Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, established in 1880, is one of Japan’s oldest and most distinguished academic societies. The Society currently has around 15,000 members. It publishes three monthly scientific journals. Chemical and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (Chem. Pharm. Bull.) began publication in 1953 as Pharmaceutical Bulletin. It covers chemistry fields in the pharmaceutical and health sciences. Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (Biol. Pharm. Bull.) began publication in 1978 as the Journal of Pharmacobio-Dynamics. It covers various biological topics in the pharmaceutical and health sciences. A fourth Society journal, the Journal of Health Science, was merged with Biol. Pharm. Bull. in 2012. Yakugaku Zasshi (Japanese for “Pharmaceutical Science Journal”) has the longest history, with publication beginning in 1881. Yakugaku Zasshi is published mostly in Japanese, except for some articles related to clinical pharmacy and pharmaceutical education, which are published in English.
The main aim of the Society’s journals is to advance the pharmaceutical sciences with research reports, information exchange, and high-quality discussion. The average review time for articles submitted to the journals is around one month for first decision. The complete texts of all of the Society’s journals can be freely accessed through J-STAGE. The Society’s editorial committee hopes that the content of its journals will be useful to your research, and also invites you to submit your own work to the journals.

Chairman of Committee
Sumio Ohtsuki
Faculty of Life Sciences, Kumamoto University
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11,297 registered articles
(updated on December 09, 2023)
Online ISSN : 1347-5215
Print ISSN : 0918-6158
ISSN-L : 0918-6158
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Featured article
Volume 46 (2023) Issue 12 Pages 1661-1665
Framework-Directed Amino-Acid Insertions Generated over 55-Fold Affinity-Matured Antibody Fragments That Enabled Sensitive Luminescent Immunoassays of Cortisol Read more
Editor's pick

Genetic engineering now enables generation of artificially modified antibodies having higher diagnostic utilities. The authors developed single-chain Fv fragments (scFvs) against cortisol with >55-fold improved affinity (Ka, 2.0-2.2 ´ 1010 M-1) by inserting additional amino acid(s) site-directedly into the framework region 1 of the VH domain. These scFvs were fused with NanoLuc luciferase for the use in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. The resulting luminescent ELISAs generated dose-response curves with >150-fold higher sensitivity than the colorimetric ELISAs using the scFv without insertion and >8,000-fold higher sensitivity than the ELISA using the mouse antibody from which the scFvs were derived.

Volume 46 (2023) Issue 12 Pages 1676-1682
Method for Preparing Recombinant Galectin-2 Protein without Escherichia coli-Specific Post-translational Modifications Read more
Editor's pick

E. coli is often employed for the cost-effective production of large quantities of recombinant proteins. Conventionally, it is believed that post-translational modifications, including glycosylation, do not transpire during protein expression in E. coli. However, in the course of preparing recombinant galectin-2 protein using E. coli, the authors discovered that phosphogluconoylation of Lys residues and mistranslation of termination codons occurred. The authors have elucidated strategies to mitigate these occurrences, proposing the addition of tags, substitution of Lys residues, and modification of termination codons. These methods offer valuable means to prevent undesired modifications, ensuring the production of homogeneous recombinant proteins in E. coli.

Volume 46 (2023) Issue 12 Pages 1720-1730
Exploring Cell-Penetrating Peptides as Penetration Enhancers in Eye Drop Formulations Using a Reconstructed Human Corneal Epithelial Model Read more
Editor's pick

The authors focused on cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs) as penetration enhancers for ocular drug delivery. This study suggested that the CPPs evaluated in this study can be penetration enhancers based on in vitro intracellular uptake using a reconstructed human corneal epithelial model. The CPPs could enhance the penetration of drug molecules into the cornea in cases of coexistence as well as conjugation between CPPs and drug molecules. The result of surface plasmon resonance showed that the electrostatic interaction plays an important role. The authors expect that this fundamental information in this article will support the development of new penetration enhancers in eye drop formulations for ocular drug delivery.

Volume 46 (2023) Issue 12 Pages 1753-1760
Arid5a/IL-6/PAI-1 Signaling Is Involved in the Pathogenesis of Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Kidney Injury Read more
Editor's pick

Inflammation is responsible for the development of various kidney diseases. Plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) is involved in the pathogenesis of inflammatory kidney injury; however, the regulatory mechanism of PAI-1 in injured kidneys remains unclear. The authors found that PAI-1 expression was increased in endothelial cells after lipopolysaccharide (LPS, an inflammation inducer) treatment, and pharmacological inhibition of PAI-1 reduced LPS-induced kidney injury. Moreover, IL-6 exacerbated kidney injury concomitant with increased PAI-1 expression, and Arid5a deficiency partially suppressed the expression of IL-6 and PAI-1 in the kidneys after LPS treatment. These findings indicate that the Arid5a/IL-6/PAI-1 signaling is involved in LPS-induced kidney injury.

Volume 46 (2023) Issue 12 Pages 1778-1786
Identification of the Acidification Mechanism of the Optimal pH for RNase He1 Read more
Editor's pick

Hericium erinaceus secretes an acidic ribonuclease (RNase) He1 belonged to RNase T1 family. The authors decided on the structure of He1 apo form and He1/guanosine complex. The mechanism of acidification of optimal pH in He1 was, in neutral environment, to form the hydrogen bond between Asp 31 on α1β3- loop and His 34 (catalytic residue), and repulsive each other Glu 92 and Asp 93 on β6,7- loop. Structure comparison of He1 with other acidic RNases, Ms and U2, suggested that the acidic residues on α1β3- and β6,7- loop may contribute to the acidification of optimal pH in Ms and U2.

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Announcements from publisher
  • Announcement of Academic Journals’ Awards Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin (BPB)
    https://bpb.pharm.or.jp/award/award.pdf
  • Biol. Pharm. Bull. Vol. 46 No. 2
    Current Topics: Cutting Edge Developments in RNA Biology for the Control of Gene Expression
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