• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• 제47권4호
• /
• pp.583-592
• /
• 2023

Background: Alcohol is one of the most commonly used psychoactive drugs. Due to its addictive characteristics, many people struggle with the side effects of alcohol. Korean Red Ginseng (KRG) is a traditional herbal medicine that is widely used to treat various health problems. However, the effects and mechanisms of KRG in alcohol-induced responses remain unclear. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of KRG in alcohol-induced responses. Methods: We investigated two aspects: alcohol-induced addictive responses and spatial working memory impairments. To determine the effects of KRG in alcohol-induced addictive responses, we performed conditioned place preference tests and withdrawal symptom observations. To assess the effects of KRG in alcohol-induced spatial working memory impairment, Y-maze, Barnes maze, and novel object recognition tests were performed using mice after repeated alcohol and KRG exposure. To investigate the potential mechanism of KRG activity, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and western blot analysis were performed. Results: KRG-treated mice showed dose-dependent restoration of impaired spatial working memory following repeated alcohol exposure. Furthermore, withdrawal symptoms to alcohol were reduced in mice treated with KRG and alcohol. The PKA-CREB signaling pathway was activated after alcohol administration, which was reduced by KRG. However, the levels of inflammatory cytokines were increased by alcohol and decreased by KRG. Conclusion: Taken together, KRG may alleviate alcohol-induced spatial working memory impairments and addictive responses through anti-neuroinflammatory activity rather than through the PKA-CREB signaling pathway.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• 제66권6호
• /
• pp.642-651
• /
• 2023

Objective : Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) have been reported to play an important role in the pathogenesis of moyamoya disease (MMD). We have previously observed stagnant growth in MMD ECFCs with functional impairment of tubule formation. We aimed to verify the key regulators and related signaling pathways involved in the functional defects of MMD ECFCs. Methods : ECFCs were cultured from peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy volunteers (normal) and MMD patients. Low-density lipoproteins uptake, flow cytometry, high content screening, senescence-associated β-galactosidase, immunofluorescence, cell cycle, tubule formation, microarray, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, small interfering RNA transfection, and western blot analyses were performed. Results : The acquisition of cells that can be cultured for a long time with the characteristics of late ECFCs was significantly lower in the MMD patients than the normal. Importantly, the MMD ECFCs showed decreased cellular proliferation with G1 cell cycle arrest and cellular senescence compared to the normal ECFCs. A pathway enrichment analysis demonstrated that the cell cycle pathway was the major enriched pathway, which is consistent with the results of the functional analysis of ECFCs. Among the genes associated with the cell cycle, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A) showed the highest expression in MMD ECFCs. Knockdown of CDKN2A in MMD ECFCs enhanced proliferation by reducing G1 cell cycle arrest and inhibiting senescence through the regulation of CDK4 and phospho retinoblastoma protein. Conclusion : Our study suggests that CDKN2A plays an important role in the growth retardation of MMD ECFCs by inducing cell cycle arrest and senescence.

• 대한약리학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 대한약리학회 2006년도 The 6th Congress of the Federation of Asian and Oceanian Physiological Societies
• /
• pp.84.2-84.2
• /
• 2006

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제21권3호
• /
• pp.222-228
• /
• 2013

Although the role of ${\alpha}$-synuclein aggregation on Parkinson's disease is relatively well known, the physiological role and the regulatory mechanism governing the expression of ${\alpha}$-synuclein are unclear yet. We recently reported that ${\alpha}$-synuclein is expressed and secreted from cultured astrocytes. In this study, we investigated the effect of valproic acid (VPA), which has been suggested to provide neuroprotection by increasing ${\alpha}$-synuclein in neuron, on ${\alpha}$-synuclein expression in rat primary astrocytes. VPA concentration-dependently increased the protein expression level of ${\alpha}$-synuclein in cultured rat primary astrocytes with concomitant increase in mRNA expression level. Likewise, the level of secreted ${\alpha}$-synuclein was also increased by VPA. VPA increased the phosphorylation of Erk1/2 and JNK and pretreatment of a JNK inhibitor SP600125 prevented the VPA-induced increase in ${\alpha}$-synuclein. Whether the increased ${\alpha}$-synuclein in astrocytes is involved in the reported neuroprotective effects of VPA awaits further investigation.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제23권3호
• /
• pp.268-274
• /
• 2015

${\gamma}$-Aminobutyric acid (GABA), a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, is involved in sleep physiology. Caffeine is widely used psychoactive substance known to induce wakefulness and insomnia to its consumers. This study was performed to examine whether GABA extracts from fermented rice germ ameliorates caffeine-induced sleep disturbance in mice, without affecting spontaneous locomotor activity and motor coordination. Indeed, caffeine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) delayed sleep onset and reduced sleep duration of mice. Conversely, rice germ ferment extracts-GABA treatment (10, 30, or 100 mg/kg, p.o.), especially at 100 mg/kg, normalized the sleep disturbance induced by caffeine. In locomotor tests, rice germ ferment extracts-GABA slightly but not significantly reduced the caffeine-induced increase in locomotor activity without affecting motor coordination. Additionally, rice germ ferment extracts-GABA per se did not affect the spontaneous locomotor activity and motor coordination of mice. In conclusion, rice germ ferment extracts-GABA supplementation can counter the sleep disturbance induced by caffeine, without affecting the general locomotor activities of mice.

• 대한한방내과학회지
• /
• 제35권4호
• /
• pp.448-454
• /
• 2014

Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the change of lateral shift of Center of Pressure (CoP) according to the gait improvement in post-stroke hemiplegic patients and to investigate relationship between the change of motor grade and lateral shift of CoP. Methods: We measured the lateral shift of CoP and motor grade of eight post-stroke hemiplegic patients at the beginning of dependent gait and independent gait. Results: We found that CoP tended to be shifted to the non-affected side when patients started to walk independently. Furthermore, there was no relationship between the change of motor grade and lateral shift of CoP. Conclusions: This result may suggest it is more important to control the non-affected side than the affected side, at least until the beginning independent gait.

• 대한한방내과학회지
• /
• 제35권4호
• /
• pp.498-504
• /
• 2014

Objectives: This study investigated the change of foot rotation angle of gait analysis parameters according to gait improvement in post-stroke hemiplegic patients. Methods: We measured the foot rotation angle of eight post-stroke hemiplegic patients at the time of dependent and independent gait. Results: The foot rotation angle of the paralyzed side reduced closer to normal average according to gait improvement, but the non-paralyzed side not significantly. Conclusions: Improvement of foot rotation is an important thing for independent gait of post-stroke hemiplegic patients so this treatment seems worthy of being considered in clinical trials.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• 제17권3호
• /
• pp.270-275
• /
• 2009

Polyethylene glycol-conjugated hemoglobin (PEG-Hb) has been proposed as a blood substitute for transfusion due to their plasma expansion and oxygen transport capabilities. The protective effect of PEG-Hb on cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury was investigated in neonatal hypoxia model and adult rat focal cerebral ischemia model. As intravenously administered 30 min before the onset of hypoxia, PEG-Hb markedly protected cerebral hypoxic injury in a neonatal rat hypoxia model. A similar treatment of PEG-Hb largely reduced the ischemic injury ensuing after 2-h middle cerebral artery occlusion followed by 22-h reperfusion. Consistently, neurological disorder was significantly improved by PEG-Hb. The results indicate that the pharmacological blockade of cerebral ischemic injury by using PEG-Hb may provide a useful strategy for the treatment of cerebral stroke.

• 대한한의학방제학회지
• /
• 제15권2호
• /
• pp.161-169
• /
• 2007

We applied Chunggangunbi-tang-gamibang to a 64 year-old male patient who had alcoholic liver cirrhosis with ascites. Chunggangunbi-tang-gamibang has been used to treat alcoholic liver disease and because of its beneficial effects. The patient with the disease expected several symptoms induced by Alcoholic liver cirrhosis, and we diagnosised differentiation of symptoms, using Chunggangunbi-tang-gamibang while removing dampness through diuresis and invigorating the spleen. After medication we could find remarkable effects on clinical symptoms, blood test results and abdomen ultrasonographic images. From this case, it is thought that using Chunggangunbi-tang-gamibang is very effective to improve the symptom of alcoholic liver cirrhosis with ascites.

• Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society
• /
• 제29권6호
• /
• pp.822-825
• /
• 2000

Lymphocytic infundibuloneurohypophysitis is a rare inflammatory disorder, which may be caused by autoimmune response, affecting the infundibulum and the posterior lobe of the pituitary gland. The authors present a 15-year-old man with central diabetes insipidus, whose sellar magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a focal thickening of the infundibulum and loss of high signal of the normal neurohypophysis on T1-weighted images. The histopathological diagnosis was lymphocytic infundibuloneurohypophysitis. When a patient presents with central diabetes insipidus and infundibular thickening on brain MRI, this entity should be included in the differential diagnosis though it is very rare. The significance of this entity in treatment is that it is basically not a surgical one, and surgery is needed only for tissue diagnosis. Symptomatic treatment and observation make it regress spontaneously.