• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.143-156
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• 2006

Major characteristics of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are sustaining of sternness and pluripotency by self-renewal. In this report, transcriptional profiles of the molecules in the developmentally important signaling pathways including Wnt, BMP4, $TGF-\beta$, RTK, Hh, Notch, and JAK/STAT signaling pathways were investigated to understand the self-renewal of mouse ESCs (mESCs), J1 line, and compared with the NIH3T3 cell line and mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cells as controls. In the Wnt signaling pathway, the expression of Wnt3 was seen widely in mESCs, suggesting that the ligand may be an important regulator for self-renewal in mESCs. In the Hh signaling pathway, the expression of Gli and N-myc were observed extensively in mESCs, whereas the expression levels of in a Shh was low, suggesting that intracellular molecules may be essential for the self-renewal of mESCs. IGF-I, IGF-II, IGF-IR and IGF-IIR of RTK signaling showed a lower expression in mESCs, these molecules related to embryo development may be restrained in mESCs. The expression levels of the Delta and HESS in Notch signaling were enriched in mESCs. The expression of the molecules related to BMP and JAK-STAT signaling pathways were similar or at a slightly lower level in mESCs compared to those in MEF and NIH3T3 cells. It is suggested that the observed differences in gene expression profiles among the signaling pathways may contribute to the self-renewal and differentiation of mESCs in a signaling-specific manner.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.215-220
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• 2007

This study was conducted to examine the establishment of bovine ES-like cells having pluripotency. The hatched blastocysts derived from culture of in vitro fertilized embryos for 10 to 12 days dissociated mechanically into ICM-and trophectoderm-rich clumps using needle, and cultured onto mitotically-inactivated MEF feeder layer. The primary colonies originated from ICM cells were detached mechanically 7 days after seeding and subsequent subculture was conducted at intervals of every 5 to 7 days. Two ES -like cell lines were established and maintained over 40 passages. Self-renewal of the established lines was confirmed by examining the alkaline phosphatase activity, stem cell-specific marker profiles including SSEA isotopes, Oct-4 and STAT3. Moreover, the established cell lines could produce anchorage-independent embryoid bodies (EBs) with gradual decrease of Oct-4 transcript level in time-dependent manner.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.265-272
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• 2006

Objective: This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of the isolation methods of inner cell mass from mouse blastocyst, types of feeder cells and treatment time of mitomycin C on the formation rate of ICM colony. Methods: The inner cells were isolated by conventional immunosurgery, partial trophoblast dissection with syringe needles and whole blastocyst co-culture method. Commercially available STO and primary cultured mouse embryonic fibroblast (pMEF) feeder cells were used, and mitomycin C was treated for 1, 2 or 3 hours, respectively. The formation rate of ICM colony was observed after isolation of ICM and culture of ICM on the feeder cells for 7 days. Result: The ICM colony formation rate on STO were significantly higher in partial trophoblast dissection group (58%) than that in immunosurgery (12%) or whole blastocyst culture (16%) group (p<0.05). The formation rate on pMEF feeder layer was higher in partial trophoblast dissection (88%) and whole blastocyst culture (82%) group than that in immunosurgery (16%) group (p<0.05). When mitomycin C treated to pMEF for 2 hours, the formation rate of 88% was significantly higher than those of other conditions. Conclusion: Above results showed that the efficient isolation method of ICM from blastocyst was the partial trophoblast dissection and the appropriate treatment time of mitomycin C was 2 hours. However, the subculture of ICM colony and characterization of stem cells should be carried out to confirm the efficacy of the partial trophoblast dissection method.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.41-47
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• 2013

Pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) have lots of potential in biomedical sciences owing to its potential to differentiate into any kind of cells in the body. However, it is still a challenge to culture PSCs on a large scale for application to regenerative medicine. Herein, we introduce a synthetic polymer that enables large-scale suspension culture of human PSCs. By employing suspension culture, it became unnecessary to use conventional substrata such as mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) or Matrigel$^{TM}$, which are believed to be main causative sources of xenogeneic contamination in cultured human PSCs in vitro. Human PSCs were cultured in the medium in which elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) dissolved. The ELP in the medium became harden as temperature increases by transforming the medium into a semi-solid gel that supported growth of human PSCs in suspension. Gel-sol transition temperature of ELP can be adjusted by modifying the peptide sequence in which 5 amino acids, Val-Pro-Gly-Xaa-Gly, repeated sequentially. We constructed 3D suspension media having transition temperature around $33{\sim}35^{\circ}C$ using an ELP consisted of 40, 60, or 80 repeats of a monomer, which was Val-Pro-Gly-Val-Gly. Among the ELPs, ELP80 was chosen as the best ELP to support growth of human PSCs in suspension culture. This result suggests that the ELP80 can be a medium component for culturing human PSCs in large-scale.

• Reproductive and Developmental Biology
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.171-177
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• 2009

Spermatogonial stem cells(SSCs) only are responsible for the generation of progeny and for the transmission of genetic information to the next generation in male. Other in vitro studies have cultured SSCs for proliferation, differentiation, and genetic modification in mouse and rat. Currently, information regarding in vitro culture of porcine Germline Stem Cell(GSC) such as gonocyte or SSC is limited and is in need of further studies. Therefore, in this study, we report development of a successful culture system for gonocytes of neonatal porcine testes. Testis cells were extracted from $10{\sim}14$-day-old pigs. These cells were harvested using enzymatic digestion, and the harvested cells were purified with combination of percoll, laminin, and gelatin selection techniques. The most effective culture system of porcine gonocytes was established through trial experiments which made a comparison between different feeder cells, medium, serum concentrations, temperatures, and $O_2$ tensions. Taken together, the optimal condition was established using C166 or Mouse Embryonic Fibroblast(MEF) feeder cell, Rat Serum Free Medium(RSFM), 0% serum concentration, $37^{\circ}C$ temperature, and $O_2$ 20% tension. Although we discovered the optimal culture condition for proliferation of porcine gonocytes, the gonocyte colonies ceased to expand after one month. These results suggest inadequate acquirement of ingredients essential for long term culture of porcine GSCs. Consequently, further study should be conducted to establish a successful long-term culture system for porcine GSCs by introducing various growth factors or nutrients.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.767-774
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• 2011

Cell migration plays a fundamental role in cancer cell invasion and metastasis as well as in many physiological responses. Here, we screened four different sources of garlic - water extract of normal and black garlic, as well as dried normal and black garlic - for the identification of anti-invasive and anti-metastatic activity on cancer cells. Inhibition of cancer cell migration was observed in the hexane extract of dried-garlic. Inhibitory activity was further purified to near homogeneity by thin layer chromatography and named $\b{i}$nhibitor of $\b{c}$ancer $\b{m}$etastasis from garlic #27 (ICMG-27). ICMG-27 completely blocked insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)-induced OVCAR-3 cell migration at 6 ${\mu}g/ml$. ICMG-27 completely blocked IGF-1-induced OVCAR-3 and NIH-3T3 cell migration whereas IGF-1-induced mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) cell migration was not affected byICMG-27. ICMG-27 inhibited all the tested IGF-1-induced cancer cell migration such as OVCAR-3, SKOV-3, and MDA-MB-231 cells. Finally, ICMG-27 could inhibit IGF-1-, lysophosphatidic acid (LPA)-, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P)-, leukotriene B4 (LTB4)-, and angiotensin II (AngII)-induced OVCAR-3 cell migration. These results indicate that ICMG-27 inhibits cancer cell migration by blocking essential steps in many agonists-induced cancer cell migrations. Unveiling an anti-invasive mechanism of ICMG-27 on cancer cells will provide a basis for cancer therapy.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.175-182
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• 2008

DNA-dependent protein kinase(DNA-PK) is involved in joining DNA double-strand breaks induced by ionizing radiation or V(D)J recombination and is activated by DNA ends and composed of a DNA binding subunit, Ku, and a catalytic subunit, DNA-PKcs. It has been suggested that DNA-PK might be $2^{nd}$ upstream kinase for protein kinase B(PKB). In this report, we showed that Ser473 phosphorylation in the hydrophobic-motif of PKB is blocked in DNA-PK knockout mouse embryonic fibroblast cells(MEFs) following insulin stimulation, while there is no effect on Ser473 phosphorylation in DNA-PK wild type MEF cells. The observation is further confirmed in human glioblastoma cells expressing a mutant form of DNA-PK(M059J) and a wild-type of DNA-PK(M059K), indicating that DNA-PK is indeed important for PKB activation. Furthermore, the treatment of cells with doxorubicin, DNA-damage inducing agent, leads to PKB phosphorylation on Ser473 in control MEF cells while there is no response in DNA-PK knockout MEF cells. Together, these results proposed that DNA-PK has a potential role in insulin signaling as well as DNA-repair signaling pathway.

• Journal of Embryo Transfer
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.111-124
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• 1996

The present study was carried out to investigate the effects of co-culture cells and growth factors on in vitro culture of Korean native cattle(KNC) embryos fertilized in vitro. Two-eight cell embryos were cultured in vitro using 4 types of co-culture cells and 3 growth factors singly or in combination. The results were as follows, In the co-culture of 2~8 cell embryos with bovine oviductal epithelial cell(BOEC), granulosa cell(BGC), uterine epithelial cell(BUEC) and mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) monolayers, the developing rate to blastocysts was significantly(P<0.05) higher with BUEC(32.1%) than with MEF(15.3%), BGC(13.2%) and non co-culture control(11.6%). When the morula co-cultured with BOEC for 5 days following in vitro fertilization were co-cultured with BOEC continuously or with BUEC, respectively, the developing rate to blastocysts was higher with BUEC(73.9%) than with BOEC(56.0%). To examine the effects of growth factors on in vitro development of 2~8 cell embryos, epidermal growth factor(EGF), transforming growth factor-$\beta$l(TGF-$\beta$l) and insulin-like growth factor-1(IGF-1) were added singly or in combination to TCM 199 maturation medium with respective concentration. In a addition of each 10, 30 and SOng /rnl EGF, the developing rate to blastocysts was the highest in lOng /ml EGF(25.3%). In addition of each 1, 2 and Sng /mi TGF-$\beta$1, the developing rate to blastocysts was the highest in lng /ml TGF-$\beta$1(28.8%). In addition of each 50, 100ng/ml JGF-l, the developing rate to blastocysts was higher in 100ng/ml IGF-l(16.5%) than in SOng/mi IGF-1(12.9%). When lOng /ml EGF and lng /ml TGF-$\beta$l was added singly or in combination, the developing rate to blastocysts was similar in groups added singly or in combination with EGF and TGF-$\beta$l (23.l~24.6%), although higher than in control(16.7%). In the co-culture of 2~8 cell embryos Wth BOEC + each 10, 30 and 5Ong /rnl EGF, the developing rate to blastocysts was significantly(p<0.05) higher in BOEC + long /ml EGF(32.3%) than in BOEC + 3Ong /ml EGF(18.9%) and BOEC + song /ml EGF(9.7%). In the co-culture of 2~8 cell embryos with BOEC + each 1, 2, Sng /ml TGF-$\beta$l the developing rate to blastocysts was higher in BOEC + Sng/rnl TGF-$\beta$l(28.2%) than in BOEC + lng /ml TGF-$\beta$l(21.7%) and BOEC + 2ng/ml TGF-$\beta$l(21.4%). In summary, higher developing rate to blastocysts were obtained with co-culture of BUEC for co-culture system, with addition of lOng /ml EGF or lng /ml TGF-$\beta$l for growth factor culture system, and with co-culture of BOEC + lOng /ml EGF or BOEC + Sng /ml TGF-$\beta$l for co-culture + growth factor culture system.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.4 s.71
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• pp.542-547
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• 2005

Hypersensitivity of cells lacking Brcal to DNA interstrand .ross-link (ICL) agents such as cisplatin and mitomycin C(MMC) implicates the important role of Brcal in cellular response following ICL treatment. Brca1 plays an essential role in DNA double-strand break (DSB) repair through homologous recombination (HR)-dependent and -independent process. Recently, our group has been reported that Brca1 involves in cellular ICL response through HR-dependent repair process (Yun J. et at., Oncogene 2005). In this report, the involvement of Brca1 protein in HR-independent repair process is examined using isogenic $p53^{-/-}\;and\;p53^{-/-}\;Brcal^{-/-}$ mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF) and psoralen cross-linked reporter reactivation assay. Brcal-deficient MEFs showed significantly low HR-independent repair activity compare to Brca1-proficient MEFs. Hypersensitivity to MMC and ICL reporter repair activity were restored by the reconstitution of Brca1 expression. Interestingly, MEFs expressing exon 11-deleted isoform of Brca1 $(Brca1^{\Delta11/\Delta11})$ showed high resistance to MMC and ICL reporter repair activity comparable to Brca1-reconstituted MEFs. Taken together, these results suggest that Brca1 involves in ICL repair through not only HR-dependent process but also HR-independent process using N-terminal RINC finger domain or C-terminal BRCT domain rather than exon 11 region which mediate interaction with Rad50.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.208-218
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• 2018

Autophagy is a cellular process whereby cytosolic materials or organelles are taken up in a double-membrane vesicle structure known as an autophagosome and transported into a lysosome for degradation. Although autophagy has been studied at the genetic, cellular, or biochemical level, systematic ultrastructural quantitative analysis of autophagosomes during the autophagy process by using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has not yet been reported. In this study, we performed ultrastructural analysis of autophagosomes in wild-type (WT) mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) and autophagy essential gene (atg5) knockout (KO) MEFs. First, we performed ultrastructural analysis of autophagosomes in WT MEFs compared to atg5 KO MEFs in basal autophagy or starvation-induced autophagy. Although we observed phagopore, early, late autophagosomes, or autolysosomes in WT MEFs, atg5 KO MEFs had immature autophagosomes that showed incomplete closure. Upon starvation, late autophagosomes accumulated in WT MEFs while the number of immature autophagosomes significantly increased in atg5 KO MEF indicating that atg5 plays an important role in the maturation of autophagosomes. Next, we examined autophagosomes in the cell model expressing polyQ-expanded N-terminal fragment of huntingtin. Our TEM analysis indicates that the number of late autophagosomes was significantly increased in the cells expressing the mutant huntingtin, indicating that improving the fusion of autophagosome with lysosome may be effective to enhance autophagy for the treatment of Huntington's disease. Taken together, the results of our study indicate that ultrastructural and quantitative analysis of autophagosomes using TEM can be applied to various human cellular disease models, and that they will provide an important insight for cellular pathogenesis of human diseases associated with autophagy.