• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• 제53권4호
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• pp.189-194
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• 2010

Xenopus oocyte을 이용하여 식물 aquaporin 단백질의 물 흡수 활성을 측정하기 위한 최적의 조건을 확립하기 위하여 애기장대의 AtPIP2-1유전자를 클로닝하여 cRNA 제작용 vector, buffer osmolarity, hypoosmotic shock 처리시간, 발현 단백질의 localization등을 검토한 결과, Xenopus ${\beta}$-globin 유전자의 5'과 3' UTR(untranlation region)'염기서열을 갖고 있는 pGEMHE vector가 단백질 생산에 더욱 효과적이며, 이 vector를 시용하였을 경우 hypoosomotic stress는 1/2ND buffer에서 6분간 처리시 가장 큰 차이를 볼 수 있었으며, 애기장대 AtPIP2-1단백질과 GFP를 결합시켜 발현시킬 경우 GFP가 plasmamembrane에 위치하는 것을 보아 올바른 subcelluar localization이 이루어지는 것을 확인할 수 있었다.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제27권3호
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• pp.439-449
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• 2017

Beauveria bassiana infects a number of pest species and is known to produce insecticidal substances, such as the nonribosomal peptides (NRPs) beauvericin and bassianolide. However, most NRPs and their biological roles in B. bassiana remain undiscovered. To identify NRPs that potentially contribute to pathogenesis, the 21 predicted NRP synthetases (NRPSs) or NRPS-like proteins of B. bassiana ARSEF 2860 were primarily ranked into three functional groups: basic metabolism (7 NRPSs), pathogenicity (12 NRPSs), and unknown function (2 NRPSs). Based on the transcript levels during in vivo growth on diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella (Linnaeus)), half of the Group II NRPSs were likely to be involved in infection. Given that the metabolites biosynthesized by these NRPSs remain to be determined, our result underlines the importance of the NRPSome in fungal pathogenesis, and will serve as a guide for future genomic mining projects to discover functionally essential and structurally diverse NRPs in fungal genomes.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제14권6호
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• pp.391-397
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• 2010

E2F transcription factors and their target genes have been known to play an important role in cell growth control. We found that curcumin, a polyphenolic phytochemical isolated from the plant Curcuma longa, markedly suppressed E2F4 expression in HCT116 colon cancer cells. Hydrogen peroxide was also found to decrease E2F4 protein level, indicating the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in curucmin-induced downregulation of E2F4 expression. Involvement of ROS in E2F4 downregulation in response to curcumin was confirmed by the result that pretreatment of cells with N-acetylcystein (NAC) before exposure of curcumin almost completely blocked the reduction of E2F4 expression at the protein as well as mRNA level. Anti-proliferative effect of curcumin was also suppressed by NAC which is consistent to previous reports showing curcumin-superoxide production and induction of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) cleavage as well as apoptosis. Expression of several genes, cyclin A, p21, and p27, which has been shown to be regulated in E2F4-dependent manner and involved in the cell cycle progression was also affected by curcumin. Moreover, decreased (cyclin A) and increased (p21 and p27) expression of these E2F4 downstream genes by curcumin was restored by pretreatment of cells with NAC and E2F4 overexpression which is induced by doxycycline. In addition, E2F4 overexpression was observed to partially ameliorate curcumin-induced growth inhibition by cell viability assay. Taken together, we found curcumin-induced ROS down-regulation of E2F4 expression and modulation of E2F4 target genes which finally lead to the apoptotic cell death in HCT116 colon cancer cells, suggesting that E2F4 appears to be a novel determinant of curcumin-induced cytotoxicity.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제20권6호
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• pp.595-603
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• 2016

Ribosomal S6 kinase is a family of serine/threonine protein kinases involved in the regulation of cell viability. There are two subfamilies of ribosomal s6 kinase, (p90rsk, p70rsk). Especially, p90rsk is known to be an important downstream kinase of p44/42 MAPK. We investigated the role of p90rsk on ethanol-induced cell proliferation of HepG2 cells. HepG2 cells were treated with 10~50 mM of ethanol with or without ERK and p90rsk inhibitors. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The expression of pERK1, NHE1 was measured by Western blots. The phosphorylation of p90rsk was measured by ELISA kits. The expression of Bcl-2 was measured by qRT-PCR. When the cells were treated with 10~30 mM of ethanol for 24 hour, it showed significant increase in cell viability versus control group. Besides, 10~30 mM of ethanol induced increased expression of pERK1, p-p90rsk, NHE1 and Bcl-2. Moreover treatment of p90rsk inhibitor attenuated the ethanol-induced increase in cell viability and NHE1 and Bcl-2 expression. In summary, these results suggest that p90rsk, a downstream kinase of ERK, plays a stimulatory role on ethanol-induced hepatocellular carcinoma progression by activating anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2 and NHE1 known to regulate cell survival.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• 제18권6호
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• pp.469-474
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• 2014

DWP208 is a sodium succinate form of ZYM-201 which is a triterpenoid glycoside isolated from Sanguisorba officinalis, a medicinal plant prescribed for various diseases, such as duodenal ulcers and bleeding in East Asian counties. We demonstrated that this compound is able to normalize the altered lipid metabolism induced by hyperglycemia and a high fat diet. In this study, we determined whether hyperlipidemic conditions induced with chronically treated alcohol can also be restored by DWP208. Similar to our previous results, orally administered DWP208 (1 to 10 mg/kg) also ameliorated the hyperlipidemia that was induced by alcohol. This compound reversed the alcohol-induced hyperlipidemia including (i) up-regulated hyperlipidemic parameters such as low-density lipoprotein (LDL), very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL), atherosclerotic index (AI), triglyceride, and total cholesterol, and (ii) down-regulated hyperlipidemic parameters such as absolute body weight, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) in serum and liver. According to our data, the ameliorative activity of DWP208 is due to its indirect anti-oxidative activity as a result of which lipid peroxide and hydroxyl radical levels were reduced and the activity of SOD was enhanced. Therefore, our data strongly suggest that DWP208 can be used as a remedy against alcohol-induced hyperlipidemia.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제17권3호
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• pp.629-632
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• 2003

Scutellaria barbata has been used as a traditional Chinese Herb for treating liver, lung and rectal tumors. In the present study, cytotoxic effect of Scutellaria barbata MC fradtion was investigated and it was found to inhibit proliferation of human leukemic U937 cells with an IC50 of approximately 10 μg/ml in a dose-dependent manner. We also demonstrated that Scutellaria barbata MC fraction caused apoptosis in U937 cells. In the flow cytometric assay, the MC fraction-treated U937 cells showed an increase in hypo-diplold Sub G1 DNA contents. DNA fragmentation was observed by TUNEL assay. An increase of Bax:Bcl-2 ratio, activation of caspase-9, caspase-3, and cleavage of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) were demonstrated by western blot analysis. Taken together, these results exerted that the MC fraction suppressed human leukemic U937 cell proliferation by inducing apoptosis via the mitochondrial pathway.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제23권4호
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• pp.853-859
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• 2009

Nardostachys chinensis has been used widely as a traditional medicine for the treatment of diverse diseases. The dried plant was extracted with 85% methanol extract (NC). We investigated the antioxidant properties of NC on the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, superoxide anion and nitric oxide radical scavenging capacity under in vitro assays. NC showed potent antioxidant activity, compared to ascorbic acid. In macrophages, nitric oxide is released as an inflammatory mediator and has been proposed to be an important modulator of many pathophysiological conditions in inflammation. In the present study, it was also investigated that the inhibition effects on NO and the mechanism of down-regulation of immune response by NC in IFN-IFN-$\gamma$/LPS-stimulated mouse (C57BL/6) peritoneal macrophages. Extracts of NC suppressed NO production and the expression of iNOS and COX-2. The present results indicate that NC has an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties and therefore may be beneficial in diseases which related to oxidative stress-mediated chronic inflammatory disorders.

• 한국작물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국작물학회 2017년도 9th Asian Crop Science Association conference
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• pp.205-205
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• 2017

An excess soil water condition is one of the major problems for the field crops growing in paddy fields because of their poor drainage and less availability for oxygen uptake which leads to adversely affect the photosynthesis. Therefore, the current study was undertaken with aim to investigate the effects groundwater level on the photosynthetic response of soy bean (Urum), red bean (Arari), sesame (Geonbaek), perilla (Dayu) after the transplanting to the lysimeter to investigate the plant-water relation and their effect on photosynthesis. The chlorophyll content of the crops according to the humid conditions of the soy bean, sesame and the perilla was found to be 5%, 6.89 % and 13.7% higher than that of the groundwater treated at 40cm, respectively. On the other hand, the chlorophyll content of adzuki bean decreased 6.6% from the groundwater level of 40cm, and the sorghum decreased by 5.7%. As a result of investigating the Fv / Fm value of groundwater, the adzuki bean at 20cm above groundwater was lower than that of groundwater by 40cm immediately before flowering. The Fv / Fm value of soy bean and sesame at 40cm above groundwater were lowered by flowering under groundwater 20 cm and Fv / Fm value of sorghum is increased at 40 cm treatment immediately before flowering while the Fv / Fm values of the perilla had no significant difference in comparison to those at 20 cm and 40 cm of groundwater. In the case of chlorophyll fluorescence reaction, it is known that the when the absolute value is closer to 0.82, the stress is considered less. As a result of comparing the numerical values of the crops, it was found that the sorghum was the most stressed followed by adzuki bean and sesame, while the soy beans and perilla was found on the average, as they received less stress.

• 한국환경농학회지
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• 제23권3호
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• pp.128-132
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• 2004

공시된 세 품종의 고추에 대한 단기간의 오존 처리로 잎에서 나타나는 전형적인 증상은 갈색의 괴사 반응이었으며, 괴사가 심했던 오존 감수성인 다보탑과 같은 농도에서 괴사가 전혀 없었던 부촌 품종을 오존 저항성 품종으로 판단되었다. 고추의 두 품종에서 오존 처리에 의해 광합성 및 기공 전도도 등의 생리생태적 저해가 뚜렷이 나타났다. 그러나 잎에서 가시피해의 정도와 생리생태적 저해 정도와의 상호 연관성으로 고추에서의 오존 저항성 기작을 설명하고자 하였으나 생리생태적 반응으로 잎에서 발생하는 오존 저항성의 기작을 설명할 수 없었다. 다만, 고추에서 오존 처리에 의한 광합성 감소는 뚜렷한 기공전도도 감소와 명반응에서 광합성 기구들의 손상에 기인한다고 여겨진다. 그러나, 암반응에서 생화학적 반응을 설명할 수 있는 A-Ci curve 상에서는 오존 처리에 따른 효과를 찾을 수 없었다.

• 동의생리병리학회지
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.20-26
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• 2016

Prunellae Spica, the herbaceous plant in the genus Prunella, is a traditional herbal medicine and has been reported to have diuretic, anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant effects. However, the mechanism of its action was not clearly identified. In the present study, we investigated the hepatoprotective effect of Prunellae Spica extract (PSE) against the damage of mitochondria and death in hepatocyte induced by oxidative stress. Treatment of arachidonic acid (AA)+iron significantly induced oxidative stress and apoptosis in the hepatocytes. However, PSE protected cells and inhibited apoptosis by altering the protein levels such as poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase and pro-caspase 3. Moreover, AA+iron induced reactive oxygen species production and mitochondrial dysfunction, and Both of them were inhibited by PSE treatment. PSE markedly activated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK), an important regulator in cell survival. Furthermore, this activation by PSE was mediated with liver kinase B1, a major upstream kinase that phosphorylates Thr 172 of AMPKα, and this activation was associated with its cell protection, as assessed by an experiment of a chemical inhibitor. In conclusion, this study demonstrate that PSE protects hepatocytes against oxidative stress as mediated with activation of LKB1-dependent AMPK pathway.