The objective of this study is to assess immunomodulatory effects of mixed Weissella (W.) cibaria JW15 strain with water extract of black soybean (Glycine max) and burdock (Arctium lappa) on Listeria (L.) monocytogenes infection in mice. Female 7-9 week old BALB/c mice were given a daily dose of 1 × 109 CFU of viable JW15 and JW15 mixed with black soybean (BS) and burdock (BD) in 200 μL PBS for 2 weeks. The nomal control group (NC) and positive control group (PC) were given 200 μL PBS. After 2 weeks, mice were infected with L. monocytogenes (1.0 × 105 CFU/mouse) via the tail vein. The NC was injected with 100 μL PBS without L. monocytogenes. After 2 days, mice were euthanized and their body weights were determined. In addition, their livers and spleens were weighed, and serum were analyzed for cytokine (Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) and Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α)) production. The survival rate was monitored using 5 mice in each group in the same way above until the mice died. Two days after infection with L. monocytogenes, mean spleen weight per body weight (g/kg) of JW15 (5.4 ± 0.88 g/kg), JW15 + BS (6.0 ± 0.64 g/kg), and JW15 + BD (5.3 ± 0.38 g/kg) group were significantly lower than that of the PC (6.8 ± 0.57 g/kg). The level of IL-1β in the serum of JW15 + BD (113.6 ± 31.03 pg/mL) was significantly higher than that of the JW15 (67.9 ± 15.15 pg/mL). Collectively, combination W. cibaria JW15 and water extract of BD and BD have ability to induce synergistic immunomodulative effects and are suitable for consideration as a functional food for humans and functional feed additives for companion animals.

Although stem cells are used as important cell therapies in regenerative medicine, the electrophysiological problems that arise in the expansion of cells have not been known much. This study was conducted to investigate the functional expression of inward rectifying K+ current (IKir) using a patch-clamp technique, and the change in the resting membrane potential and the membrane capacitance were investigated in mesenchymal stem cells derived from human umbilical vein (hUC-MSC). The IKir plays an important role in regulating the resting membrane potential in many cells and is known to contribute to the maintenance of intracellular K+ concentration. In this study, electrophysiologically recorded current exhibited typical IKir characteristics. The current shifted along the K+ equilibrium potential (Ek) with the extracellular K+ concentration change. In addition, IKir was blocked by the divalent Ba2+ in a dose-dependent manner. The frequency of functional expression of IKir changed with number of passages (P2: 5.3% vs P8: 77.8% vs P12: 34.5%). There was no significant change in the resting membrane potential of hUC-MSC (P2: -21.0 mV, P8: -20.1 mV and P12: -21.9 mV). However, the capacitance of the cell membrane was significantly changed after P9 (P2: 8.9 pF vs P9: 16.9 pF) compared to P2. All the results suggest that changes in electrophysiological distribution of IKir as the passages increase may cause changes in K+ permeability even in cell proliferation and differentiation, suggesting a possible physiological role in maintaining cell homeostasis and resting membrane potential (RMP).

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) is a major pathogen that may be one of the main reasons for economic losses in the livestock industry. BVDV is a well-characterized member of Flaviviridae family with plus-stranded RNA viruses. Non-structural NS5B protein is RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, which is responsible for viral RNA synthesis and genome replication of BVDV. Therefore, the NS5B polymerase is a key target for the discovery of anti-BVDV drugs. A number of small-molecule inhibitors against the NS5B polymerase have been reported in literature of which we collected series molecules having various scaffold with their biological data determined by evident experimental conditions, methods and procedures. Then, we constructed database of 655 small-molecule NS5B inhibitors having definitive activity values, structural parameters, and physicochemical properties (such as molecular hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, polarity, Hbond donors and H-bond acceptors) associated with their absorption and permeability through a cheminformatics approach. The database was opened to provide insight for allosteric NS5B inhibitors of BVDV with an accessible platform on the web (http://nabic.rda.go.kr/chemical genomic database/BVDV RNA dependent RNA polymerase inhibitors). This molecular information in the database would be useful in attempting to identify features and decision factors that enhance anti-BVDV activity or increase selectivity of the allosteric inhibitor. These anti-BVDV molecules could also be screening for the purpose of exploiting potent NS5B inhibitors in the same family (e.g., HCV, CSFV, YFV, WNV, and DENV).

The pharmacokinetics of 11-Hydroxyaclacinomycin X (HAMX), a novel anthracycline, were investigated after intravenous bolus administration in mice, rats, rabbits and dogs. Based on animal data, we predicted the following human pharmacokinetic parameters using allometric scaling: 24.1 and 6.99 mL/min/kg for total body clearance (CLt) using simple and maximum life-span potential (MLP)-corrected allometry, respectively; 5.72 L/kg for steady-state volume of distribution (Vdss ). The corresponding allometric equation were CLt = 45.896W0.8452, CLt × MLP = 31.175W1.1405 and Vdss = 10140x0.8653. These allometric equations were extrapolated to predict CLt and Vdss in human based on 70 kg body weight. We also predicted human parameters using species-invariant time transformations (equivalent time, kallynochrons, apolysichrons and dienetichrons). The values of Vdss (15.4-19.4 L/kg) obtained using invariant time transformations were larger than those obtained using simple allometry. However, the lowest CLt (17.0 mL/min/kg) derived usi ngdienetichrons was comparable to that obtained using simple allometry. The results of this study also indicated that the predicted human CLt generated using MLP-corrected allometry can be used for the selection of a safe dose for studies in healthy adult human volunteers. These results suggest that such approaches may be useful in designing pharmacokinetic studies for novel anthracyclines. The preliminary parameter values may be useful in designing early pharmacokinetic studies of HAMX in humans. The results could also be used to determine the safe dose for the therapeutics in various animals.

Programmed cell death (PCD) is decisive in eliminating affected cells in human cancers, whereas there are increasing cases of cancer-related death due to side effects of modern treatment methods. There is an urge for new methods of growth inhibition and elimination of cancer cells with a lower cytotoxicity to normal cells. Irregularity along PCD pathways plays a crucial role in cancer cell carcinogenesis. Apoptosis is a distinct cell death mechanism occurring in multicellular organisms and also called type one programmed cell death. Autophagy and paraptosis are non-apoptotic PCD occurring in multicellular organisms. Natural compounds are the fundament of pharmacological treatments, and flavonoids are natural polyphenolic compounds which are unique due to their diverse chemical structures and various biological active mechanisms like anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative and much more. This gives an increasing number of studies indicating that some flavonoids from medicinal plants could be promising candidates for new natural anticancer drugs, which attract high interests of academic researchers and advanced users. An understanding of the underlying mechanism of PCD induced by flavonoids in cancer cells is important as it plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of many diseases. This systematic review is to report flavonoids and their derivatives as new anticancer candidates to stimulate PCD with a different mechanism based on the pharmacological evidence.