Background : Astilboides tabularis (Hemsl.) Engl. is a perennial herbaceous plant, distributed in the northern high mountains of the Korean peninsula and China. It is an excellent ornamental plant currently at risk of overharvesting and therefore, is designated as an endangered wild plant Class II by the Ministry of Environment. Physiological research on A. tabularis has not be reported. Therefore, in this study, using A. tabulari extracts, antioxidant and Anti-inflammatory effects were determined. Methods and Results : The antioxidant and free radical scavenging activities of A. tabularis extracts were evaluated using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) assay. The results showed that the ethyl acetate fraction of A. tabularis possesses potent DPPH radical scavenging activity (2.90±0.08㎍/㎖), similar to the scavenging activity of ascorbic acid (2.19±0.06㎍/㎖), and better than the powerful antioxidant α-tocopherol (10.60±0.40㎍/㎖) as well as BHA (butylatedhydroxy anisole)(6.12±0.27㎍/㎖). The ethyl acetate fraction possessed a significantly higher concentration of total phenolic (549.70±2.72㎎GAE/g) and flavonolic content (154.58±1.04㎎QE/g). It was also found that the ethyl acetate fraction exhibited high reducing power and inhibition of ROS (Reactive Oxygen Species) formation. Different fractions of A. tabularis were tested for anti-inflammatory activity using LPS stimulated Raw 264.7 cells. The n-hexane and ethyl acetate fractions exhibited a high inhibitory effect on NO (Nitrite oxide) production (22.43±1.06%, 19.30±0.45%, respectively) at 200㎍/㎖ concentration. The mRNA of IL-1β, iNOS and COX-2 gene expression was decreased by treatment with the ethyl acetate fraction. These results showed that A. tabularis extracts can be used as natural substances to control inflammation. Conclusion : These result showed that A. tabularis extracts can be used in a variety of antioxidant and other functional product research and development processes as valuable natural materials.

The wheat-rye translocations are world widely used in wheat breeding. Among the various forms of wheat-rye translocation, the 1RS (short arm of rye chromosome 1) translocations are the most widely used because of the valuable genes (e.g. biotic / abiotic resistance genes) introduced from rye. We have developed a new wheat-rye cultivar ‘TRANS’ which have freezing resistance and high yield in this study. ‘TRANS’ is a new wheat-rye translocation cultivar developed by crossing between common wheat ‘Keumkangmil’ and ‘951188-G3-G1’, a 1AL.1RS translocation derived from ‘Fleming’ with the aim of high yield and resistant genes to various unfavorable environments carried by 1RS. ‘TRNAS’ have clearly different genetic and agronomic traits to the control cultivar ‘Keumkangmil’. The heading date and maturity of ‘TRANS’ are later than that of ‘Keumkangmil’. ‘TRANS’ has 1023 spike number per square meters and grain yield of 541 kg/10a, which are higher than ‘Keumkangmil’ (904 spike number/m2 and 504 kg/10a yield). ‘TRANS’ showed winter hardiness and powdery mildew resistance in artificial infection test and field evaluation. ‘TRANS’ gives lower flour yield than ‘Keumkangmil’ but ash and protein content were similar to that of ‘Keumkangmil’. The color of flour and noodle dough of ‘TRANS’ were darker than ‘Keumkangmil’. Quality parameters related to milling, flour quality, noodle dough and end-use quality of ‘TRANS’ indicates that ‘TRANS’ is soft wheat suitable for noodle making. ‘TRANS’ can be cultivated in entire part of Korea. Registration Grant No.: 4695

Background : We studied the anti-oxidant activity and anti-inflammatory effects of Rhododendron lapponicum (L.) Wahlenb. var. parvifolium (Adams) Herder extract (RLE). Methods and Results : The RLE was prepared using methanol. The antioxidant effects of RLE was evaluated for its DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free-radical scavenging activity, reducing power. Subsequently, using the RAW 264.7 cells, the cell viability of RLE was evaluated with or without LPS (lipopolysaccharide), and the anti-inflammatory effects of RLE was also estimated by nitric oxide (NO) and using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The extract showed antioxidant activity (DPPH free-radical scavenging activity) with RC50 value of 57.67 ㎍/㎖. The reducing power of the extract was Abs 0.77 at 250 ㎍/ ㎖. The result indicated that RLE would have significantly high anti-oxidative effects. Cell viability was determined using the MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay. To evaluate anti-inflammatory activity, we examined the inhibitory effects on LPS-induced NO production in RAW 264.7 cells. The NO inhibition rate was 85.44% at 200 ㎍/㎖ RLE. At the same concentration, the expression of pro-inflammatory genes such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 also decreased. In RLE 50 ㎍/㎖ concentration showed the highest decrease. Conclusion : This result suggest that RLE is a novel resource for the development of foods and drugs that possess anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. Also, RLE can be developed as an inflammatory agents for cosmetic bases in the future.

Background : This study aimed to investigate the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of water chestnut (Trapa japonica Flerow) extract. Methods and Results : The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of 100% methanol extract of water chestnut were investigated. The methanol extract was evaluated for its total phenolic and flavonoid content, DPPH•(1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free-radical scavenging activity,reducing power, andeffect on nitric oxide (NO) production and cell viability using real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). The total phenolic content was 438.31 ㎍ allic acid equivalent (GAE)/㎎ extract and the total flavonoid content was 61.40 ㎍ quercetin equivalent (QE)/㎎ extract. In addition, results revealed the extract possessed antioxidant activity (DPPH• free-radical scavenging activity) with IC50 value of 5.28 ㎍㎖ The reducing power of the extract was assayed spectro photometrically and showed Abs of 0.71 at 100 ㎍㎖ Furthermore, extracts of water chestnut exhibited no cytotoxicity in RAW 264.7 cells. In addition, the NO assay revealed that LPS-induced NO production was significantly inhibited following treatment with water chestnut extracts. The expression of pro-inflammatory proteins such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 decreased in a concentration-dependent manner. The water chestnut extract also decreased tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) release. Conclusion : Therefore, the present findings provide scientific evidence for the nutritional potential, chemical composition, and biological activities of Trapa japonica Flerow anddemonstrate its potential use as a functional food forapplication in the pharmaceutical industry

Lepisorus thunbergianus (Kaulf.) Ching has been used in folk medicine in Korea. In this study, a L. thunbergianus methanol extract and its fractions were investigated for their antioxidant properties. The results showed that the ethyl acetate and butanol fractions of L. thunbergianus possess potent DPPH radical scavenging activities. Both fractions also possessed reducing power and inhibited reactive oxygen species formation. In addition, the cytotoxic activity of the L. thunbergianus n-hexane fraction (HF) was investigated. The results suggested that the HF remarkably suppressed proliferation of human breast, liver and colon cancer cells. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that L. thunbergianus extract induces apoptosis in SW620 cells, suggesting that L. thunbergianus may have potential as a therapeutic agent for colon cancer.

This study was performed to investigate the growth characteristics and inorganic components of Codonopsis lanceolata regarding regional differences. The plant height of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata was 373.6 cm, so it’s revealed that it has more vigorous growth than Korean won. The flowering time of Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was 2 weeks faster than Japanese one. Total fresh weight of root was 41.0 g and 39.0 g for Korean and Japanese respectively, thus, no significance difference was found. However, regarding fresh weight, Korean one had a more fresh weight (35.4 g) of main root parts, but Japanese one had a more fresh weight (9.6 g) of the lateral root part. Each inorganic component was found more in the aboveground parts, regardless of the region and the content of K was the largest. Regarding the content of macroelements for each part of Codonopsis lanceolata, the content of Na, Mg, P, S, and Ca in Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was found the highest on the leaf, followed by stem and root. In the case of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata, same result was found on the content of Mg and Ca, however, the highest content of Na and P was found in the stem.

This study was conducted to compare the growth, inorganic components, and proximate components of Codonopsis lanceolata grown in 10 regions of Korea for selecting superior species and breeding by crossing. Among the all tested lines, the shortest plant height (217.12 cm) was observed from the Ulleungdo region line (No. 4) while the longest (273.9 cm) was observed from Hwasun region line (No. 9). In addition, the lines of central and northern region (No. 1~No. 7) tend to have shorter plant height than those of southern region (No. 8~No. 9) except Jejudo region line (No. 10). Flowering tends to be late towards southern region, and lines in central and northern regions were started flowering about 2 weeks earlier than those in southern regions. However, the heaviest root weight was 13.1 g, found in only Jejudo line (No. 10) whereas there was no significant difference found in the other regions which have a range of 8.3~11.0 g. The inorganic components were varied in each line, however, proportion of macroelements, such as K, Ca, and P, was the largest for every line. Especially for Heongseong region line (No. 2), had larger proportion of macroelements than the others. There was a difference of proximate compositions of Codonopsis lanceolata, except the moisture content, among all regions, however, it was generally shown that the content of crude protein (1.31~3.76%) and crude fiber (2.18~3.12%) was the highest.

TCR subunits are members of membrane-bound receptors which allow the fast and efficient elimination of the specific fish pathogens have regulated function in adaptive immunity. Sequence structure of TCR subunits have been reported for various teleosts, but the information of each TCR subunit functional characterization through expression analysis in fish was unknown. In this study, we examined the gene expression of TCR subunits in the early developmental stages and observed transcript levels in various tissues from healthy adult olive flounder by RT-PCR. The mRNA expression of alpha subunit was already detected in the previous hatching step. But the transcripts of another TCR subunit were not observed during embryo development and increased after hatching and maintained until metamorphosis at the same level. It was found that all TCR subunits mRNAs are commonly expressed in the immune-related organ such as spleen, kidney and gill, also weak expressed in fin and eye. TCR alpha and beta subunit were expressed in brain, whereas gamma and delta were not expressed same tissue. The sequence alignment analysis shows that there are more than 80% sequence homology between TCR subunits. Because it has a high similarity of amino acid sequence to expect similar in function, but expression analysis show that will have may functional diversity due to different time and place of expression.

The innate immune system is the only defense weapon that invertebrates have, and it is the fundamental defense mechanism for fish. The innate immune response is important in newly hatched flounders because it is closely involved in the initial feeding phase, which is why it is essential for survival during the juvenile period. The expression analysis of genes involved in the innate immune response in the olive flounder (Paralichthys olivaceus) in the days after hatching is incomplete. Therefore, we have begun to examine the expression patterns of genes specifically induced during the development of the innate immune system in newly hatched flounders. Microscopic observation showed that pronephron formation corresponded with the expression of perforin-encoding gene. These results suggest that perforin plays a vital role in the innate immunity of the kidney during developmental stages. Perforin expression was strong at the start of the development of the innate immune response, and continued throughout all the development stages. Our findings have important implications with respect to perforin’s biological role and the evolution of the first defense mechanisms in olive flounder. Further studies are required to elucidate the perforin-mediated innate immunity response and to decipher the functional role of perforin in developmental stages.

Fish larvae are immediately exposed to microbes from hatching to maturation of their lymphoid organs, therefore effective innate mechanisms is very important for survival in such an environment. The key component of innate immune system, C3 is central protein of all activation pathways of the complement system, leading to inflammatory reactions, such as opsonisation, chemotaxis, and cell lysis of pathogens. Although, innate mechanisms is essential for survival in the early stage of development, little is known about defence mechanisms. In this study, the alignment analysis showed that amino acid sequence of C3 from olive flounder liver EST homologous to other known C3 sequences with 73-99% identity. Also, we examined the tissue distribution of olive flounder C3 and analyzed expression pattern from the fertilized egg until 28 days post hatching. As a result, olive flounder C3 mRNA was expressed only in the liver and the mRNA level more increased as developmental proceed during the early stage. These results may suggest that olive flounder C3 plays an important function in the early immune response of olive flounder larvae.

For the study of population genetic structure with mtDNA, it is essential to measure genetic diversity at each mtDNA regions. Also, to evaluate the variation according to the each region should follow as well as to see if there are differences. In this study, we delved into the variations and dendrogram among samples of seven mtDNA regions (NDⅡ, NDⅤ, NDⅣ, NDⅣL, NDⅥ, NDⅠ, 12SrRNA) from wild Pacific abalone, Haliotis discus hannai collected in Yeosu, Korea. The region with the highest genetic variation was NDⅣ region (Haplotype diversity = 1.0000, Nucleotide diversity = 0.010823) with two to five times higher variation than the others. Furthermore, the study to see if there is a difference between the regions of samples showed that similar aspects of dendrogram in NDⅡ and NDⅠ(divergence of 90% and 87%), which forms a group with hd4, 7, 8 and 10 at bootstrap support, based on 1000 replications. Also, pair-wise FST between clusters within the regions showed high values; 0.4061 (P=0.0000), 0.4805 (P=0.0000) respectively. Therefore we can infer that it is the most efficient and accurate way to analyze the region of NDⅣ with the highest variation in addition to the regions of NDⅡ and NDⅠ, which formed clusters with high bootstrap value, for study of population genetic structure in this species.

Soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merrill] is one of the world’s most major crops as not only an important source of oil and protein, but also secondary metabolites. Intake of soybean is associated with decreased risk of cardiovascular disease and osteoporosis, as well as cancer, including breast and colon cancers. Seventy soybeans germplasms collected from 4 different countries, America (6 varieties), China (15 varieties), Japan (16 varieties), and Korea (33 varieties), were distributed by Chungbuk National University (Cheongju, Chungbuk, Korea) and cultivated in Konkuk University farm. This study investigated the isoflavones in seventy soybeans according to 4 different origins (America, China, Japan and Korea). Between 4 different origins, Korea showed highest concentrations of total isoflavones (1292.6 ± 438.6 ㎍ g-1) and China showed the lowest concentrations of total isoflavones (843.8 ± 365.7 ㎍ g-1). The total isoflavone contents in soybean of America and China ranged from 572.3 ㎍ g-1 to 2001.9 ㎍ g-1 and from 275.8 ㎍ g-1 to 1521.8 ㎍ g-1, respectively. And the isoflavone contents of Japan and Korea ranged from 473.3 ㎍ g-1 to 2314.6 ㎍ g-1 and from 419.0 ㎍ g-1 to 3010.7 ㎍ g-1, respectively. Malonylgenistin (356.9 ± 158.8 ㎍ g-1) was the major isoflavones among 12 isoflavones. Specially, glycoside and malonylglycosides constituted 49.2 % and 45.3 % of total isoflavones in soybeans, respectively.

Manganese () is a trace element that is essential for normal physiology, and is predominantly obtained from food. Several lines of evidence, however, demonstrated that overexposure to exerts serious neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity and developmental toxicity, particularly in male. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of 0, 1.0, 3.3, and 10 mg/kg/day doses of on the reproductive organs in the immature female rats. Rats (PND 22; S.D. strain) were exposed to () dissolved in drinking water for 2 weeks. The animals were sacrificed on PND 35, then the tissues were immediately removed and weighed. Histological studies were performed using the uteri tissue samples. Serum LH and FSH levels were measured with the specific ELISA kits. Body weights of the experimental group animals were not significantly different from those of control group animals. However, ovarian tissue weights in 1 mg and 3.3 mg dose groups were significantly lower than those of control animals (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). Uterine tissue weights of 3.3 mg dose groups were significantly lower than those of control animals (p<0.01), while the 1 mg dose and 10 mg dose failed to induce any change in uterine weight. Similarly, only 3.3 mg dose could induce the significant decrease in the oviduct weight compared to the control group (p<0.05). Non-reproductive tissues such as adrenal and kidney failed to respond to all doses of exposure. The uterine histology revealed that the exposure could affect the myometrial cell proliferation particularly in 3.3 mg dose and 10mg dose group. Serum FSH levels were significantly decreased in 1mg dose and 10 mg groups (p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively). In contrast, treatment with 1 mg dose induced a significant increment of serum LH level (p<0.05). The present study demonstrated that exposure is capable of inducing abnormal development of reproductive tissues, at least to some extent, and altered gonadotropin secretions in immature female rats. Combined with the well-defined actions of this metal on GnRH and prolactin secretion, one can suggest the might be a potential environmental mediator which is involved in the female pubertal process.

Recently, tug boats are widely used for towing a barge which transports building materials, a large block of a ship, offshore crane, and so on. In order to simulate the dynamics of the coupled towing system correctly, the dynamics of the towline should be well modeled. In this paper, the towline was modeled as the multiple finite elements, and each element was assumed as a rigid cylinder which moves in five degrees of freedom except roll. The external tension and its moment acting on each element of the towline were modeled depending on the position vector's direction. Tugboat's motion was simulated in six degrees of freedom where wave and current effects were included, and towed barge was assumed to move in the horizontal plane only. In order to confirm the mathematical models of the coupled towing systems, standard maneuvering trials such as course changing maneuver, turning circle test and zig-zag test were simulated. In addition, the same trials were simulated when the external disturbances like wave and current exist. As the result, it is supposed that the results might be qualitatively reasonable.

Estrogens are ubiquitous signaling molecules that influence nearly every cell type, and exert profound effects on embryonic development, and differentiation. Wnt pathway, which recruits β-catenin into nuclei, and activates The Wnt-dependent transcription factors, also plays an important role in embryonic development and stem cell maintenance, and differentiation. Accumulating evidences indicate that potential convergence between these two pathways in carcinoma cells. However, physiological roles of estrogens in development and differentiation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are relatively unknown. Here, we demonstrated that estrogenic compounds 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2) and genistein (GEN) significantly increased β-catenin expression in undifferentiated hESCs cultured in feeder-free media. Interestingly, GEN treatement induced an increased trend of mesendodermal gene expressions, and significantly inhibited ectodermal gene expressions (Nestin and Pax6) in embrioid body (EB). Expectantly, GEN increased epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) related gene expression (Snail2, and Twist), whereas decreased E-cadherin on day 6 of EB development. Taken together, these suggest that estrogens may in part the powerful effects on normal hESC differentiation. Mechanistic studies of estrogen signaling continue to suggest novel drug targets for stem cells and will also improve screening methods of developmental toxicity.

We previously reported that purified hepatocyte-like cells derived from human embryonic stem cell (hESC) promoted the liver tissue recovery not only by cell replacement, but also by delivering proteins (secretome) that enhance endogenous host liver regeneration. In this study, we investigated possible therapeutic effects of secretomes obtained from undifferentiated hESC and mesenchymal stem cell (hMSC), and explored the underlying mechanism in a mouse model of chronic liver injury. Mice pre-intoxicated with dimethylnitrosamine (DMN) were treated with single intraperitoneal injection of secretome or medium used to support the growth of hESCs or hMSCs. Both hESC- and MSC-secretomes induced robust host liver regeneration, as determined by biochemical and histological analyses. The expression of MMP2 was significantly increased in the liver that received hESC- or hMSC-secretome, compared to control groups. In contrast, expression of α-SMA, a hallmark of activated hepatic stellate cells, was profoundly decreased after administration of both secretomes. These results suggest that hESCs and MSCs may release soluble factors that support the host tissue regeneration of chronically injured liver.