• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.540-549
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• 2021

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is involved in breast cancer and Myxococcus fulvus KYC4048 is a myxobacterial strain that can produce a variety of bioactive secondary metabolites. Although a previous study revealed that KYC4048 metabolites exhibit anti-proliferative effects on breast cancer, the biochemical mechanism involved in their effects remains unclear. In the present study, KYC4048 metabolites were separated into polar and non-polar (ethyl acetate and n-hexane) fractions via liquid-liquid extraction. The effects of these polar and non-polar KYC4048 metabolites on the viability of breast cancer cells were then determined by MTT assay. Expression levels of Wnt/β-catenin pathway proteins were determined by Western blot analysis. Cell cycle and apoptosis were measured via fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS). The results revealed that non-polar KYC4048 metabolites induced cell death of breast cancer cells and decreased expression levels of WNT2B, β-catenin, and Wnt target genes (c-Myc and cyclin D1). Moreover, the n-hexane fraction of non-polar KYC4048 metabolites was found most effective in inducing apoptosis, necrosis, and cell cycle arrest, leading us to conclude that it can induce apoptosis of breast cancer cells through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway. These findings provide evidence that the n-hexane fraction of non-polar KYC4048 metabolites can be developed as a potential therapeutic agent for breast cancer via inhibition of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

• Journal of Korean Society of Environmental Engineers
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.656-663
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• 2012

After the construction of waterworks automatic meter reading with 15 mm diameter digital water mater with magnetoresistance sensor developed in this study at 96 households of apartment complexes located in Incheon-City B-Gu S-Dong, the feasibility of field application of waterworks automatic meter reading was evaluated. The field application of waterworks automatic meter reading was performed from July to December in 2011, and average reception rate was as low as 84.6% due to the instable wibro networks, the existence of communication blackout and temporary malfunction of router. After the extraction of 10 households with one to five residents out of 96 households by using stratified random sampling method and analysis of domestic water use, it was found that domestic water use was significant at August and showed a decreasing trend at September, followed by increase in domestic water use at November and decrease in domestic water use at December. This phenomenon should be attributed to weather factors (temperature, humidity, etc.), which significantly affected domestic water use. Similar trend in domestic water use in terms of weather factors was obtained in case of Liter per capita day of water use after the extraction of 30 households out of 96 households by using stratified random sampling method. After analysis of Liter per capita day for 96 households, single residents increases resulted in reduction of domestic water usage by about 14% of Liter per capita day. These results might be due to the fact that domestic water usage such as laundry, beverages, catering, cleaning, etc. should be required for even the household with one resident, whereas domestic water usage for those common utilization can be significantly saved for the household with more than one resident.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.8
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• pp.865-872
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• 2014

In this study, ethanol and hot water extracts of lees from Korean traditional wine (J-B, J-S, J-Y, J-H, and J-W) were prepared, and their effects on blood coagulation, platelet aggregation, and hemolysis of human red blood cells (hRBCs) were investigated to develop functional food ingredients from lees. The pH and brix of the lees ranged from 3.90 to 4.29 and 5.0 to $27.0^{\circ}$, respectively, and there was a huge difference in the water and ethanol content among the lees. The nuruk and additives used affected the color and physicochemical properties of lees. The J-W takju made from only rice and traditional nuruk, which has $13^{\circ}$ brix and 1.8% of alcohol, has potential as functional food ingredient. With regard to the extraction yields of lees, higher yields were obtained from J-H, which contains different medicinal plants, in ethanol, followed by J-W, J-B, J-S, and J-Y. Higher extraction yields of lees were obtained from J-S in hot water, followed by J-B, J-W, J-H, and J-Y, respectively. The ethanol extract of J-H and the hot water extract of J-Y had the highest contents of total polyphenol and total flavonoids among the lees extracts. The 10 lees extracts did not show hemolysis activity against hRBCs up to 5 mg/ml. In an anticoagulation activity assay, the ethanol extracts of three yakju lees (J-B, J-S, and J-Y) and the hot water extract of J-W inhibited thrombin activity, whereas the hot water extract of J-B, J-S, and J-H inhibited blood coagulation factors. In an antiplatelet aggregation activity assay, only the J-W takju lees showed significant inhibition activity. Our results suggest that lees from traditional wine had high potential as a novel antithrombosis agent.

• Journal of Marine Life Science
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.9-21
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• 2024

Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) including Saxitoxin (STX) is caused by harmful algae, and poisoning occurs when the contaminated seafood is consumed. The mouse bioassay (MBA), a standard test method for detecting PSP, is being sanctioned in many countries due to its low detection limit and the animal concerns. An alternative to the MBA is the Neuro-2a cell-based assay. This study aimed to establish various test conditions for Neuro-2a assay, including cell density, culture conditions, and STX treatment conditions, to suit the domestic laboratory environment. As a result, the initial cell density was set to 40,000 cells/well and the incubation time to 24 hours. Additionally, the concentration of Ouabain and Veratridine (O/V) was set to 500/50 μM, at which most cells died. In this study, we identified eight concentrations of STX, ranging from 368 to 47,056 fg/μl, which produced an S-shaped dose-response curve when treated with O/V. Through inter-laboratory variability comparison of the Neuro-2a assay, we established five Quality Control Criteria to verify the appropriateness of the experiments and six Data Criteria (Top and Bottom OD, EC₅₀, EC₂₀, Hill slop, and R² of graph) to determine the reliability of the experimental data. The Neuro-2a assay conducted under the established conditions showed an EC₅₀ value of approximately 1,800~3,500 fg/μl. The intra- & inter-lab variability comparison results showed that the coefficients of variation (CVs) for the Quality Control and Data values ranged from 1.98% to 29.15%, confirming the reproducibility of the experiments. This study presented Quality Control Criteria and Data Criteria to assess the appropriateness of the experiments and confirmed the excellent repeatability and reproducibility of the Neuro-2a assay. To apply the Neuro-2a assay as an alternative method for detecting PSP in domestic seafood, it is essential to establish a toxin extraction method from seafood and toxin quantification methods, and perform correlation analysis with MBA and instrumental analysis methods.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.199-210
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• 2011

This study was conducted to develop functional sources of herbal cosmetics for treatment of skin aging and inflammatory disorders using volatile flavor extracts of four different herbal medicinal prescriptions including Cnidium officinale Makino (COM), Angelica gigas Nakai (AGN), Mentha arvense L. (MAL), Artemisiae argyi Folium (AAF), Paeonia lactiflora Pall (PLP), Rehmanniae Radix Preparata (RRP), Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi (SBG), Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer (PGM), Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch (GUF). The volatile flavor extracts of four different herbal medicinal prescriptions (HH-1: COM, AGN, PLP, RRP, HH-2: COM, AGN, PLP, RRP, SBG, PGM, GUF, HH-3: COM, AGN, MAL, AAF, HH-4: COM, AGN, MAL, AAF, SBG, PGM, GUF) were extracted using SDE and their antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects were measured by using DPPH radical and SLO, respectively. As a result, HH-2 showed moderate DPPH radical scavenging activity (68.24 %) and the strongest SLO inhibitory activity (83.96 %) at 100 ${\mu}g$/mL. Moreover, HH-2 of four different prescriptions significantly inhibited NO production on LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner without considerable cell cytotoxicity at range of 2.0 ~ 50 ${\mu}g$/mL. Additionally, HH-2 also effectively suppressed the production of $PGE_2$ and IL-6, which are responsible for promoting the inflammatory process. Major volatile components of HH-2 were identified as eugenol, paeonol, butyl phthalide, ${\beta}$-eudesmol and butylidene dihydrophthalide by GC-MS analysis. Thus, these results suggest that HH-2 may be useful as a potential source of anti-inflammatory agents in herbal medicinal cosmetics.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.40 no.4
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• pp.353-358
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• 2021

BACKGROUND: Prochloraz has been widely used as an imidazole fungicide on fruits and vegetables in Korea. Analytical approaches to evaluate prochloraz residues in herbal medicine are required for their safety management. In this study, we developed a GC-ECD method for quantitative determination of prochloraz in Platycodi Radix. The metabolite 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-T) was used as a target compound to evaluate total prochloraz residues as it is categorized to a representative residue definition of prochloraz. All residues containing 2,4,6-T were converted to 2,4,6-T and subjected to GC-ECD. METHODS AND RESULTS: In order to verify the applicability, the method was optimized for determining prochloraz and it metabolite 2,4,6-T in Platycodi Radix. Prochloraz and its metabolite 2,4,6-T residuals were extracted using acetone. The extract was diluted with and partitioned directly into dichloromethane to remove polar co-extractives in the aqueous phase. The extract was decomposed to 2,4,6-T, and then the partitioned ion-associate was finally purified by optimized aminopropyl solid-phase extraction (SPE). The limits of quantitation of the method (MLOQs) were 0.04 mg/kg and 0.02 mg/kg, respectively for prochloraz and 2,4,6-T, considering the maximum residue level (MRL) of prochloraz as 0.05 mg/kg in Platycodi Radix. Recovery tests were carried out at two levels of concentration (MLOQ, 10 MLOQ) and resulted in good recoveries (82.1-89.7%). Good reproducibilities were obtained (coefficient of variation < 2.8%), and the linearities of calibration curves were reasonable (r² > 0.9986) in the range of 0.005-0.5 ㎍/mL. CONCLUSION(S): The method developed in this study was successfully validated to meet the guidelines required for quantitative determination of pesticides in herbal medicine. Thus, the method could be useful to monitor prochloraz institutionally in herbal medicine.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.188-204
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• 1977

The studies on the saponins of Korean ginseng, Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, were performed according to the cultivating locations, sampling seasons, plant parts, and growing stages. The changes in saponin content in the course of manufacturing Red ginseng and Ginseng extract were observed. In this paper, a new method for the determination of the total and the individual saponin glucosides was proposed and applied to the samples under study. The method employing Digital Densitorol DMU-33C (Toyo electric Co., Japan) followed the separation of the saponins by means of a preparative thin layer chromatography. The saponin contents and their fractional distribution were summarized as follows: 1. The average concentrations(% plant dry weight) of semi-purified saponins in the roots of Korean ginseng planted in the various locations were 5.0%(Keumsan), 6.0% (Kimpo), and 5.4% (Pocheon), respectively. 2. There were 3.3% saponins in White ginseng(Rhizome) and 12.7% saponins in Ginseng tail (Fibrous root). 3. Regarding the year of growth, the contents of saponins were 90.3mg (2-year-old ginseng), 254.4mg (3-year-old ginseng), 404.2mg (4-year-old ginseng). 999.6mg (5-year-old ginseng), and 1377.1mg (6-year-old ginseng) respectively, and the saponin factions containing panaxatriol as an aglycone increased. 4. Thin layer chromatography revealed that Red ginseng yielded many saponins which Shibata et al. designated as $ginsenoside-Rb_1$ (22.1%), $-Rb_2(15.4%)$, -Rc(12.6%), -Re (15.7%), and $-Rg_1$, (9.3%). 5. 29.9% of crude saponins were isolated from ethanolic extract of Panax ginseng fibrous root and their extraction yield was 94.2% of fibrous root saponin.

• Proceedings of the Membrane Society of Korea Conference
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• 1999.07a
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• pp.39-42
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• 1999

Perfluoropolymers represent the ultimate resistance to hostile chemical environments and high service temperature, attributed to the presence of fluorine in the polymer backbone, i.e. to the high bond energy of C-F and C-C bonds of fluorocarbons. Copolymers of Tetrafluoroethylene (TEE) and 2, 2, 4Trifluoro-5Trifluorometoxy- 1, 3Dioxole (TTD), commercially known as HYFLON AD, are amorphous perfluoropolymers with glass transition temperature (Tg)higher than room temperature, showing a thermal decomposition temperature exceeding 40$0^{\circ}C$. These polymer systems are highly soluble in fluorinated solvents, with low solution viscosities. This property allows the preparation of self-supported and composite membranes with desired membrane thickness. Symmetric and asymmetric perfluoropolymer membranes, made with HYFLON AD, have been prepared and evaluated. Porous and not porous symmetric membranes have been obtained by solvent evaporation with various processing conditions. Asymmetric membranes have been prepared by th wet phase inversion method. Measure of contact angle to distilled water have been carried out. Figure 1 compares experimental results with those of other commercial membranes. Contact angles of about 120$^{\circ}$for our amorphous perfluoropolymer membranes demonstrate that they posses a high hydrophobic character. Measure of contact angles to hexandecane have been also carried out to evaluate the organophobic character. Rsults are reported in Figure 2. The observed strong organophobicity leads to excellent fouling resistance and inertness. Porous membranes with pore size between 30 and 80 nanometers have shown no permeation to water at pressures as high as 10 bars. However high permeation to gases, such as O2, N2 and CO2, and no selectivities were observed. Considering the porous structure of the membrane, this behavior was expected. In consideration of the above properties, possible useful uses in th field of gas- liquid separations are envisaged for these membranes. A particularly promising application is in the field of membrane contactors, equipments in which membranes are used to improve mass transfer coefficients in respect to traditional extraction and absorption processes. Gas permeation properties have been evaluated for asymmetric membranes and composite symmetric ones. Experimental permselectivity values, obtained at different pressure differences, to various single gases are reported in Tab. 1, 2 and 3. Experimental data have been compared with literature data obtained with membranes made with different amorphous perfluoropolymer systems, such as copolymers of Perfluoro2, 2dimethyl dioxole (PDD) and Tetrafluorethylene, commercialized by the Du Pont Company with the trade name of Teflon AF. An interesting linear relationship between permeability and the glass transition temperature of the polymer constituting the membrane has been observed. Results are descussed in terms of polymer chain structure, which affects the presence of voids at molecular scale and their size distribution. Molecular Dyanmics studies are in progress in order to support the understanding of these results. A modified Theodoru- Suter method provided by the Amorphous Cell module of InsightII/Discover was used to determine the chain packing. A completely amorphous polymer box of about 3.5 nm was considered. Last but not least the use of amorphous perfluoropolymer membranes appears to be ideal when separation processes have to be performed in hostile environments, i.e. high temperatures and aggressive non-aqueous media, such as chemicals and solvents. In these cases Hyflon AD membranes can exploit the outstanding resistance of perfluoropolymers.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1984.09a
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• pp.83-88
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• 1984

It is now well established that the rodenticide Vacor (N-3-pyridyl-mehtyl-N'-p-nitropheny-lurea) causes a hyperglycemia in human and rats. It is also reported that there are some components (DPG-3) in ginseng radix which cause hypoglycemic effect on alloxan diabetic mice. In the present study, attempts were made to demonstrate in Vacor-poisoned rats the hypo-glycemic activity of red ginseng component(RGC), which was extracted by Kimura's DPG-3 extraction procedure and found to be effective for lowering a hyperglycemia in alloxan-diabetic rats. Vacor in a dose of $LD_{50}$ (10mg/kg) produced a glucose intolerance with a paradoxical moderate increase in blood immunoreactive insulin and derangement in glucose metabolism of epididymal adipocytes in rats. Although RGC (20mg/kg, i.p.) did not exert any significant influence on a hyperglycemia induced by large lethal doses (25mg/kg) of Vacor ingestion, it improved the LDso Vacor-induced glucose intolerance and caused a further increase in blood insulin levels in Vacor-poisoned rats. The administration of RGC (20mg/kg, i.p.) normalized Vacor-induced depression of glucose metabolism and lipogenesis in the epididymal adipocytes with an improvement of reduced responses to insulin of adipocytes from Vacor-poisoned rats. These results suggest that some red ginsneng components contained in RGC fraction normalize the depressed peripheral glucose unitlization and insulin response and eventually lead to an improvement of abnormal glucose tolerance developed in rats poisoned with small doses of Vacor.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.1361-1370
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• 2011

Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of eugenol and its derivatives from clove (Eugenia caryophyllata Thunb.) were evaluated using in vitro assay systems by measuring 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and 15-lipoxygenase (15-LOX). Among eight different crude medicinal drugs tested, volatile extracts of clove extracted by steam distillation extraction (SDE) showed potent DPPH radical scavenging activity ($IC_{50}$=8.85 ${\mu}g/mL$) as well as strong inhibitory activity against COX-2 (58.15%) and 15-LOX (86.15%) at 10 ${\mu}g/mL$ and 25 ${\mu}g/mL$, respectively. Major volatile components of clove were identified as eugenol, trans-caryophyllene, and acetyleugenol by GC-MS analysis. Out of three eugenol derivatives, eugenol, methyl eugenol, and acetyl eugenol, eugenol showed the strongest DPPH radical scavenging activity and COX-2 inhibitory activity, whereas methyl eugenol exhibited the strongest 15-LOX inhibitory activity. Finally, the contents of the three eugenol derivatives in clove were quantified by analytical HPLC. Contents of eugenol and acetyl eugenol in clove were 6.95% and 1.85% per dry weight, respectively. These results suggest that eugenol and its derivatives in steam distilled extract of clove may be useful as potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory agents.