• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.16 no.8
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• pp.3509-3515
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• 2015

Background: Diallyl disulfide (DADS) may exert potent anticancer action both in vitro and in vivo. Although its effects on cancer are significant, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. In this study, we sought to elucidate possible links between DADS and pyruvate kinase (PKM2). Materials and Methods: $KG1{\alpha}$, a leukemia cell line highly expressing PKM2 was used with a cell counting kit (CCK)-8 and flow cytometry (FCM) to investigate the effects of DADS. Relationships between PKM2 and DADS associated with phosphorylation of EGFR, ERK1/2 and MEK, were assessed by western blot analysis. Results: In $KG1{\alpha}$ cells highly expressing PKM2, we found that DADS could affect proliferation, apoptosis and EGFR/ERK/PKM2 signaling pathways, abrogating EGF-induced nuclear accumulation of PKM2. Conclusions: These results suggested that DADS suppressed the proliferation of $KG1{\alpha}$ cells, providing evidence that its proapoptotic effects are mediated through the inhibition of EGFR/ERK/PKM2 signaling pathways.

• Molecules and Cells
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• v.43 no.11
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• pp.964-973
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• 2020

Recent studies have highlighted that early enhancement of the glycolytic pathway is a mode of maintaining the proinflammatory status of immune cells. Thiamine, a wellknown co-activator of pyruvate dehydrogenase complex, a gatekeeping enzyme, shifts energy utilization of glucose from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, we hypothesized that thiamine may modulate inflammation by alleviating metabolic shifts during immune cell activation. First, using allithiamine, which showed the most potent anti-inflammatory capacity among thiamine derivatives, we confirmed the inhibitory effects of allithiamine on the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced pro-inflammatory cytokine production and maturation process in dendritic cells. We applied the LPS-induced sepsis model to examine whether allithiamine has a protective role in hyper-inflammatory status. We observed that allithiamine attenuated tissue damage and organ dysfunction during endotoxemia, even when the treatment was given after the early cytokine release. We assessed the changes in glucose metabolites during LPS-induced dendritic cell activation and found that allithiamine significantly inhibited glucose-driven citrate accumulation. We then examined the clinical implication of regulating metabolites during sepsis by performing a tail bleeding assay upon allithiamine treatment, which expands its capacity to hamper the coagulation process. Finally, we confirmed that the role of allithiamine in metabolic regulation is critical in exerting anti-inflammatory action by demonstrating its inhibitory effect upon mitochondrial citrate transporter activity. In conclusion, thiamine could be used as an alternative approach for controlling the immune response in patients with sepsis.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.41 no.3
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• pp.257-267
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• 2017

Background: Heat-processed ginseng, sun ginseng (SG), has been reported to have improved therapeutic properties compared with raw forms, such as increased antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, and antihyperglycemic effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the antiobesity effects of SG through the suppression of cell differentiation and proliferation of mouse 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cells and the lipid accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans. Methods: To investigate the effect of SG on adipocyte differentiation, levels of stained intracellular lipid droplets were quantified by measuring the oil red O signal in the lipid extracts of cells on differentiation Day 7. To study the effect of SG on fat accumulation in C. elegans, L4 stage worms were cultured on an Escherichia coli OP50 diet supplemented with $10{\mu}g/mL$ of SG, followed by Nile red staining. To determine the effect of SG on gene expression of lipid and glucose metabolism-regulation molecules, messenger RNA (mRNA) levels of genes were analyzed by real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis. In addition, the phosphorylation of Akt was examined by Western blotting. Results: SG suppressed the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells stimulated by a mixture of 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine, dexamethasone, and insulin (MDI), and inhibited the proliferation of adipocytes during differentiation. Treatment of C. elegans with SG showed reductions in lipid accumulation by Nile red staining, thus directly demonstrating an antiobesity effect for SG. Furthermore, SG treatment down-regulated mRNA and protein expression levels of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor subtype ${\gamma}$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$) and CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein-alpha ($C/EBP{\alpha}$) and decreased the mRNA level of sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1c in MDI-treated adipocytes in a dose-dependent manner. In differentiated 3T3-L1 cells, mRNA expression levels of lipid metabolism-regulating factors, such as amplifying mouse fatty acid-binding protein 2, leptin, lipoprotein lipase, fatty acid transporter protein 1, fatty acid synthase, and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase, were increased, whereas that of the lipolytic enzyme carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 was decreased. Our data demonstrate that SG inversely regulated the expression of these genes in differentiated adipocytes. SG induced increases in the mRNA expression of glycolytic enzymes such as glucokinase and pyruvate kinase, and a decrease in the mRNA level of the glycogenic enzyme phosphoenol pyruvate carboxylase. In addition, mRNA levels of the glucose transporters GLUT1, GLUT4, and insulin receptor substrate-1 were elevated by MDI stimulation, whereas SG dose-dependently inhibited the expression of these genes in differentiated adipocytes. SG also inhibited the phosphorylation of Akt (Ser473) at an early phase of MDI stimulation. Intracellular nitric oxide (NO) production and endothelial nitric oxide synthase mRNA levels were markedly decreased by MDI stimulation and recovered by SG treatment of adipocytes. Conclusion: Our results suggest that SG effectively inhibits adipocyte proliferation and differentiation through the downregulation of $PPAR{\gamma}$ and $C/EBP{\alpha}$, by suppressing Akt (Ser473) phosphorylation and enhancing NO production. These results provide strong evidence to support the development of SG for antiobesity treatment.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1305-1310
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• 2021

Shikimate is a key high-demand metabolite for synthesizing valuable antiviral drugs, such as the anti-influenza drug, oseltamivir (Tamiflu). Microbial-based strategies for shikimate production have been developed to overcome the unstable and expensive supply of shikimate derived from traditional plant extraction processes. In this study, a microbial cell factory using Corynebacterium glutamicum was designed to overproduce shikimate in a fed-batch culture system. First, the shikimate kinase gene (aroK) responsible for converting shikimate to the next step was disrupted to facilitate the accumulation of shikimate. Several genes encoding the shikimate bypass route, such as dehydroshikimate dehydratase (QsuB), pyruvate kinase (Pyk1), and quinate/shikimate dehydrogenase (QsuD), were disrupted sequentially. An artificial operon containing several shikimate pathway genes, including aroE, aroB, aroF, and aroG were overexpressed to maximize the glucose uptake and intermediate flux. The rationally designed shikimate-overproducing C. glutamicum strain grown in an optimized medium produced approximately 37.3 g/l of shikimate in 7-L fed-batch fermentation. Overall, rational cell factory design and culture process optimization for the microbial-based production of shikimate will play a key role in complementing traditional plant-derived shikimate production processes.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.23-30
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• 1968

Tissue homogenates of 12 kinds of human cancer tissues were incubated separately in medium containing $C^{14}-1-glucose$ and $C^{14}-6-glucose$ as a substrate in order to observe the oxidative pathway of glucose in the tumor tissues. At the end of 3 hours incubation in the Dubnuff metabolic shaking incubator, respiratory $CO_2$ samples trapped by alkaling which was placed in the center well of incubation flask were analysed for total $CO_2$ production rates and their radioactivities. The tissue homogenate samples after incubation were analyzed for their concentrations of glucose, lactate and pyruvate. Calculations were made on the glucose consumption rate and accumulation rates of lactate and pyruvate. Fractionation of oxidative pathway of glucose was carried out by calculating $C^{14}O_2 yields from C-1 and C-6 carbon of glucose. The following results were obtained. 1. In 12 kinds of human cancer, total $CO_2$ production rates were less than $8{\mu}M/gm$ except 2 cases. These lower values impressed that oxidative metabolism in the tumor tissues generally inhibited as compared with that in normal tissues. On the other hand, fractions of $CO_2$ derived from glucose to total $CO_2$ production rates (RSA) were less than 10% in every case. These facts showed that oxidation of glucose into $CO_2$ was remarkably inhibited in the tumor tissues. 2. Factions of glucose disappeared into $CO_2\;(RGD_{CO_2})$, lactate $(RGD_L)$, pyruvate $(RGD_P)$ to glucose consumption rates were as follows. $RGD_{CO_2}$ were less than 2% in cases of in this experiment and $RGD_L$ showed more than 5% except in 2 cases. These facts showed that anaerobic degradation of glucose into 3 carbon compounds was easily proceeded but further degradation into $CO_2$ via the TCA cycle was greatly inhibited resulting in accumulation of lactate. There are large variation in values of $RGD_P$ in different kinds of tumor tissue but relatively higher values in $RGD_{CO_2}$ were obtained in the tumor tissues as compared with those of normal tissues. 3. The oxidative pathway of glucose in tumor tissues were analyzed from the values of RSA which were obtained in $C^{14}-1\;and\;C^{14}-6-glucose$ incubation experiments. It was found that 3% of $CO_2$ derived from glucose were oxidized via the principal EMP-TCA cycle and the remainder were via alternate pathway such as HMP in the liver cancer and values in other cancer tissues were as follows; 4% in the tongue cancer, 6% in the colon cancer, 6% in the lung cancer, 9% in the stomach cancer, 11% in the ovarian cancer, 12% in the neck tumor, 22% in the uterine cancer, 22% in the bladder tumor, 32% in the spindle cell sarcoma and 65% in the brain tumor. These values except later 2 cases showed less than 30% which is the lowest value among the normal tissues. Even in the brain tumor in which showed highest value in the tumor group. It is reasonable to suppose that this fraction was remarkably decreased because values in normal brain tissue was more than 90%. From the above data, it was concluded that in tumor tissues, oxidation of glucose via TCA cycle was greatly inhibited but correlation between degree of inhibited oxidation of glucose via TCA cycle and malignancy of tumor were not clarified in this experiments.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.575-582
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• 2016

BACKGROUNG/OBJECTIVES: The study was performed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of action of high maysin corn silk extract on body weight and fat deposition in experimental animals. MATERIALS/METHODS: A total of 30 male C57BL/6J mice, 4-weeks-old, were purchased and divided into three groups by weight using a randomized block design. The normal-fat (NF) group received 7% fat (diet weight basis), the high-fat (HF) group received 25% fat and 0.5% cholesterol, and the high-fat corn silk (HFCS) group received high-fat diet and high maysin corn silk extract at 100 mg/kg body weight through daily oral administration. Body weight and body fat were measured, and mRNA expression levels of proteins involved in adipocyte differentiation, fat accumulation, fat synthesis, lipolysis, and fat oxidation in adipose tissue and the liver were measured. RESULTS: After experimental diet intake for 8 weeks, body weight was significantly lower in the HFCS group compared to the HF group (P < 0.05), and kidney fat and epididymal fat pad weights were significantly lower in the HFCS group compared to the HF group (P < 0.05). In the HFCS group, CCAAT/enhancer binding protein-${\beta}$, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-${\gamma}1$ (PPAR-${\gamma}1$), and PPAR-${\gamma}2$ mRNA expression levels were significantly reduced (P < 0.05) in the epididymal fat pad, whereas cluster of differentiation 36, lipoprotein lipase, acetyl-CoA carboxylase-1, sterol regulatory element binding protein-1c, pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase, isozyme-4, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, and stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 mRNA expression levels were significantly decreased in liver and adipose tissues (P < 0.05). In the HFCS group, mRNA expression levels of AMP-activated protein kinase, hormone-sensitive lipase, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 were elevated (P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: It can be concluded that high maysin corn silk extract inhibits expression of genes involved in adipocyte differentiation, fat accumulation, and fat synthesis as well as promotes expression of genes involved in lipolysis and fat oxidation, further inhibiting body fat accumulation and body weight elevation in experimental animals.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.264-270
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• 2012

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was that serum metabolic and hematological variables were measured to investigate the detoxication effect of Taraxacum mongolicum extract on male albino rat exposed with lead and mercury. METHODS AND RESULTS: For this study, Pb and Hg-exposed( 50 ppm) albino rats was used, and the treatments were carried out in three doses of 100 mg/kg, 200 mg/kg and 500 mg/kg as dry weight of T. mongolicum extract. T. mongolicum extract could improved the body weight gain and feed efficiency ratio, except to food intake. The levels of biochemical factors elevated by Pb-Hg mix exposure, which are Bilirubin, Alkaline phosphatase(ALP), glutamic oxaloacetate transaminase(GOT), glutamic pyruvate transaminase (GPT), lactate dehydrogenase(LDH), ceatinine and blood urea nitrogen(BUN), were significantly reduced in all treated groups as compared to Pb-Hg mix exposure alone. T. mongolicum extract was shown to suppress the accumulation of Hg and Pb in serum by dose dependent manner. CONCLUSION: Therefore, this study suggest that T. mongolicum extract might have the potential effect to minimize the toxic effects of Pb and Hg.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1593-1600
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• 2016

This research was conducted to investigate the physiological consequences of undernourished yak. Twelve Maiwa yak ($110.3{\pm}5.85kg$) were randomly divided into two groups (baseline and starvation group). The yak of baseline group were slaughtered at day 0, while the other group of yak were kept in shed without feed but allowed free access to water, salt and free movement for 9 days. Blood samples of the starvation group were collected on day 0, 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9 and the starved yak were slaughtered after the final blood sample collection. The liver and muscle glycogen of the starvation group decreased (p<0.01), and the lipid content also decreased while the content of moisture and ash increased (p<0.05) both in Longissimus dorsi and liver compared with the baseline group. The plasma insulin and glucose of the starved yak decreased at first and then kept stable but at a relatively lower level during the following days (p<0.01). On the contrary, the non-esterified fatty acids was increased (p<0.01). Beyond our expectation, the ketone bodies of ${\beta}$-hydroxybutyric acid and acetoacetic acid decreased with prolonged starvation (p<0.01). Furthermore, the mRNA expression of lipogenetic enzyme fatty acid synthase and lipoprotein lipase in subcutaneous adipose tissue of starved yak were down-regulated (p<0.01), whereas the mRNA expression of lipolytic enzyme carnitine palmitoyltransferase-1 and hormone sensitive lipase were up-regulated (p<0.01) after 9 days of starvation. The phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and pyruvate carboxylase, responsible for hepatic gluconeogenesis were up-regulated (p<0.01). It was concluded that yak derive energy by gluconeogenesis promotion and fat storage mobilization during starvation but without ketone body accumulation in the plasma.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1988.08a
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• pp.63-69
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• 1988

The effect of $ginsenoside-Rb_2$ purified from ginseng was examined in rats with streptozotocin-induced diabetes. The rats of the $ginsenoside-Rb_2-treated$ group showed a significant decrease in blood glucose level as well as a significant decrease of glucose-6-phosphatase in the liver. whereas a significants rise was observed in the activity of glucokinase. Furthermore, the rats treated with $ginsenoside-Rb_2$ showed a significant decrease of glucose and a slight increase of glycogen in the hepatic tissue. The glucose-6-phosphate level tended to increase, the pyruvate level was unchanged and the lactate level tended to decrease. There was, however. no accumulation of total lipid in hepatic tissue. The serum levels of triglyceride. non-esterified fatty acid. 3-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate were markedly decreased, showing a trend toward restoration of the normal state and inducing. an increase in lipids in the adipose tissue. Additional experiments involving long-term administration of $ginsenoside-Rb_2$ produced results suggesting that $ginsenoside-Rb_2$ may improve diabetic symptoms such as overeating, overdrinking. polyuria and glycosuria.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.517-523
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• 2021

The present study aims to investigate the impact of hydrogen-rich water on the lactic acid level in metformin-treated diabetic rats under hypoxia. Thirty Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into five groups, including normal diet group, and diabetes model (DM) group, DM + metformin treatment (DMM) group, DMM + hypoxia treatment (DMMH) group and DMMH + hydrogen-rich water (DMMHR) group. We found that the levels of lactic acid, pyruvate and lactate dehydrogenase were significantly lower in the blood of DMMHR group than DMMH group. Superoxide dismutase and glutathione levels in liver and heart were significantly higher in DMMH group after hydrogen-rich water treatment, while malondialdehyde and oxidized glutathione levels were decreased in DMMHR group when compared with DMMH group, which indicates that hydrogen-rich water could reduce oxidative stress. qPCR analysis demonstrated that that pro-apoptotic genes Bax/Caspase-3 were upregulated in DM group and metformin treatment suppressed their upregulation (DMM group). However, hypoxic condition reversed the effect of metformin on apoptotic gene expression, and hydrogen-rich water showed little effect on these genes under hypoxia. HE staining showed that hydrogen-rich water prevented myocardial fiber damages under hypoxia. In summary, we conclude that hydrogen-rich water could prevent lactate accumulation and reduce oxidant stress in diabetic rat model to prevent hypoxia-induced damages. It could be served as a potential agent for diabetes patients with metformin treatment to prevent lactic acidosis and reduce myocardial damages under hypoxic conditions.