• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.2129-2140
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• 2017

Silibinin is the major active component of silymarin, extracted from the medicinal plant Silybum marianum. Silibinin has potent antibacterial activity; however, the exact mechanism underlying its activity has not been elucidated. Here, we investigated the novel mechanism of silibinin against Escherichia coli. Time-kill kinetic assay showed that silibinin possess a bactericidal effect at minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) and higher concentrations (2-and 4-fold MIC). At the membrane, depolarization and increased intracellular $Ca^{2+}$ levels were observed, considered as characteristics of bacterial apoptosis. Additionally, cells treated with MIC and higher concentrations showed apoptotic features like DNA fragmentation, phosphatidylserine exposure, and caspase-like protein expression. Generally, apoptotic death is closely related with ROS generation; however, silibinin did not induce ROS generation but acted as a scavenger of intracellular ROS. These results indicate that silibinin dose-dependently induces bacterial apoptosis-like death, which was affected by ROS depletion, suggesting that silibinin is a potential candidate for controlling bacteria.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.121-135
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• 1999

Effective synthetic antioxidants such as butylated hydroxyanisole(BHA) and butylated hydroxytoluene(BHT) have been widely used in the food industry, but they are suspected to be toxic and carcinogenic effects. Therefore, the development of safely available natural antioxidants such as ascorbic acid, ${\alpha}$-tocopherol, ${\beta}$-carotene, flavonoids and selenium is essential. In particular, flavonoids, 2-phenyl-benzo-${\alpha}$-pyrones, are polyphenolic compounds that occur ubiquitously in food of plant origin. flavonoids occur in foods generally as O-glycosides with sugars bound usually at the C\ulcorner position. And variations in their heterocyclic ring gibes rise to flavones, flavonols, flavanones, flavanols, catechins, anthocyanidins, chalcone and isoflavones. Vegetables, fruits, and beverages are the main dietary sources of the flavonols, primarily as quercetin, kaempferol, and myricetin and the corresponding flavones, apigenin and luteolin. These flavonoids have biological activity such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic, antimutagenic, anticarcimogenic antiallergic and antimicrobial activity effects in vitro and in vivo. Flavonoids posses strong antioxidant activities acting as oxygen radicals scavenger, metal chelators and enzyme inhibitor. The antioxidant activity of flavonoids is determined by their molecular structure and more specially, by the position and degree of hydroxylation of the ring structure. All flavonoids with the 3`, 4`-dihydroxy(ortho-dihydroxy) posses marked antioxidant activity. And antioxidant activity increases with the number of hydroxyl groups substituted on the A-and B-rings. There is as yet no certainty about the effect of the presence of a double bond between C\ulcorner and C\ulcorner on the antioxidant activity of flavonoids.

• Proceedings of the KSAR Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.5-6
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• 2000

Nitric oxide (NO) is a simple combined molecule of oxygen and nitrogen, and has a wide variety of action on the physiological and pathophysiological function of the body. It is a key transducer of the vasodilator message from the endothelium to vascular cells. However, its different roles have been elucidated by numerous researches, which was undertaken in the 80's and 90's. Three types of NO synthase were involved in synthesizing NO and they are identified in different tissues and cells including macrophage, endothelial cells and even tumor cells. In the late 90's, we undertook a number of researches for elucidating the effect of NO on embryo development, since developmentally arrested bovine embryos contained large amount of NO metabolites in their cytoplasm. Subsequently, we found that the addition of a spontaneous NO donor to culture medium markedly inhibited embryo development and that its inhibitory role was independent of embryonic genome activation. Research was focused to find a way to prevent the inhibitory action of NO on embryo development and demonstrated that the addition of hemoglobin, a NO scavenger, to embryo culture medium greatly stimulated in vitro-development of bovine and mouse embryos. Based on these research outcomes, we developed a NO action-free culture system for embryos and other tissues. The efficacy of such system has subsequently been confirmed by achieving the high rates of preimplantation development and blastocyst formation in the NO action-free culture of mouse and bovine embryo. In this article, we briefly introduced the nature of NO and our research outcomes on the role of NO in embryo development.

• International Journal of Safety
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.24-29
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• 2005

An experimental study was presented for extinguishing characteristics of liquid fuel fire by water mist($Dv_{0.99}{\leq}200{\mu}m$) containing potassium acetate and sodium acetate trihydrate. To evaluate the extinguishing performance of water mist containing additives, the evaporation characteristics of a water droplet on a heated surface was examined. The evaporation process was recorded by a charge-coupled-device camera. Also, small-scale extinguishing tests were conducted for n-heptane pool fire in ventilated space. During the experiments, flame temperatures were measured, and concentrations of oxygen and carbon monoxide were analyzed by a combustion gas analyzer. The average evaporation rate of water droplet containing additives was lower than that of pure water at a given surface temperature and decreased with the concentration increase due to the precipitation of salt in the liquid-film and change of surface tension. In case of using additives, the fire extinguishing times was shorter than that of pure water at a given discharge pressure and it was because the momentum of a water droplet containing additives was increased. And also dissociated metal atoms, potassium or sodium, were reacted as a scavenger of the major radical species OH, H which were generated for combustion process. Moreover, at a high pressure of 4 MPa, the fire was extinguished through blowing effect as well as primary extinguishing mechanisms.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.215-226
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• 1998

Geagibokrounghwan (桂技茯笭湯) has long been used to cure human diseases such as vascular and blood disorders. However, it is still unkown on its action mechanism, physiolosical and biochemical meaning. Thus, many attempts were tried to show the scientific background covering the above mentioned mechanism. The effect of Geagibokrounghwan, which was known to date, as follow; effective circulation of body blood system, proliferation of leucocytes and antioxidative action. In this study, we have applied the Geagibokrounghwan administration and feed to mouse, to see effects on the expression of superoxide dismutase(SOD) mRNA as antioxidative agent and oxygen radical scavenger. Total RNAs includingmRNA have been isolated from liver and white blood cells after mice were fed with cholesterol in high dose. Also, in a separate group, the cholesterol-administrated mice were fed with Geagibokrounghwan to see the effects on SOD transcription. and then reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) usion each primer set (SOD-F;GATGAAAGCGGTGT-3'; SOD-R; 5'-CCTGTGGAGTGATT-3') were performed to trace theamounts of mRNA. SOD mRNA was specifically expressed in Geagibokrounghwan-fed mice at 2 weeks after treatment, however, gradually reduced after 4 weeks. These results indicate that Geagibokrounghwan is highly applicable in treatment of the above mentioned human diseases.

• BMB Reports
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.43-46
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• 2001

$\alpha$-Phenyl-N-t-butylnitrone (PBN) is one of the most widely used spin-trapping compounds for investigating the existence of free radicals in biological systems. Recently, there has been considerable interest in the antioxidant nature of PBN on degenerative diseases, presumably related to oxidative stress. In the present study, the protective effect of PBN on the HepG2 cell line under oxidative stress was investigated. When the HepG2 cells were exposed to oxidant, such as hydrogen peroxide, menadione, or ethanol, the protective role of PBN was manifested as a reduction in trypan blue uptake and a decrease in the endogenous production of oxidants, as measured by the oxidation of 2',7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescin. The modulation of activity of major antioxidant enzymes, such as superoxide dismutase and catalase, was not significantly different either in the presence or in the absence of PBN. This indicates that PBN acts as a direct scavenger of reactive oxygen species.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.277-283
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• 2004

Psammaplin A (PSA), a naturally occurring biophenolic compound has been demonstrated to deliver significant cytotoxicity to many cancer cell lines. In this article, we investigated the effect of PSA on cell cycle progression of lung cancer cells (A549). It was found that PSA could slightly perturb the cell cycle progression of A549 cells and lead to the cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase, indicating PSA might disturb the mitosis process of A549 cells. In addition, inspired by the two phenolic groups in the structure of PSA, the antioxidant activity of it has been evaluated. Although PSA was weak in scavenging the stable free radical 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhyrazyl (DPPH), it showed stronger ABTS radical scavenging activity than ascorbic acid in TEAC assay. Furthermore, it was found that PSA could effectively prevent DNA strand scission induced by oxidative stress. These results suggest that PSA have both cell cycle regulation and antioxidant activities. Herein, we suggest that PSA would be a very interesting and promising candidate to be developed as a multi-function drug.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Propulsion Engineers Conference
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• 2005.11a
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• pp.5-8
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• 2005

In this report the developing trends of several clean and green propellants have been summarized. A low-acid clean propellant has been developed, which substantially reduced the content of hydrochloric acid(HCl) in the solid rocket exhaust. Although the chlorine-free approach is now preferred, this technology has not been proved yet. Another acid suppression effect of Magnalium(Mg-Al Alloy) was investigated. Reports says that the concentration of HCl could be reduced to approximately one-fifth of conventional propellant. Many 'green' propellants with low toxicity are being developed for next-generation post-boost propulsion systems, in which combustion research on the Al or Mg fine metal particles with hot steam in various stoichiometric conditions are being performed.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.461-467
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• 2009

The auditory cortex (A1) encodes the acquired significance of sound for the perception and interpretation of sound. Nitric oxide (NO) is a gas molecule with free radical properties that functions as a transmitter molecule and can alter neural activity without direct synaptic connections. We used whole-cell recordings under voltage clamp to investigate the effect of NO on spontaneous GABAergic synaptic transmission in mechanically isolated rat auditory cortical neurons preserving functional presynaptic nerve terminals. GABAergic spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic currents (sIPSCs) in the A1 were completely blocked by bicuculline. The NO donor, S-nitroso-N-acetylpenicillamine (SNAP), reduced the GABAergic sIPSC frequency without affecting the mean current amplitude. The SNAP-induced inhibition of sIPSC frequency was mimicked by 8-bromoguanosine cyclic 3',5'-monophosphate, a membrane permeable cyclic-GMP analogue, and blocked by 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-4,4,5,5-tetramethylimidazoline-1-oxyl-3-oxide, a specific NO scavenger. Blockade of presynaptic $K^+$ channels by 4-aminopyridine, a $K^+$ channel blocker, increased the frequencies of GABAergic sIPSCs, but did not affect the inhibitory effects of SNAP. However, blocking of presynaptic $Ca^{2+}$ channels by $Cd^{2+}$, a general voltage-dependent $Ca^{2+}$ channel blocker, decreased the frequencies of GABAergic sIPSCs, and blocked SNAP-induced reduction of sIPSC frequency. These findings suggest that NO inhibits spontaneous GABA release by activation of cGMP-dependent signaling and inhibition of presynaptic $Ca^{2+}$ channels in the presynaptic nerve terminals of A1 neurons.

• International Journal of Oral Biology
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• v.41 no.4
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• pp.231-236
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• 2016

Inhibition of Rho-associated coiled coil-containing kinase (ROCK) has been reported to promote differentiation of neuronal cells. Here, we examined the effect of Y-27632, a ROCK inhibitor, on the outgrowth of neurites in PC12 cells. Y-27632 caused a rapid induction of neurite outgrowth in PC12 cells in a time-dependent manner. The neurite outgrowth, triggered by Y-27632, was accompanied by Rac1 activation, and was attenuated by Rac1 inhibitor NSC23766, in a concentration-dependent manner. Y-27632 also induced an increase in the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Pretreatment with N-acetylcysteine, an ROS scavenger, inhibited the ROS generation and neurite outgrowth in response to Y-27632. These results indicate that the activation of Rac1 and the generation of ROS contribute to the neurite outgrowth triggered by Y-27632 in PC12 cells.