For transdermal delivery of porcine placenta extract (PPE), various emulsion formulations were prepared and evaluated. Polysorbate surfactants were used as emulsiflers and various C-I 8 unsaturated fatty acids as enhancers. The skin permeation of PPE was tested using a cellulose nitrate membrane-loaded Franz cell apparatus. Among emulsifiers, Tween 20 provided higher penetration effect than did Tween 80. Meanwhile, of various fatty acids, linolenic acid (18:3) revealed the highest skin permeation of PPE than the other C-18 unsaturated fatty acids. Stability of PPE emulsions was determined by cycles of freezing and thawing processes. The stability of emulsions depended on the percentage of Tween 20. Minimum 20% of Tween 20 was required to stabilize emulsions at room temperature for several days. Taken together, our results suggest that Tween 20 and linolenic acids might be key components to formulate PPE emulsion to provide the desirable skin permeability and stability.
Plants are the promising reservoirs for natural products with their diverse secondary metabolites. Many invasive plants have been introduced in Korea, which adversely affect on the native ecosystem but holds difficulty removing them due to their proliferation. In this study, we evaluated disease control efficacy of methanol extracts from four invasive plant species against 7 representative crop pathogens. Methanol extract of Phytolacca americana effectively suppressed rice blast, tomato gray mold, and tomato late blight in a dose dependent manner. The methanol extract of Amorpha fruticosa also exhibited potent antifungal activity against pepper anthracnose in a concentration dependent way. These data suggest that the extracts of P. americana and A. fruticosa can be developed as plant disease protection agents against rice blast, tomato gray mold, tomato late blight, and pepper anthracnose. Furthermore, more extensive research will be required to identify and isolate active compounds from problematic invasive plant species to develop valuable agrochemicals.
Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is an endocrine disorder and the criteria are specified by hyperandrogenism, oligomenorrhea or amenorrhea and polycystic ovary morphology. Follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) has effects on oogenesis and follicle development. Several polymorphisms of FSH receptor (FSHR) are related to primary amenorrhea, hypoplastic ovary, and high serum levels of FSH. Thus, an increase in FSH level leads to follicle maturation and proliferation of granulosa cells. The aim of this study was to determine whether Ser680Asn and Ala307Thr polymorphisms of FSHR were associated with the clinical features of PCOS in a Korean population. PCOS patients (n=235) and control subjects (n=128) in the reproductive age were recruited from the Fertility Center of CHA General Hospital in Seoul, Korea. For Ser680Asn and Ala307Thr polymorphisms in FSHR, frequency of respective genotypes was measured and statistical analysis was performed. Haplotype analysis between Ser680Asn and Ala307Thr was also performed. We found that the Ser680Asn of FSHR is associated with PCOS (p=0.0195, OR=1.66). However, in case of Ala307Thr, the variant is negligible and is not associated with PCOS (p=0.6963, OR=1.08). In haplotype analysis, Ser680Asn and Ala307Thr polymorphisms are not related with PCOS. Consequently, the Ser680Asn polymorphism of FSHR might significantly affect PCOS patients, separately from the Ala307Thr polymorphism.
The homeostasis for a number of cellular proteins is regulated by not only phosphorylation and dephosphorylation, but also ubiquitination and deubiquitination. A number of proteins involved in the degradation of polypeptides have been isolated in various eukaryotic organisms from Saccharomyces cerevisiae to human. Recently, several deubiquitinating enzymes, classified into either the Ub C-terminal hydrolase (UCH) or the Ub-specific processing protease (UBP), have been reported. It has been shown that they contain conserved domains including Cys, His, and Asp residues throughout the enzyme. These proteins have been demonstrated that Cys and His domains are critical for deubiquitinating enzymatic activity. Recently, we have shown that the Asp domain localized between Cys and His domains is also essential for cleaving the ubiquitin from protein substrates. Mouse deubiquitinating enzymes including DUB-1, DUB-2, and DUB-2A have been isolated and they showed the expression specificity. Of these, DUB- 1 and DUB-2 are expressed in lymphocytes depending on the presence of cytokines (interleukin-3 in B-lymphocytes and interleukin-2 in T- lymphocytes, respectively), indicating that they are involved in cytokine signaling pathways. Isolation of all putative DUBs will help to identify their substrates and to regulate the homeostasis of cellular proteins, especially in proliferative cells.
Women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) are characterized by excess androgen secretion and anovulatory infertility as a cause of follicular maturation arrest, and they are also associated with insulin resistance and obesity. Recently, it was suggested that one of the etiologies for PCOS is an abnormality of steroid hormones, and excessive secretion of androgen. The endoplasmic reticular cytochrome P450, 17α-hydroxylase (CYP17A), plays a key role in the mechanism of steroid hormones such as adrenal and gonadal steroid biosynthesis. Therefore, we studied the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the A1 allelic variant of the CYP17 gene and PCOS in a Korean population. The study recruited 134 Korean women with PCOS and 100 healthy women as controls. Using the HapAnalyzer, the genotype of the CYP17A1 polymorphism in PCOS and control patients were analyzed. We considered a p-value lower than 0.05 to be statistically significant. After genotypic analysis, we found seven SNPs of the CYP17A1 gene in a large population of subjects. The frequency of seven SNPs had no significant association with PCOS. However, one haplotype (ht3) had a p-value of p=0.001, suggesting that it may be associated with the pathogenesis of PCOS in a Korean population.
We have cloned a rat homologue of the Drosophila recessive oncogene lethal (2) giant larvae from rat brain by RT-PCR using primers prepared from sequences conserved amongst lgl family genes. Sequence analysis predicts that the rat rgl-1 gene encodes a 1,036 amino acid polypeptide with a molecular weight of approximately 112 kDa, which contains a domain characteristic of WD-40 proteins. Northern blot analysis revealed that the highest expression of rgl-1 is detected in the testis, with moderate expression in ovary, brain, spleen, and kidney. Since there is a high degree of amino acid similarity among lgl proteins in various species, it is likely that there is an evolutionary relationship among these proteins. The amino acid identity of rgl-1 to Drosophila l(2)gl and mouse mgl-1 proteins showed 30.6 and 96.8%, respectively. The rat tomosyn, previously known as a homologue of Drosophila l(2)gl, showed much lower amino acid identity to Drosophila l(2)gl and mouse mgl-1 proteins (17.8 and 20%, respectively). Functional analysis showed that the expression of a rat rgl-1 cDNA in Saccharomyces cerevisiae missing sop genes, the yeast homologues of the Drosophila l(2)gl, restored partially the Na+ tolerance of the cell. Taken together, these results indicate that rgl-1, not tomosyn, is the legitimate homologue of lgl gene.
The HlyA determinant among Escherichia coli isolates from patients with symptomatic urinary tract infection was compared in this report with a prototype HlyA encoded by pSF4000 by DNA-DNA hybridization tests with 20-base synthetic oligonucleotides and monoclonal antibody binding and neutralization assays. Hybridization results demonstrated that 349 (98%) of 357 definitive reactions among 54 hemolytic strains shared homology with seven DNA probes spanning many HlyA regions corresponding to residues (R) 41 to 47, 55 to 61, 248 to 254, 306 to 312, 336 to 343, 402 to 408, and 929 to 935. Genetic divergence was identified by lack of hybridization signals among 17 to 76% of the hemolytic strains within the distal portion of a predicted hydrophobic region corresponding to R491 to 319 and within a predicted hydrophilic region corresponding to R491 to 497 and R532 to 538. Serological studies demonstrated that 26 (81%) culture supernatants of 32 hemolytic strains were bound by all 12 monoclonal anti-HlyA antibodies. Among five of six remaining strains, the culture supernatants were bound by 3 to 11 monoclonal antibody preparations. There was only one hemolytic culture supernatant that failed to be bound by any monoclonal antibody, although the strain hybridized with nine hemolysin DNA probes. In addition, hemolytic activity of all 24 different culture supernatants tested was reduced by at least twofold by one monoclonal antibody specific for R2-161. These data extend and support previous views that the HlyA determinant is conserved among E. coli strains and suggest that a broadly cross-reactive HlyA subunit vaccine can be developed.
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