• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• 제48권1호
• /
• pp.59-67
• /
• 2024

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) has memory impairment associated with aggregation of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. Although anti-amyloid β (Aβ) protein antibody and chemical drugs can be prescribed in the clinic, they show adverse effects or low effectiveness. Therefore, the development of a new drug is necessarily needed. We focused on the cognitive function of Panax ginseng and tried to find active ingredient(s). We isolated panaxcerol D, a kind of glycosyl glyceride, from the non-saponin fraction of P. ginseng extract. Methods: We explored effects of acute or sub-chronic administration of panaxcerol D on cognitive function in scopolamine- or Aβ_25-35 peptide-treated mice measured by several behavioral tests. After behavioral tests, we tried to unveil the underlying mechanism of panaxcerol D on its cognitive function by Western blotting. Results: We found that pananxcerol D reversed short-term, long-term and object recognition memory impairments. The decreased extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) or Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKII) in scopolamine-treated mice was normalized by acute administration of panaxcerol D. Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), caspase 3, NF-kB p65, synaptophysin and brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression levels in Aβ_25-35 peptide-treated mice were modulated by sub-chronic administration of panaxcerol D. Conclusion: Pananxcerol D could improve memory impairments caused by cholinergic blockade or Aβ accumulation through increased phosphorylation level of ERK or its anti-inflammatory effect. Thus, panaxcerol D as one of non-saponin compounds could be used as an active ingredient of P. ginseng for improving cognitive function.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
• /
• 제17권3호
• /
• pp.489-494
• /
• 2008

In order to develop a potent antidementia $\beta$-secretase inhibitor from phytochemicals, $\beta$-secretase inhibitory activities of extracts from many medicinal plants and herbs were determined. Water extracts from Rubus coreanus showed the highest $\beta$-secretase inhibitory activity of 84.5%. After purification of the $\beta$-secretase inhibitor from R. coreanus using systematic solvent extraction, ultrafiltration, Sephadex G-10 column chromatography, and reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), a purified $\beta$-secretase inhibitor with $IC_{50}$ inhibitory activity of $6.3{\times}10^3\;ng/mL$ ($1.56{\times}10^{-6}\;M)$ was obtained with a 0.08% solid yield. The molecular mass of the purified $\beta$-secretase inhibitor was estimated to be 576 Da by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) and $\beta$-secretase inhibitor also is a new tetrapeptide with the sequence Gly-Trp-Trp-Glu. The purified $\beta$-secretase inhibitory peptide inhibited $\beta$-secretase non-competitively and also show less inhibition on trypsin, however no inhibition on other proteases such as $\alpha$-secretase, chymotrypsin, and elastase.

• 대한의생명과학회지
• /
• 제10권3호
• /
• pp.179-186
• /
• 2004

We examined a role of proteasome, the non-lysosomal multicatalytic protease complex,on the differentiation of chick embryonic myoblasts in culture. The peptide hydrolyzing activities of proteasome were found to change; the hydrolyzing activity against N-succinyl-Leu-Leu- Val- Tyr-7 -amido-4-methy1coumarin (SLLVY-AMC) was prominent and increased with myogenic differentiation. Proteasome inhibitors, N-carbobenzoxy-Leu-Leu-norvalinal (MG115) and N-carbobenzoxy-Ile-Glu (O-t-butyl)-Ala-Leucinal (PSI), blocked membrane fusion of myoblasts as well as the SLLVY-AMC hydrolyzing activity. Those inhibitory activities of the agents occurred in parallel, but were reversible and both cell fusion and the peptidase activity were restored when the agents were withdrawn from the culture medium. On the other hand, the agents caused accumulation of the ubiquitinylated proteins in the cytoskeletal proteins. These results suggest that each of the peptide hydrolyzing activities of proteasome is independently regulated during the myogenic differentiation and the chymotrypsin-like activity may play an important role in that process.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제44권4호
• /
• pp.256-261
• /
• 2011

PEP-1 peptide has been used for transduction of native protein into mammalian cells. This work describes the findings that the fusion of PEP-1 to target proteins led to protein truncation likely in a non-protein-specific manner. Approximately 75% of PEP-1-MsrA fusion protein was truncated in the N-terminal region of MsrA between Lys-27 and Val-28 during expression in Escherichia coli and purification. This large protein truncation was also observed in another PEP-1 fused protein, PEP-1-MsrB2, in the N-terminal region of MsrB2. The full-length PEP-1-MsrA protein was rapidly transduced into keratinocyte cells within 15 min. The transduced PEP-1-MsrA was functionally active and could protect skin cells against oxidative stress- and ultraviolet radiation-induced cell death. Collectively, our data demonstrated the protective roles of MsrA in skin cells and, moreover, may raise a concern of protein truncation caused by fusion of PEP-1 about the general use of this peptide for protein transduction.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제40권6호
• /
• pp.1090-1094
• /
• 2007

Melittin (ME), a linear 26-residue non-cell-selective antimicrobial peptide, displays strong lytic activity against bacterial and human red blood cells. To design ME analogue with improved cell selectivity, we synthesized a melittin diastereomer (ME-D) with D-amino acid in the leucine zipper sequence (Leu-6, Lue-13 and Ile-20). Compared to ME, ME-D exhibited the same or 2-fold higher antibacterial activity but 8-fold less hemolytic activity. Circular dichroism analysis revealed that ME-D has much less $\alpha$-helical content in $\alpha$-helical content in the presence of zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes compared to negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. The blue shift of the fluorescence emission maximum of ME-D in zwitterionic EYPC/cholesterol (10 : 1, w/w) liposomes was much smaller than in negatively charged EYPE/EYPG (7 : 3, w/w) liposomes. These results suggested that the improvement in therapeutic index/cell selectivity of ME-D is correlated with its less permeability to zwitterionic membranes.

• BMB Reports
• /
• 제38권3호
• /
• pp.334-342
• /
• 2005

Recently, the existence of T cells with dual T cell receptor (TCR) in the immune system is generally accepted, while it has been controversial whether signals through one TCR would affect the functions of the other. In this study T cells expressing two different TCR were obtained from cross-hybrids of LCMV and AND TCR transgenic mice specific for the gp33 and peptide fragment of PCC (fPCC), respectively. Peptide stimulation demonstrated that the dual TCR T cells functioned independently in an antigen-specific manner. To examine whether the tolerance targeted for the one TCR affects the responsiveness of the other, the cross-hybrids were treated with gp33. Although T cells from F1 mice were rendered anergenic to gp33, no functional changes to fPCC were observed in terms of cellular proliferation and IL-2 secretion, suggesting that the dual TCR T cells remained reactive to fPCC. We therefore propose that signaling through the TCR is receptor-specific and 'negative dominance' of one TCR by tolerance induction is not applicable in this dual TCR system.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• 제34권2호
• /
• pp.101-106
• /
• 2004

This work aims at examining the cellular uptake behavior of poly(D,L-lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) nanoparticles derivatized with a protein transduction domain (PTD) using HeLa cells. For this purpose, $Tat_{49-57}$ peptide derived from transcriptional activation (Tat) protein of HIV type-1 was covalently conjugated to the terminal end of PLGA. Nanoparticles were ten prepared with the $Tat_{49-57}-PLGA$ conjugates by a spontaneous phase inversion method. The prepared particles had a mean diameter of ca. 84 nm, as measured by dynamic light scattering. The interaction of the Tat-PLGA nanoparticles with cells was examined by using confocal laser scanning microscopy. It was found tat Tat-PLGA nanoparticles incubated with HeLa cells could efficiently translocate into cytoplasm, while plain PLGA nanoparticles showed negligible cellular uptake. In addition, even at $4^{\circ}C$ or in the presence of sodium azide significant cellular internalization of Tat-PLGA nanoparticles was still observed. These results indicate that a non-endocytotic translocation mechanism might be involved in the cellular uptake of Tat-PLGA nanoparticles.

• 생명과학회지
• /
• 제15권4호
• /
• pp.528-535
• /
• 2005

부위간의 DPPH free radical scavenging 활성은 과육은 종자 보다 높았고 생육시기간에는 후기가 초기에 비하여 높았고, Xanthine oxidase 억제활성은 종자와 과육에 비하여 매우 높았고 동정된 항 산화물은 대부분이 지방산 및 페놀성 화합물로, 과육 및 종자가 성숙 될수록 1-eicosanol, palmitic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid 등의 지방산 및 benzonitrile의 함량이 증가되었다. 시료 채취 시기간의 POD활성은 과육은 성숙중기에 높았으나, 종자는 성숙이 경과될수록 낮았다. SOD 활성은 과육은 생육이 경과할수록 증가하였으나, 종자는 성숙할수록 낮아졌다. 고추종자 단백질은 western blot에 의하여 lunasin이 동정되었고, 개화 후 5주부터 lunasin 생합성 되었다. 고추 종자내의 100nM lunasin 펩타이드는 종양유발 유전자가 전이된 $2\~12$ 세포의 콜로니 형성을 억제시켰으며, 결과적으로 고추 종자내에는 암 예방적 특성을 갖는 lunasin peptide가 존재한다.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• 제38권6호
• /
• pp.496-505
• /
• 2015

A variant peak was detected in the analysis of RP-HPLC of rHu-EPO, which has about 7% relative content. Fractions of the main and the variant peaks were pooled separately and further analyzed to identify the molecular structure of the variant peak. Total mass analysis for each peak fraction using ESI-TOF MS shows differences in molecular mass. The fraction of the main peak tends to result in higher molecular masses than the fraction of the variant. The detected masses for the variant are about 600-1000 Da smaller than those for the main peak. Peptide mapping analysis for each peak fraction using Asp-N and Glu-C shows differences in O-glycopeptide profiles at Ser126. The O-glycopeptides were not detected in the fraction of the variant. It is concluded that the variant peak is non-O-glycosylated rHu-EPO and the main peak is fully O-glycosylated rHu-EPO at Ser126.

• KSBB Journal
• /
• 제23권5호
• /
• pp.398-402
• /
• 2008

Cyanobacteria havebeen identified as one of the most promising group producing novel biochemically active natural products. Cyanobacteria are a very old group of prokaryotic organisms that produce very diverse secondary metabolites, especially non-ribosomal peptide and polyketide structures. Though many useful natural products have been identified in cyanobacterial biomass, cyanobacteria produce also extracellular proteins related with NRPS/PKS. Detection of unknown secondary metabolites in medium was carried in the present study by a screening of 98 cyanobacterial strains. A degenerated PCR technique as molecular approaches was used for general screening of NRPS/PKS gene in cyanobacteria. A putative PKS gene was detected by DKF/DKR primer in 38 strains (38.8%) and PCR amplicons resulted from a presence of NRPS gene were showed by MTF2/MTR2 primer in 30 strains (30.6%) and by A3/A7 primer in 26 strains (26.5%). HPLC analysis for a detection of natural products was performed in extracts from medium in which cyanobacteria containing putative PKS or NRPS were cultivated. CBT57, CBT62, CBT590 and CBT632 strains were screened for a production of extracellular natural products. 5 pure substances were detected from medium of these cyanobacteria.