Pine ( Pinus densiflora ) needle extract could promote the expression of PCNA and Ki-67 after partial hepatectomy in rat

Abstract Purpose To investigate the effects of pine needle extract (PNE) on the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and Ki-67 during liver regeneration induced by 70% partial hepatectomy (PH) in rat. Methods Forty-eight male rats (SD, 7 weeks) had surgery (70% PH). They were randomly divided into two groups. PH + PNE group was only provided PNE diluted in water (10%) for drinking and PH group was provided water from 5 days before surgery to the time of sacrifice. PNE was made by pressing and filtering. Animals were sacrificed at 12h, 24h, 36h, 60h, 84h, 168h after PH, respectively. The expressions of PCNA and Ki-67 were determined as proliferation indices. Results Immunohistochemistry turned out to increase the expression of PCNA and Ki-67. PCNA expression of PH+PNE group increased up to twice of that of PH group. Western blot also seemed to increase the PCNA expression. These results indicated the promotion of cell proliferation in liver tissue and hepatic regeneration. Conclusions Pine needle extract stimulates the expression of some mitotic proteins during liver regeneration induced by 70% PH in rats. It suggests that administration of pine needle extract could accelerate the liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy.

Single dose toxicity studies of sulfated water soluble b-D-glucan in Sprague-Dawley rats.

The fungal b-D-glucan is a biological response modifier (BRM), but a major obstacle to the clinical utilization of these BRMs is their relative insolubility in aqueous media. We made soluble sulfated-b-glucan (SGL) from insoluble b-glucan (IGL) by sulfation method. In single dose toxicity study of SGL for 7 days, no negative effects on body weight or food consumption of rats were evident below a dose rate of 2,000 mg kg-1 SGL. No clinical pathology, functional/behavioral, or gross observations indicating toxicity were detected. In hematology and biochemistry, statistically significant increases of WBC and neutrophils (P<0.01) in male and increase of MCV (P<0.05) in females was observed. However, since the changes were not dose–responsive, the effects were considered to be of no toxicological significance. These results suggest that chemically modified sulfated-b-D-glucan was less toxic than the insoluble b-glucan and not considered acutely toxic following peritoneal exposure to 2,000mg kg-1 day-1 in Sprague-Dawley rats.

Screening and formulation of chemoattractant coatings for artificial reef structures.

This study was carried out to augment the colonization of marine benthic communities on artificial reef structure. Increasing marine pollution along with various natural hazards cause severe damages to marine algae and associated fauna. In recent years, artificial reefs have been deployed in coastal regions of several parts of the world in order to increase the marine productivity. They are mainly built with concrete materials, however their leachates have considerable impacts on algae. Therefore to increase the algal colonization five chemoattractants such as ferrous sulfate, zinc oxide, ammonium nitrate, sodium phosphate and ferrous lactate were screened against spores of a fouling alga, Ulva pertusa. FeSO4 / ZnO (8:2) and ferrous lactate coatings showed the highest spore attachment with 52 +/- 5.2 cm2 and 79.5 +/- 10.2 cm2 spores respectively (p<0.01). Furthermore using these chemoattractants, coating formulations were made and their performances were investigated at East coast (Ayajin harbor) and South coast (Meejo harbor) of Korea. A maximum fouling coverage (with green algae 25%, red algae 11.3% and brown algae 63.7%) was estimated from ferrous lactate coatings (p<0.01). Different composition of coating formulations and their chemoattractive properties were evaluated.

Solubilization of water-insoluble beta-glucan isolated from Ganoderma lucidum.

The fungal beta-D-glucan is a biological response modifier (BRM), but a major obstacle to the clinical utilization of beta-glucan BRMs is thei relative lack of solubility in aqueous media. Water insoluble fungal glucans extracted by alkali from the mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum were sulfated to yield their corresponding water-soluble derivatives. Insoluble glucan is dissolved in methyl sulfoxide and urea, and is partially sulfated with sulfuric acid. The sulfated glucan (SGL) yield prepared from insoluble glucan (IGL) was 85%, the sulfation degree of SGL was about 14.9%, and the solubility of SGL was above 95% in water. The monosugar SGL content was 34.9% alpha-glucose and 35.9% beta-glucose. The mean molecular weight (MW) of SGL was shown as a single peak on Sepharose CL-4B column chromatography, and their MW was approximately 9.3 kDa. The 13C NMR spectrum analysis shows that SGL has a high similarity with the beta-(1-->3)-linked triple-helical control.