /
• v.15 no.5
• /
• pp.307-312
• /
• 2011

It has been rereported that axons which display 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) immunoreactivity are abundant in the pancreas and the majority of serotonergic axons terminate within intrapancreatic ganglia, islet and acini. This histological result strongly suggests that intrapancreatic serotonergic nerves could affect to the pancreatic endocrine and exocrine secretion. Thus, this study was aimed to investigate whether intrapancreatic serotonergic nerves could affect pancreatic exocrine secretion and an action mechanism of the intrapancreatic serotonergic nerves. The rats were anesthetized with a single injection of urethane. The median line and the abdominal aorta was carefully dissected and cannulated with PE-50 tubing just above the celiac artery, and then tightly ligated just below the superior mesenteric artery. The pancreatic duct was also cannulated with Tygon microbore tubing. With the addition of serotonin, pancreatic volume flow and amylase output were significantly inhibited electrical field stimulation (EFS). On the other hand, pancreatic volume flow and amylase output were significantly elevated in EFS with the addition of spiperone. EFS application, however, pancreatic volume flow and amylase output had no significant change in cholecystokinin (CCK) alone when serotonin was applied under a 5.6 mM glucose background. Pancreatic volume flow and amylase output under 18 mM glucose background were significantly elevated in CCK plus serotonin than in CCK alone. These data suggest that intrapancreatic serotonergic nerves play an inhibitory role in pancreatic exocrine secretion and an important role in the insulin action or release.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.579-589
• /
• 1993

The regional distribution and the relative frequencies of endocrine cells were studied in nine portions of the blue fox GI tract, and the distribution pattern and cell types of the pancreativc endocrine cells were also studied in the pancreas by immunohistochemical method. Six kinds of immunoreactive cells were identified in the GI tract, and four kinds of immunoreactive cells were also identified in the pancreas. Although numerous 5-HT- and somatostatin-immunoreactive cells were seen throughout the GI tract, somatostatin- immunoreactive cells were a few in the intestine. Very numerous Gas/CCK-immunoreactive cells were restricted generally in the pyloric region and duodenum. Numerous glucagon-immunoreactive cells were found in the stomach except the pyloric region, and generally a few in the intestine. Moderate number of BPP-immunoreactive cells were found in the stomach except the pyloric region, and a few in the large intestine. Numerous porcine CG-immunoreactive cells were restricted to the cardiac and fundic region. In the pancreas, four types of pancreatic endocrine cells- somatostatin-, glucagon-, BPP- and insulin-immunoreactive- were identified in the pancreatic islet and exocrine portion. These results suggest that the regional distribution, the relative frequencies and cell types of the GEP endocrine cells in the GI tract and pancreas varies considerably among the species.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.165-175
• /
• 2011

This study investigates the effects of Psidium guajava L. leaf (Pg) extract, Lagerstroemia speciosa L. leaf (Ls) extract, and mixture A (Pg, Ls, Morus indica L. leaf, Pinus densiflora needles, Acanthopanax senticosus M. roots extract) on db/db mice. For four weeks, db/db mice were fed powdered extracts of Pg, Ls, and mixture A. Compared to the diabetic control, extracts of Pg, Ls and mixture A decreased body weight, glucose and insulin. The greatest decreases were caused by mixture A. These extracts decreased the levels of total cholesterol, triglyceride and free fatty acid compared to the diabetic control. The antihyperlipidemic effect of mixture A was the greatest. Mixture A also significantly decreased injuries of Langerhans' islets compared to the diabetic control. Mixture A showed a beneficial synergistic effect due to the supplementary pharmacological actions of the ingredients in contains, indicating that it improved hyperglycemia without the side effect of weight gain.

• Journal of Ocean Engineering and Technology
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.364-376
• /
• 2019

When underwater blasting is conducted, both shock waves and water waves have an effect on adjacent coastal areas. In this study, an empirical formula for estimating the details of water waves caused by underwater blasting was applied to a non-reflected wave generation system, and a 3D numerical wave tank (NWT) was improved to reproduce the generation and propagation of such water waves. The maximum elevations of the propagated water waves were comparatively analyzed to determine the validity and effectiveness of the NWT. Good agreement was demonstrated between the empirical and simulation results. The generation and propagation of water waves were also simulated under each underwater blasting scenario for the removal of the Todo islet at the Busan Newport International Terminal (PNIT). It was determined that the water waves generated by the underwater blasting scenario examined in this study did not have a significant impact on the PNIT. In addition, multiple-charge blasting caused higher wave heights than single-charge blasting. As the amount of firing charge increased, the wave height also increased. Finally, larger water waves were generated during the later blasting conducted at a deeper depth as compared with an earlier blasting conducted at a relatively shallow depth.

• Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
• /
• v.15 no.6
• /
• pp.699-709
• /
• 2018

BACKGROUND: Diabetes mellitus is a major health concern in current scenario which has been found to affect people of almost all ages. The disease has huge impact on global health; therefore, alternate methods apart from insulin injection are being explored to cure diabetes. Therefore, this review mainly focuses on the current status and therapeutic potential of stem cells mainly mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for Type 1 diabetes mellitus in preclinical animal models as well as humans. METHODS: Current treatment for Type 1 diabetes mellitus mainly includes use of insulin which has its own limitations and also the underlying mechanism of diseases is still not explored. Therefore, alternate methods to cure diabetes are being explored. Stem cells are being investigated as an alternative therapy for treatment of various diseases including diabetes. Few preclinical studies have also been conducted using undifferentiated MSCs as well as in vitro MSCs differentiated into ${\beta}$ islet cells. RESULTS: These stem cell transplant studies have highlighted the benefits of MSCs, which have shown promising results. Few human trials using stem cells have also affirmed the potential of these cells in alleviating the symptoms. CONCLUSION: Stem cell transplantation may prove to be a safe and effective treatment for patients with Type 1 diabetes mellitus.