• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.221-228
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• 2011

Rodent malaria parasites, such as Plasmodium berghei, are practical and useful model organisms for human malaria research because of their analogies to the human malaria in terms of structure, physiology, and life cycle. Exploiting the available genetic sequence information, we constructed a cDNA library from the erythrocytic stages of P. berghei and analyzed the expressed sequence tag (EST). A total of 10,040 ESTs were generated and assembled into 2,462 clusters. These EST clusters were compared against public protein databases and 48 putative new transcripts, most of which were hypothetical proteins with unknown function, were identified. Genes encoding ribosomal or membrane proteins and purine nucleotide phosphorylases were highly abundant clusters in P. berghei. Protein domain analyses and the Gene Ontology functional categorization revealed translation/protein folding, metabolism, protein degradation, and multiple family of variant antigens to be mainly prevalent. The presently-collected ESTs and its bioinformatic analysis will be useful resources to identify for drug target and vaccine candidates and validate gene predictions of P. berghei.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.57 no.5
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• pp.553-559
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• 2019

The Alataw Pass, near the Ebinur Lake Wetland (northwest of China) and Taldykorgan (east of Kazakhstan), is a natural habitat for wild rodents. To date, little has been done on the surveillance of Bartonella spp. and Wolbachia spp. from fleas in the region. Here we molecularly detected Bartonella spp. and Wolbachia spp. in wild rodent fleas during January and October of 2016 along the Alataw Pass-Kazakhstan border. A total of 1,706 fleas belonging to 10 species were collected from 6 rodent species. Among the 10 flea species, 4 were found to be positive for Wolbachia, and 5 flea species were positive for Bartonella. Molecular analysis indicated that i) B. rochalimae was firstly identified in Xenopsylla gerbilli minax and X. conforms conforms, ii) B. grahamii was firstly identified in X. gerbilli minax, and iii) B. elizabethae was firstly detected in Coptopsylla lamellifer ardua, Paradoxopsyllus repandus, and Nosopsyllus laeviceps laeviceps. Additionally, 3 Wolbachia endosymbionts were firstly found in X. gerbilli minax, X. conforms conforms, P. repandus, and N. laeviceps laeviceps. BLASTn analysis indicated 3 Bartonella species showed genotypic variation. Phylogenetic analysis revealed 3 Wolbachia endosymbionts were clustered into the non-Siphonaptera Wolbachia group. These findings extend our knowledge of the geographical distribution and carriers of B. rochalimae, B. grahamii, B. elizabethae, and Wolbachia spp. In the future, there is a need for China-Kazakhstan cooperation to strengthen the surveillance of flea-borne pathogens in wildlife.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.66-78
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• 2019

Purpose: Thallium (TI+) autometallography is often used for the imaging of neuronal metabolic activity in the rodent brain under various pathophysiologic conditions. The purpose of this study was to apply a thallium autometallographic technique to observe changes in neuronal activity in the forebrain of rats following acute carbon monoxide (CO) intoxication. Methods: In order to induce acute CO intoxication, adult Sprague-Dawley rats were exposed to 1100 ppm of CO for 40 minutes, followed by 3000 ppm of CO for 20 minutes. Animals were sacrificed at 30 minutes and 5 days after induction of acute CO intoxication for thallium autometallography. Immunohistochemical staining and toluidine blue staining were performed to observe cellular damage in the forebrain following intoxication. Results: Acute CO intoxication resulted in significant reduction of TI+ uptake in major forebrain structures, including the cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, and striatum. In the cortex and hippocampal CA1 area, marked reduction of TI+ uptake was observed in the cell bodies and dendrites of pyramidal neurons at 30 minutes following acute CO intoxication. There was also strong uptake of TI+ in astrocytes in the hippocampal CA3 area following acute CO intoxication. However, there were no significant histological findings of cell death and no reduction of NeuN (+) neuronal populations in the cortex and hippocampus at 5 days after acute CO intoxication. Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that thallium autometallography can be a new and useful technique for imaging functional changes in neural activity of the forebrain structure following mild to moderate CO intoxication.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.168-177
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• 2019

Background: Brennan's rodent paw incision model has been extensively used for understanding mechanisms underlying postoperative pain in humans. However, alterations of physiological parameters like blood pressure and heart rate, or even feeding and drinking patterns after the incision have not been documented as yet. Moreover, though eicosanoids like prostaglandins and leukotrienes contribute to inflammation, tissue levels of these inflammatory mediators have never been studied. This work further investigates the antinociceptive effect of protein C after intra-wound administration. Methods: Separate groups of Sprague-Dawley rats were used for quantitation of cyclooxygenase (COX) activity and leukotriene B4 level by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, as well as estimation of cardiovascular parameters and feeding and drinking behavior after paw incision. In the next part, rats were subjected to incision and $10{\mu}g$ of protein C was locally administered by a micropipette. Both evoked and non-evoked pain parameters were then estimated. Results: COX, particularly COX-2 activity and leukotriene B4 levels increased after incision. Hemodynamic parameters were normal. Feeding and drinking were affected on days 1 and 3, and on day 1, respectively. Protein C attenuated non-evoked pain behavior alone up to day 2. Conclusions: Based upon current observations, Brennan's rodent paw incision model appears to exhibit a prolonged period of nociception similar to that after surgery, with minimal interference of physiological parameters. Protein C, which is likely converted to activated protein C in the wound, attenuated the guarding score, which probably represents pain at rest after surgery in humans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Laryngology, Phoniatrics and Logopedics
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.24-26
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• 2014

Aging causes a variety of changes in the structure of the vocal fold (VF), resulting in aging-induced dysphonia (presbyphonia). Several studies have investigated the structure of the VF of elderly people from autopsy as well as animal studies. There is an increasing evidence on correlation of structural changes of VF with deteriorated voice in elderly. Although the cellular mechanisms of aging VF have only partially been elucidated, there are many recent advances in biological treatment on aging VF using bioactive molecules such as growth factors. In this study, I'd like to address aging-related structural, biological, and physiological changes in previous literature about human and rodent aging VFs, to provide further insight into the mechanisms responsible for presbyphonia and to translate the basic researches for future clinical trials.

• Proceedings of the Optical Society of Korea Conference
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• 2009.02a
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• pp.427-428
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• 2009

Optical imaging offers excellent spatio-temporal sensitivity that is unparalleled by any other perfusion based imaging techniques. We used in vivo optical recording of intrinsic signals (ORIS) to map neurovascular hemodynamics of perfusion, oximetry and membrane potential during epileptic events in rat and mouse neocortex. Studies of hemodynamic changes with ORIS alone were also performed in human. Laboratory studies in rodent epilepsy models have demonstrated a persistent increase in deoxygenated hemoglobin (Hbr) and a decrease in tissue oxygenation during interictal spikes and ictal events. This "epileptic dip", like the "initial dip" recorded during normal sensory processing, implies that the enormous rise in cerebral blood flow (CBF) is inadequate to meet the increased metabolic demands associated with synchronized epileptic activity. These findings are critically important to the interpretation of the perfusion-based imaging studies, such as fMRI. In addition, we visualized the effect of direct cortical electrical stimulation, an alterative epilepsy treatment. The optical data following direct cortical electrical stimulation showed that hemodynamic signals are sensitive to different electrical stimulation parameters. Furthermore, our recent data demonstrated that the application of unilateral electrical stimulation is able to elicit bilateral hemodynamic responses in rat neocortex.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Toxicology Conference
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• 2001.05a
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• pp.147-147
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• 2001

To establish a test protocol for the rodent 20-day thyroid/pubertal assay, we dosed flutamide(fl), a non-steroidal androgen antagonist to intact male SD rats from postnatal day 33 for 20 days, and examined several reproductive endpoints for assessing the sensitivity of a list of parameters for detecting endocrine-related effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.(omitted)

• Toxicological Research
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2001

The background control data were compiled from rat developmental toxicity studies con-ducted at Toxicology Research Center, KRICT during the 1993-1999 period. These data were assembled in order to provide background in formation for the maternal and fetal data collected in 13 developmental toxicity studies using Sprague-Dawley rats. A total of 325 mated females were used in these studies during the seven-year period and overall pregnancy rate of these females was 93.8%. The present background control data included body weights, food consumption, hematological values, and organ weights of pregnant females, caesarean section data, and fetal examination data. These data can be used not only as a historical database for the meaningful interpretation of data from reproductive and developmental toxicity studies, but also as a contribution to biological characterization oj Sprague-Dawley rats.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.9
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• pp.1657-1660
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• 2016

Prion diseases are incurable neurodegenerative disorders. Our previous study demonstrated that polylysine was effective in prolonging the incubation period in a rodent model and in alleviating the scrapie prion protein (PrP^Sc) burden in the brain at the terminal stage of the disease. Here, we report that intraperitoneal administration of polylysine suppresses the accumulation of prions in the spleen during the early stages of the disease. This study supports the congruence of PrP^Sc inhibition by polylysine in both the spleen and brain.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2002.06a
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• pp.4-4
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• 2002

Male germ cell apoptosis has been extensively explored in rodent. In contrast, very little is known about their susceptibility to apoptosis stimuli of developing germ cell stages at the time when germ cell depletion after busulfan treatment occurs. Furthermore, it is still unanswered how spermatogonial stem cells are resistant to busulfan treatment. Spontaneous apoptosis of germ cells was observed in the testis of adult mice and experimentally induced busulfan treated mice increased this apoptosis to such an extent that there was a decrease in the weight of the testis. (omitted)