Earticle

Motor neuron disease (MND) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by progressive and selective degeneration of motor neurons (MNs). Because of the versatile nature, stem cells have the potential to repair or replace the degenerated cells. In this review, we discussed stem cell based therapies including the use of embryonic stem cells (ESCs), neural stem cells (NSCs), induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and genetically engineered cells to produce the neurotrophic factors for the treatment of MND. To achieve this goal, the knowledge of specificity of the cell target, homing and special markers are required.

Soil microbial community analysis of farmland soil sprayed with lye in order to use fertilizer in Nigeria was performed. As a control, two kinds of soils not sprayed with lye, located in Eungo and Lagos with general practice in agriculture was selected. Soil sprayed with lye was pH 8.25 through alkalization reaction, while the other soil samples were pH 6.22 and 5.94. Substrate utilization and species diversity index of soil sprayed with lye were low than that of the other soils with the analysis of Biolog ecoplate. As a result of principal component analysis, the relationship between three samples was low. Microbial community analysis was performed by DGGE and most of them were soil uncultured bacterium. Especially, Uncultured Acidobacteria and Uncultured Methylocystis sp., which had been isolated from the rhizosphere of soybean grown in that site were discovered in the soil sprayed with lye.

The seaweed, Gelidium amansii, was fermented to produce bioethanol. Optimal pretreatment condition was determined as 94 mM H2SO4 and 8% (w/v) seaweed slurry at 121oC for 60 min. The mono sugars of 40.4 g/L with 67% of conversion from total carbohydrate of 60.6 g/L with 80 g dw/ L G. amansii slurry were obtained by thermal acid hydrolysis pretreatment and enzymatic saccharification. G. amansii hydrolysate was used as the substrate for ethanol production by Kluyveromyces marxianus KCTC 7150 and Candida tropicalis KCTC 7212 using 5L fermentor. The ethanol productions by K. marxianus KCTC 7150 and C. tropicalis KCTC 7212 were 17.8 g/L with YEtOH of 0.48 at 120 h and 19.3 g/L with YEtOH of 0.50 at 120 h, respectively.

Stained and discolored hair will be damaged by the shampooing, daily UV disposal, and the use of hair dryer. Thus many studies about the effect of various natural substances on the re-secure the skin and scalp are recently reported. This study was carried out to investigate the effect of green tea (Camelloia sinensis) seed oil on colored (dyed) and decolored (bleached) hair. The beneficial effects of green tea seed oil are already well known, but little research has been done about the hair treatment and fade-resistant effect. Dyed and bleached hair was pretreated with green tea seed oil to determine the tensile strength and elongation of the hair, to analyze the hair surface using SEM, and to compare the color fade using spectrocolormeter. The results showed that the tensile strength increased with green tea seed oil pretreatment samples for virgin, dyed, and bleached hairs. Elongation showed the reverse results showing the presence of hair treatment effect. The results of the surface pre-treatment in all groups analyzed by SEM, the hair cuticle became sharper, so coating effect were identified with all samples. The value of the L*, a*, b* decreased with washed hairs damaged by UV irradiation and the values were decreased also in dyed and bleached hair. In summary, green tea seed oil prevent reinjury to the heat and UV rays for colored and decolored hairs. Cosmetic practice effects of the oil were identified in the field to be appropriate to the customer's skin and scalp that natural cosmetic oils would like to offer.

Indigo is utilized in various industries including textile dyeing, cosmetics, printing and medicinal products and its reduced form, leuco-indigo, is mainly used in these process. Chemical reducing agent (sodium dithionite, sodium sulfide, etc.) is preferred to use for the formation of leucoindigo in industry. In traditional indigo fermentation process, microorganisms can participate in the reduction of indigo and thus it has been known to reduce environmental pollution and noxious byproducts. However, in fermentation method using microorganisms it is difficult to standardize large scale production process due to low yield and reproducibility. In this study, we attempted to develop the indigo reduction process using microbial flora which was isolated from naturally fermented indigo vat or deduced by metagenomic approach. From the results of library analyses of PCR-amplified 16S rRNA genes from the traditional indigo fermentation vat sample (metagenome), it was confirmed that Alkalibacteriums (71%) was distinctly dominant in population. Some strains were identified after confirming that they become pure culture in nutrient media modified slightly. Four strains were separated in this process and each strain showed obvious reducing ability toward indigo in dyeing test. It is expected that the analyzed results will provide important data for standardizing the natural fermentation of indigo and investigating the mechanism of indigo reduction.

The extract from Lysimachia foenum-graecum (LFE) has been known to possess various instructive characters including anti-oxidant, anti-obesity, fungicidal activities. However, the accurate mechanism of those effects of LFE is not well known. In that respect, we evaluated the apoptotic effect and anti-cancer efficacy of extracts of LFE in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. In this study, we hypothesized that LFE may exert cancer cell apoptosis through regulating p53 and mitochondria-mediated apoptotic proteins. And this substance can generate ROS to cause free radical-induced apoptosis. Accordingly, the generation of ROS by LFE triggers the activation of p53 which are accompanied by pro-apoptotic protein activation and suppression of pro-survival proteins. We determined with MTT assay, flow cytometry for detection of intracellular ROS and Annexin V-PI staining, Western blotting. Consequently, our researches demonstrated that the treatment of LFE to breast cancer cells resulted in an activation of p53, Puma, Bax, cleaved-PARP and an inhibition of Bcl-2 expressions.

Antifreeze peptide from Myoxocephalus octodecemspinosus was overexpressed and purified in Escherichia coli. Green fluorescence protein-AFP chimera was constructed by integrating gfp and afp genes. Produced GFP-AFP chimera protein was purified using polyhistidine tag which was inserted at C-terminus. By addition of GFP-AFP chimera protein, freezing point of elution buffer was decreased from -13oC to -20oC. This result suggested that GFP-AFP chimera can be considered as a potential candidate of novel inhibitor for gas hydrates.

Ethanol fermentations were performed using separate hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF) processes with monosaccharides from pretreated seaweed, Eucheuma spinosum as the biomass. The pretreatment was carried out with 11% (w/v) seaweed slurry and 150 mM H2SO4 at 121oC for 40 min. Enzyme hydrolysis after H2SO4 pretreatment was performed with Celluclast 1.5 L at 45oC for 24 h. Five % active charcoal were added to hydrolysate to removed 5-hydroxy methylfurfural. Ethanol fermentation with 11% (w/v) seaweed hydrolysate was performed for 72~96 h using Kluyvermyces marxianus, Pichia stipits, Saccharomyces cervisiae and Candida tropicalis. Ethanol concentration was reached to 18 g/L by K. marxianus, 16 g/L by P. stipitis, 15 g/L by S. cerevisiae and 10 g/L by C. tropicalis, respectively. The ethanol yield from total monosugar was obtained 0.50 and ethanol productivity was obtained 0.38 g/L/h by K. marxianus.

This study was carried out to investigate the in vitro and in vivo moisturizing properties and percutaneous absorption of PEG-impregnated Aloe vera gel. The PEG-i-Aloe gel was obtained from dewatering and impregnation by soaking (DIS) of Aloe vera leaf slice. The moisturizing property of the obtained sample was evaluated by moisture determination using gravimetric method in desiccator under different RH% and by water sorption-desorption test on human skin. The transdermal penetration characteristics of PEG-i-Aloe gel was investigated by Franz diffusion cell in vitro transdermal absorption method. PEG-i-Aloe gel had high moisture retention ability and could significantly lead the enhancing skin hydration status as well as reducing the skin water loss due to the film formation as a skin barrier. The skin penetration rate of PEGi- Aloe gel at steady state was 9.76 μg/(h·cm2) and the quantity of the transdermal absorption was 144 μg/cm2 in 9 hr. The penetration mechanism was well fitted with Higuchi model (R2 = 0.974−0.994). The results show that PEG-i-Aloe gel has the significant moisturizing effect and strong penetration of the animal skin. It could be used as the moisturizing additive in cosmetic skin products.

This study aimed to observe the effects of Sea Buckthorn seed extracts (SEB) on anti-oxidation and antiinflammation. SEB were found to strongly depress ROS production depending on concentration, and 46.5% anti-oxidation effects were found in the top concentration of 100 μg/ mL. Histamine and arachidonic acid release were measured to observe the effects of SEB on anti-inflammation. SEB inhibited histamine release and arachidonic acid release on dose dependent manner. Based on the results above, the conclusion is drawn that SEB have the potential to be used as natural materials that are effective for anti-oxidation and antiinflammation.

The gene encoding for xylose isomerase from the thermophilic bacterium Thermotoga maritima was cloned and recombinantly expressed in E. coli cells. Optimal activity was shown at 90oC and pH 8.0. Treatment of saponin by recombinant xylose isomerase increased the growth inhibitory effect against human gastric cancer (AGS) cells and human colon cancer (HT-29) cells. On the other hand, treatment of fucoidan by the enzyme could not change the growth inhibitory effect against the same cancer cells. One μg/ml of enzyme-treated saponin exhibited the same or higher growth inhibitory effect against both cancer cells compared with 100 μg/ml of enzymeuntreated saponin. These results would be useful in the development of functional food or drug.