• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.151-157
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• 2012

This paper describes the effects of thermally oxidized tallow on the serum lipids profile and radical scavenging activity (RSA) of the lipids extracted from the different tissues of the rabbits. Tallow was thermally oxidized at $130^{\circ}C$ for 9, 18, 27, 36 and 45 h respectively. Thermally oxidized tallow was fed to the local strain of Himalayan rabbits for one week. Results show that oxidation increases the formation of hydroperoxides and decrease the level of radical scavenging activity of the tallow. The rabbit serum lipids profile showed a dose dependent increase in triglyceride, total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol. However, no statistically significant increase was observed in the HDL-cholesterol with an increase of oxidation time. Serum glucose and rabbits body weight decrease significantly (p < 0.05) and was highly correlated with the serum lipids profile. The percent RSA of the lipids extracted from the liver, brain and muscles tissues showed a significant decrease with respect to 0.5, 1.0 and 1.5 g/body weight as well as oxidation time. Data suggests that thermal oxidation and use of thermally oxidized beef tallow is harmful and therefore an alternative way of cooking should be used.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2012

In order to evaluate the physical and psychological health effects from automobile air pollution, 99 employees who worked near a main street were given a general health questionnaire, and the prevalence of their subjective complaints was measured. The collected data were classified according to gender, sleep time, degree of regular exercise, self-consciousness of symptoms, length of employment, work time, rest time, and smoking status. The results obtained were summarized as follows: The scores related to health complaints regarding physical and psychological items were higher in females than in males. THI scores were higher for the < 4 hour sleep time group. The health complaint scores for physical items were higher in the regular exercise group, whereas most scores for mental items were higher in the irregular exercise groups. The health complaints scores for physical and psychological items were higher in the unhealthy symptom group than in other groups. Those employees who had worked for > 4 years showed significantly higher rates of complaints regarding the eyes and skin. THI scores were higher for the < 6 hour working time group. The smoking group showed higher scores regarding health complaints related to physical items. The THI scores of the respiratory organs, mouth, anus, and digestive organs were significantly higher for the smoking group than for the non-smoking group. In summary, this study shows that the health complaint scores regarding physical and psychological symptoms tended to be higher among the unhealthy group, the less sleep time group, the less work time group, smokers, and females. These results can be used to improve the psychosomatic health status and working environments of employees who work near a main street.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.187-193
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• 2012

In order to evaluate the physical and psychological health effects of air pollutants from new building materials, 100 employees who worked in new buildings were given a general health questionnaire, and the prevalence of their subjective complaints was measured. The collected data were classified according to age, gender, smoking status, profession, working time, sleep time, life style, and length of employment. The results obtained were summarized as follows: The THI lie scale scores were significantly higher among the older respondents. Compared to males, females showed a significantly higher level in the depression itemas well asa tendency toward high ratios of physical and psychological complaints. The smoking group showed higher scores regarding health complaints related to most physical and psychological items. Smokers showed significantly increased respiratory organ complaints compared to nonsmokers. Those with a profession showed significantly higher level of nervousness. The group of those working 7 to 10 hours group showed higher rates of complaints in the multiple subjective symptoms and mouth/anus items than the group working less than 2 hours. Those living an irregular life showed a tendency toward higher rates of complaints for most physical and psychological subjective factors. Those who were satisfied with their environments showed significantly lower scores in the mouth/anus, impulsiveness, mental irritability, depression, and nervousness items. In summary, this study shows that the health complaint scores regarding physical and psychological symptoms tended to be higher among the unsatisfied group, the irregular life group, the group who worked long hours, the elderly, smokers, and females. These results can be used to improve the psychosomatic health status and working environments of employees working in new buildings.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.131-142
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• 1990

The selective toxicity of lead was tested in central catecholaminergic nervous system of postnatally lead exposed rats. Three groups of animals were prepared; 1) rats exposed to low dose of lead (0.05%PbAc); 2) rats exposed to high dose of lead(0.2%PbAc); 3) age-matched normal control rats. At2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks of age brain and body weight gain, and lead concentrations in brain tissues were measured. At the same ages tyrosine hydroxylase and Na-K ATPase activities were measured in the 4 brain areas of each animal. Body weight gain was decreased after 6 weeks of age in rats exposed to high dose of lead. Concentrations of lead in whole brain tissues were increased from 0.37 to 0.83 (ng/mg wet tissue) in these animals. in lead exposed rats, tyrosine hydroxylase activities were higher but Na-K ATPase activities were lower than those of age-matched control animals. Brain areas where tyrosine hydroxylase activities were detected without concomitant changes of Na-K ATPase activities were pons-medulla (2 weeks of age) and telencephalon (6 weeks of age) in rats exposed to low dose of lead, and those in rats exposed to high dose of lead were midbrain (4 and 6 weeks of age). These data indicate that catecholaminergic nervous system in the brain areas described above could selectively be affected by lead.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 2016

Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling can provide an effective way to utilize in vitro and in silico based information in modern risk assessment for children and other potentially sensitive populations. In this review, we describe the process of in vitro to in vivo extrapolation (IVIVE) to develop PBPK models for a chemical in different ages in order to predict the target tissue exposure at the age of concern in humans. We present our on-going studies on pyrethroids as a proof of concept to guide the readers through the IVIVE steps using the metabolism data collected either from age-specific liver donors or expressed enzymes in conjunction with enzyme ontogeny information to provide age-appropriate metabolism parameters in the PBPK model in the rat and human, respectively. The approach we present here is readily applicable to not just to other pyrethroids, but also to other environmental chemicals and drugs. Establishment of an in vitro and in silico-based evaluation strategy in conjunction with relevant exposure information in humans is of great importance in risk assessment for potentially vulnerable populations like early ages where the necessary information for decision making is limited.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.35-46
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• 2016

No-flow ischemia occurs during cardiac arrest, hemorrhagic shock, liver resection and transplantation. Recovery of blood flow and normal physiological pH, however, irreversibly injures the liver and other tissues. Although the liver has the powerful machinery for mitochondrial quality control, a process called mitophagy, mitochondrial dysfunction and subsequent cell death occur after reperfusion. Growing evidence indicates that reperfusion impairs mitophagy, leading to mitochondrial dysfunction, defective oxidative phosphorylation, accumulation of toxic metabolites, energy loss and ultimately cell death. The importance of acetylation/deacetylation cycle in the mitochondria and mitophagy has recently gained attention. Emerging data suggest that sirtuins, enzymes deacetylating a variety of target proteins in cellular metabolism, survival and longevity, may also act as an autophagy modulator. This review highlights recent advances of our understanding of a mechanistic correlation between sirtuin 1, mitophagy and ischemic liver injury.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.13-18
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• 2014

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) are becoming increasingly popular worldwide and their cellular effects warrant further evaluation. In this study, we investigated the effects of an e-cigarette cartridge solution on allergen related asthmatic airway inflammation (AI) and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), when it is delivered by intratracheal route in mice. Asthmatic AI and AHR were induced by systemic sensitization to ovalbumin (OVA) followed by intratracheal, intraperitoneal, and aerosol allergen challenges in BALB/c mice. The cartridge solution of e-cigarette (containing 16 mg/ml nicotine) was diluted 50 times and $100{\mu}l$ of the diluted solution was intratracheally instilled to OVA-sensitized (OVA-S) mice two times a week for 10 weeks. Long-term e-cigarette inhalation elicited no remarkable changes in the activities of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase enzymes in serum, however, increased infiltration of inflammatory cells including eosinophils, into airways from blood, aggravated the asthmatic AI and AHR, and stimulated the production of cytokines such as interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5 and IL-13, and OVA-specific IgE production. Our data suggest that the inhalation of e-cigarette solutions can function as an important factor to exacerbate the allergy-induced asthma symptoms. Further studies are needed to address the effects of e-cigarette solutions on human health.

• Journal of Korean Society on Water Environment
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2008

Biological and chemical sensors are the two most frequently used sensors to monitor the water resource. Chemical sensor is very accurate to pick up the types and to measure the concentration of the chemical substance. Drawback is that it works for just one type of chemical substance. Therefore a lot of expensive monitoring system needs to be installed to determine the safeness of the water, which costs too much expense. Biological sensor, on the contrary, can judge the degree of pollution of the water with just one monitoring system. However, it is not easy to figure out the type of contaminant with a biological sensor. In this study, an endeavor is made to identify the toxicant in the water using the shape of the chlorophyll fluorescence induction curve (FIC) from a biological monitoring system. Wem-tox values are calculated from the amount of flourescence of contaminated and reference water. Curve fitting is executed to find the representative curve of the raw data of Wem-tox values. Then the curves are digitalized at the same interval to train the neural network model. Taguchi method is used to optimize the neural network model parameters. The optimized model shows a good capacity to figure out the toxicant from FIC.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.54 no.1
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• pp.31-38
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• 2014

Cordyceps is a fungus used as a traditional medicine in China, Japan, and Korea. Paecilomyces (P.) japonica is a new cordyceps that was recently cultivated on silkworm pupae in Korea. The present study evaluated the toxicological effects of P. japonica in rats. Forty rats were treated with oral doses of P. japonica (0, 20, 100, or 500 mg/kg/day) for 4 weeks. Twenty additional rats were treated with 0 or 500 mg/kg/day of P. japonica for 4 weeks and then maintained for 2 weeks without treatment. Clinical signs, body weight, food and water consumption, and organ weight as well as hematology, serum biochemistry, and histopathology data were examined. Body weight gain of the group treated with 500 mg/kg/day was significantly reduced. Microscopically, karyomegaly, single cell necrosis, and mitosis were observed in the renal tubular epithelium of all treated groups. In conclusion, P. japonica caused a reduction of body weight and renal injury in rats. The no observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of P. japonica was less than 20 mg/kg/day.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.887-894
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• 1996

Cyclopiazonic acid(CPA) known as stimulating the release of intracellular calcium, aflatoxin $B_1(AFB_1)$ causing gastrointestinal hemorrhage frequently were used as model toxic mycotoxins in these studies. First of all, the effects of various mycotoxins on the platelet aggregation response were determined. The effects of mycotoxins on the ATP release from platelet by aggregating factors were investigated. The results and conclusions obtained from these studies are : 1) CPA promoted ADP, collagen, thrombin, A.A. and PAF-induced rabbit platelet aggregation. $AFB_1$ inhibited collagen, A.A. and PAF-induced rabbit platelet aggregation only. 2) CPA increased both aggregation and disaggregation time, whereas $AFB_1$ decreased in a dose dependent manner. 3) CPA increased ADP, thrombin, A.A. and PAF-induced ATP release. $AFB_1$ increased A.A.-induced ATP release and decreased PAF-induced release in a dose dependent manner. In conclusion, CPA promoted platelet aggregation by the increase of ATP. Antiaggregating effects of AFB1 may be due to decreases of ATP. These data provide the basis for the future study of roles of ATP release in platelet aggregation.