• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.64-70
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• 2000

Effects of Rhizoma gastrodiae on glucose oxidase-induced neurotoxicity was investigated in cultured newborn mouse spinal dorsal root ganglion(DRG) neurons that were treated in the media with or without glucose oxidase. In addition, the protective effect of Rhizoma gastrodiae extract against glucose oxidase-induced neurotoxicity was examined. Cytotoxic values were expressed as a percentage of number of living cells by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. In this paper, exposure of neurons to glucose oxidase resulted in a significant call death in a dose- and time-dependent manners in DRG neuron cultures. The decrease in cell viability induced by the glucose oxidase was blocked by Rhizoma gastrodiae extract. These results indicate that the neuroprotective effect of Rhizoma gastrodiae extract against glucose oxidase-induced neurotoxicity may result from a prevention or attenuation of oxidative damage induced by glucose oxidase.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.12
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• pp.1125-1131
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• 2006

This study was undertaken to elucidate the effect of diallyl disulfide (DADS), an oil-soluble organosulfur compound found in garlic, in suppressing human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells. A potent increase (of at least 9-fold) in apoptotic cells has accompanied 1) a decrease in cell viability, 2) a increase of the fraction of S-phase cells by up to 63.8%, and 3) a transient increase of the phospho-p38 and phospho-p42/44 (phosphorylated p38 MAPK and phosphorylated p42/44 MAPK) in a time-and concentration-dependent manner. These results indicate that DADS can induce apoptosis in human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells via, at least partly, S-phase block of the cell cycle, related to a rise in MAPK phosphorylation.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.350-354
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• 2007

Taurine has been shown to be tissue-protective against oxidant-induced injury and is a powerful regulator of the immune system. However, there is no study on the antimelanogenic effect of taurine. In this study, we investigated the whitening effect of taurine in B16F10 mouse melanoma cells. Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. We examined melanin contents and tyrosinase activity according to time and concentration. Extracellular signal regulated kinase (ERK) is an important regulator of melanogenesis. It has been reported that activated ERK induced microphthalmia associated transcription factor (MITF) phosphorylation and its subsequent degradation and thus reduced melanin synthesis. In our B16F10 cell culture system, taurine led to decrease melanin contents by 21% at 48 hr. We then observed taurine effects on ERK-P, MITF and tyrosinase by Western blot. ERK was activated at 18 hr and 24 hr, whereas MITF reduced. We could not observe any differences in the levels of tyrosinase. These results suggested that taurine inhibited melanogenesis by ERK signal pathway via MITF degradation. We expect that taurine has potential skin whitening agents in cosmetics.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.181-186
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• 2011

Beta-amyloid (A${\beta}$) is considered as one of the major causes of Alzheimer's disease. This study examined the neuroprotective effects of chlorogenic acid, a naturally occurring polyphenol which is distributed widely in plants, fruits and vegetables, against A${\beta}$-induced toxicity. A${\beta}$ decreased significantly the viability of PC12 cells. This was accompanied by an increase in the intracellular calcium levels and cleaved caspase-3. In addition, A${\beta}$ induced an increase in Bax, and a decrease in Bcl-2 compared to the controls. However, a pre-treatment with chlorogenic acid rescued the PC12 cells from A${\beta}$ by attenuating the elevated intracellular calcium levels and reducing the levels of the apoptosis related proteins, including caspase-3, Bcl-2 and Bax. These results suggest that the protective effects of chlorogenic acid are, at least in parts, by attenuating the intracellular calcium influx and reducing apoptosis induced by A${\beta}$.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.5461-5465
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• 2013

Oral cancer is one of the most commonly occurring cancers worldwide, decreasing the patient's survival rate due to tumor recurrence and metastasis. Menadione (Vitamin K3) is known to exhibit cytotoxicity in various cancer cells but the present study focused on its effects on viability, apoptosis, epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), anchorage independent growth and migration of oral cancer cells. The results show that menadione is more cytotoxic to SAS (oral squamous carcinoma) cells but not to non-tumorigenic HEK293 and HaCaT cells. Menadione treatment increased the expression of pro-apoptotic proteins, Bax and p53, with a concurrent decrease in anti-apoptotic proteins, Bcl-2 and p65. Menadione induced the expression of E-cadherin but reduced the expression of EMT markers, vimentin and fibronectin. Menadione also inhibited anchorage independent growth and migration in SAS cells. These findings reveal and confirm that menadione is a potential candidate in oral cancer therapy as it exhibits cytotoxic, antineoplastic and antimigratory effects besides effectively blocking EMT in oral cancer cells.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.219-226
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• 1998

Cytosine arabinoside(AraC) inhibits DNA synthesis and ${\beta}$-DNA polymerase, an enzyme involved in DNA repair. This, a potent antimitotic agent, is clinically used as an anticancer drug with side effect of severe neurotoxicity. Earlier reports suggested that inhibition of neuronal survival by AraC in sympathetic neuron may be due to the inhibition of a 2'-deoxycytidine-dependent process that is independent of DNA synthesis or repair and AraC induced a signal that is triggers a cascade of new mRNA and protein synthesis, leading to apoptotic cell death in cultured cerebellar granule cells. The present study would suggest whether caspase family(ICE/CED-3-like protease) involved in AraC-induced apoptosis pathway of PC12 cells. It was observed that treatment of PC12 cells with AraC led to decrease of viability by MTT assay and morphology changes, which did not suggest that AraC induced apoptosis in PC12 cells. The mRNA of caspase-1/caspase-3 were expressed in PC12 cells constitutively, and AraC did not activate caspase family. These results suggest that caspase-1/caspase-3 may not be required for AraC-induced cell death pathway in PC12 cells.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.243-248
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• 1999

Ultrasonic wave technology was employed to improve filtration performance and ethanol production in a bioreactor equipped with an internal ceramic-membrane filter module. The filtration performance was found to depend on the power and the pattern of ultrasonic wave irradiation. Under the optimized conditions (irradiation time: 25 see, period: 5 min, and ultrasonic power: 60 W), the flux was improved with the periodic-pause method by 200-700％ compared with the control (with no irradiation), while the improvement was only 30 to 90％ without the periodic-pause method. The final ethanol concentration also increased slightly. However, in a more severe condition (irradiation time: 2.5 min, period: 5 min, and ultrasonic power: 110 W), the irradiation of ultrasonic waves was observed to disturb cell integrity and viability, and thus to decrease ethanol production.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.746-752
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• 2002

The purpose of the present study was to examine the antagonistic activities of Enterococcus faecalis strain PL9003 (PL9003) on Helicobacter pylori. This strain was isolated from infant feces and found to inhibit both the growth of H. pylori and its in vitro adherence to the human gastric cell line MKN-45. The binding of PL9003 to MKN-45 was observed under a light microscope after Cram staining and under a scanning electron microscope. When detected with an FITC-conjugate antibody, both viable and nonviable PL9003 were found to decrease the number of H. pylori bound to MKN-45. When detected by an enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay, about 70% of the H. pylori bound on MKN-45 disappeared with the four-1314 addition of viable or nonviable PL9003. The spent culture supernatant (SCS) of PL9003 also decreased the viability of H pylori even after neutralization and pepsin treatment. The above results suggest that PL9003 has a potential as a new probiotic for the stomach.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.358-362
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• 2001

Brain dead (BD) patients remain the largest source of solid organs for transplantation. BD has shown to decrease graft function and survival in rodent models. The aim of this study was to evaluate how brain death affects graft viability in the donor and kidney tolerance to cold preservation as assessed by survival in a canine transplantation. 13 Beagle dogs were used for the study. Brain death was induced by the sudden inflation of a subdural balloon catheter with continuous monitoring of arterial blood pressure and eletroencephalographic activity (n=3). Sixteen hours after conformation of brain death, kidney graft were retrieved (n=6). Non-BD donors served as controls (n=4). All kidneys were flushed with University of Wisconsin (UW) solution and preserved for 24 hours at 4$^{\circ}C$ before transplantation. Recipient survival rates, serum creatinine level were analyzed. Brain death induced the well-known Cushing reaction with a severe increase in blood pressure and tachycardia. Thereafter, cardiac function returned progressively to baseline within 8 hours and remained stable until the end of the experiment. All of dogs in both group transplanted were survived until 7 days (100%), and the kidneys showed functional early rejection at 8.3$\pm$0.5 days and 8.5$\pm$0.5 days after transplantation, in BD and allograft group, respectively. BD kidneys were functionally similar to control kidneys for 7 days after transplantated. Brain death has no deleterious effect on preservation injury and survival of dog kidney transplantation, although it induces changes in hemodynamic parameters. This study reveals that kidneys from BD donors do not exhibit more ischemia reperfusion injury, and support good early function and survival.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.402-407
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• 1996

Effects of oxidative stress on the induction of apoptosis and the activity of antioxidant enzymes were investigated in HL-60 cells using $H_2O$$_2$and cisplatin which generate oxygen species in the cell. Various concentrations of oxidants were treated to cells and at different incubation time, cells were harvested for assays. Cell viability, morphology by propidium iodide staining and DNA fragmentation by agarose gel electrophoresis were observed to determine whether they induce apoptosis. The activity of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase was also measured to evaluate the cellular response to the oxidative damage. The results are as follows: $H_2O$$_2$ induced apoptosis at 10 $\mu$M after 6h incubation, while it took 12h for cisplatin. Both oxidants induced the superoxide dismutase activity at a tolerable low concentration. However, at a concentration which causes apoptotic cell death, the enzyme level was dropped markedly at first and then recovered to the normal level after which it declined again, probably due to cell death. On the other hand, changes in the activity of catalase were not significant at most concentrations except the statistically significant decrease at 24h after 10 $\mu$M-$H_2O$$_2$treatment. In this study, $H_2O$$_2$- and cisplatintreated cells showed similar results in apoptotic response and enzyme activities, suggesting that anticancer activity of cisplatin may be related, at least in part, to the production of oxygen free radicals.