• Animal Systematics, Evolution and Diversity
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.211-220
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• 2024

During the surveys of ciliates from hypoxic habitats, three marine anaerobic species were found: Metopus spiculatus, M. vestitus, and Muranothrix felix. These species have not been previously recorded in South Korea and belong to the taxonomic classes Armophorea and Muranotrichea. The morphology of these species was examined by both microscopic observations of live specimens, and stained cells using protargol impregnations. Metopus spiculatus has the following characteristics: body size 80-110×25-35 ㎛ in vivo, beak-like structure at the end of preoral dome, ectosymbiotic bacteria covering cell surface, intracytoplasmic needle-shaped structures and the conspicuous tail end. Metopus vestitus has the following distinguishing characteristics: body size 95-130×25-45 ㎛ in vivo, a cone-shaped body, a covering of ectosymbiotic bacteria on its cell surface, intracytoplasmic needleshaped structures, somatic kineties arranged in 26-28 longitudinal rows, and a posterior part tapered into a tail. Muranothrix felix has the following characteristics: body size 100-130×20-30 ㎛ in vivo, elongated body with twisted neck region, bristle-like cilia protruding perpendicular to the cell margin, ectosymbiotic bacteria covering the cell surface, about 10 macronuclear nodules, and a long, stiffened caudal cilium.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.1-15
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• 1991

Bigihwan which has been widely used in Oh-jug in oriental Medicine was investigated on its antitumor effect employing blood cancer cell lines. K 562 derived from human erytholeukemia, Raji from lymphoma and $MO_4$ from hlastogenic cancer were used in this study to see the analytical evaluation of Bigihwan' s antitumor effect using three different kinds of methods such as $^{3}H-thymidine$ up take assay. MTT assay and live cell counts by Trypan blue assay. The result obtained are as follows. 1. When higher than 10% Bigihwan was treated. inhibitory effect of tumor killing action was observed showing the increasing order of $MO_4$, K 562 and Raji(Fig. 3). 2. When 1 to 5% of Bigi-hwan was treated, 4 to 30% of tumor cell survival was observed according to various blood tumor cell lines suggesting that antitumor effect of Bigi-hwan was different as the characteristics of tumor cells showing 70 to 95% cell killing effent(Fig. 4). 3. Compared the survivals of cells by relative scales though the initial cpm was variable because of different cell growth rate. Raji was most effective being killed 95% by the treatment of 1% Bigihwan while Raji and K562 showed 93% by 5% Bigihwan.(Fig. 5) 4. The survival rate of Raji derived from Burkitt lymphoma was rather increased to 2.3 times when Bigihwan concentration was increased from 1 to 10% lmplying of refraining from over use of this anticancer drug. specially to lymphoma patients(Fig. 5). 5. Bigihwan was most effective to K 562 and then $MO_4$ showing 95% tumor cell death by using 1% of this anticancer drug while it was least effective to Raji showing only 68% of tumor cell death(Fig.7). 6. Judging from the all the analytical methods used in this study, through all different three tumor cell lines. Bigihwan was most effective to K 562 derived from human erythroleukemia.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.431-436
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• 2014

Cell segmentation which extracts cell objects from background is one of basic works in bio-imaging which analyze cell images acquired from live cells in cell culture. In the case of clear images, they have a bi-modal histogram distribution and segmentation of them can easily be performed by global threshold algorithm such as Otsu algorithm. But In the case of degraded images, it is difficult to get exact segmentation results. In this paper, we developed a cell segmentation system that it classify input images by the type of their histogram distribution and then apply a proper segmentation algorithm. If it has a bi-modal distribution, a global threshold algorithm is applied for segmentation. Otherwise it has a uni-modal distribution, our algorithm is performed. By experimentation, our system gave exact segmentation results for uni-modal cell images as well as bi-modal cell images.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.15-22
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• 2021

Alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) is a naturally occurring antioxidant and has been previously used to treat diabetes and cardiovascular disease. However, the autophagy effects of ALA against oxidative stress-induced dopaminergic neuronal cell injury remain unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of ALA in autophagy and apoptosis against oxidative stress in the SH-SY5Y human dopaminergic neuronal cell line. We examined SH-SY5Y phenotypes using the 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay (cell viability/proliferation), 4′,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole dihydrochloride nuclear staining, Live/Dead cell assay, cellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) assay, immunoblotting, and immunocytochemistry. Our data showed ALA attenuated hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced ROS generation and cell death. ALA effectively suppressed Bax up-regulation and Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL down-regulation. Furthermore, ALA increased the expression of the antioxidant enzyme, heme oxygenase-1. Moreover, the expression of Beclin-1 and LC-3 autophagy biomarkers was decreased by ALA in our cell model. Combined, these data suggest ALA protects human dopaminergic neuronal cells against H2O2-induced cell injury by inhibiting autophagy and apoptosis.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.272-281
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• 2019

Background: Diabetic sensorineural damage is a complication of the sensory neural system, resulting from long-term hyperglycemia. Red ginseng (RG) has shown efficacy for treatment of various diseases, including diabetes mellitus; however, there is little research about its benefit for treating sensorineural damage. Therefore, we aim to evaluate RG efficacy in alloxan-induced diabetic neuromast (AIDN) zebrafish. Methods: In this study, we developed and validated an AIDN zebrafish model. To assess RG effectiveness, we observed morphological changes in live neuromast zebrafish. Also, zebrafish has been observed to have an ultrastructure of hair-cell cilia under scanning electron microscopy. Thus, we recorded these physiological traits to assess hair cell function. Finally, we confirmed that RG promoted neuromast recovery via nerve growth factor signaling pathway markers. Results: First, we established an AIDN zebrafish model. Using this model, we showed via live neuromast imaging that RG fostered recovery of sensorineural damage. Damaged hair cell cilia were recovered in AIDN zebrafish. Furthermore, RG rescued damaged hair cell function through cell membrane ion balance. Conclusion: Our data suggest that RG potentially facilitates recovery in AIDN zebrafish, and its mechanism seems to be promotion of the nerve growth factor pathway through increased expression of topomyosin receptor kinase A, transient receptor potential channel vanilloid subfamily type 1, and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.531-540
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• 2022

Due to the high incidence of malignant melanoma, the establishment of in vitro models that recapitulate the tumor microenvironment is of great biological and clinical importance for tumor treatment and drug research. In this study, 3D printing technology was used to prepare GelMA/PEGDA composite scaffolds that mimic the microenvironment of human malignant melanoma cell (A375) growth and construct in vitro melanoma micro-models. The GelMA/PEGDA hybrid scaffold was tested by the mechanical property, cell live/dead assay, cell proliferation assay, cytoskeleton staining and drug loading assay. The growth of tumor cells in two- and three-dimensional culture systems and the anti-cancer effect of luteolin were evaluated using the live/dead staining method and the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) method. The results showed a high aggregation of tumor cells on the 3D scaffold, which was suitable for long-term culture. Cytoskeleton staining and immunofluorescent protein staining were used to evaluate the degree of differentiation of tumor cells under 2D and 3D culture systems. The results indicated that 3D bioprinted scaffolds were more suitable for tumor cell expansion and differentiation, and the tumor cells were more aggressive. In addition, luteolin was time- and dose-dependent on tumor cells, and tumor cells in the 3D culture system were more resistant to the drug.

• Journal of Biomedical Engineering Research
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.103-112
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• 2009

Neuron-on-a-Chip technology is based on advanced neuronal culture technique, surface micropatterning, microelectrode array technology, and multi-dimensional data analysis techniques. The combination of these techniques allowed us to design and analyze live biological neural networks in vitro using real neurons. In this review article, two underlying technologies are reviewed: Microelectrode array technology and Neuronal patterning technology. There are new opportunities in the fusion of these technologies to apply them in neurobiology, neuroscience, neural prostheses, and cell-based biosensor areas.

• Journal of Species Research
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.113-115
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• 2019

In this study, we present new records to Korea for three ciliate species[Apogonostomum pantanalense Foissner, 2016; Keronopsis polychaeta (Borror, 1966) Jankowski, 1979; Frontonia canadensis Roque and Puytorac, 1972] collected from marine (F. canadensis) and moss-covered soil(A. pantanalense and K. polychaeta) habitats. We examined the morphology of these three ciliates based on live observations and protargol impregnation. The main characters of the three ciliates are as follows: A. pantanalense: cell size approximately $130{\times}45{\mu}m$, tail-like posterior end, and 6 or 7 ventral cirral pairs elongated to transverse cirri; K. polychaeta: size approximately $140{\times}90{\mu}m$ and approximately 18 frontal coronal cirri and 5 transverse cirri; F. canadensis: cell size approximately $100{\times}50{\mu}m$ and approximately 88 somatic kineties, 3 or 4 vestibular kineties, and 5 postoral kineties.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.157-162
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• 2023

In the field of microbiology, numerous types of bacteria live dormant to survive stresses such as pasteurization and antibiotics. Some bacteria become 'persisters' by inactivating their ribosomes, allowing them to 'sleep' through stress and revive when the stress has been removed. Under stress, some cells morph into hollow, lifeless structures known as 'cell shells.' In microbiology, these cells have been confused with viable cells in the 'viable but non-culturable cells' phenomenon. Therefore, this review addressed the concept that when revival occurs, the always-viable persister cells revive, instead of the dead cell husks.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.103-107
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• 2007

We hypothesized that plaque-associated bacteria may have a role in maintenance of alveolar bone. To test it, immortalized gingival epithelial HOK-16B cells were co-cultured with live or lysed eight plaque bacterial species and the expression levels of bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 and -4 were examined by real time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. Un-stimulated HOK-16B cells expressed both BMP-2 and -4. Co-culture with plaque bacterial lysates had significant effects on the level of BMP-2 but not on that of BMP-4. Five species including Streptococcus sanguinis, S. gordonii, Veillonella atypica, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Treponema denticola substantially up-regulated the level of BMP-2. In contrary to the upregulatory effect of lysate, live T. denticola suppressed the expression of BMP-2. In addition, in vitro osteoblastic differentiation assay using C2C12 cells and the conditioned medium of HOK-16B cells confirmed the production of BMPs by gingival epithelial cells and the modulation of BMP expression by the lysates of S. sanguinis and T. denticola. In conclusion, we have shown that plaque bacteria can regulate the expression of BMP-2 by gingival epithelial cells, the physiologic meaning of which needs further investigation.