• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.90-96
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• 2010

Menopause increases the onset of hypertension and heart disease. Whereas it increases the blood LDL-cholesterol, triglyceride and total-cholesterol levels, the HDL-cholesterol concentration is reduced. Accordingly, we examined the effect of internal organs of Todarodes pacificus (IOT) on improvement in blood flow ability and changes in serum lipid content by using ovariectomized rats. For this study, the following four groups of 9-week-old Sprague-Dawley strain female rats were evaluated over 6 weeks: normal rats (SHAM), ovariectomized rats (CON) and ovariectomized rats that were treated with IOT extracts. Ovary removal promoted platelet aggregability. However, IOT administration in the CON group after ovary excision resulted in a hinderance of coherence. The blood vessel passing time of ovariectomized rats was slower than the SHAM group. But the blood flow ability, which was slowed down for ovary removal, was improved by IOT administration. Serum triglyceride levels were significantly reduced by IOT administration. Moreover, blood HDL-cholesterol levels were reduced by ovary removal. However, IOT administration after ovary excision significantly increase HDL-cholesterol levels. The biological activity of IOT could be confirmed from these results. Moreover, IOT can be used in the development of functional foods which are meant to improve blood circulation and anti-platelet aggregation function. According to these results, we could know that IOT improved blood flow and anti-platelet aggregation. Therefore, it is expected that IOT can be used for the development of functional foods.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.26-38
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• 2014

To examine the antioxidant activities of 11n selected miscellaneous cereal grains (proso millet, yellow glutinous proso millet, hwanggeumchal sorghum, glutinous sorghum, white glutinous sorghum, yellow glutinous foxtail millet, nonglutinous foxtail millet, green glutinous foxtail millet, golden foxtail millet, barnyard millet, and adlay), the free radical-scavenging activities of 80% ethanol extracts of the individual grains were investigated using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) methods. The ethanol extracts of hwanggeumchal sorghum, glutinous sorghum, and barnyard millet grains exhibited more potent free radical-scavenging activities as compared to the other grains. When these three ethanol extracts were sequentially fractionated with n-hexane, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol, the majority of the antioxidant activities were detected in the ethyl acetate and butanol fractions in which phenolic ingredients were abundant. The ethyl acetate and butanol fractions of hwanggeumchal sorghum and the ethyl acetate fraction of glutinous sorghum showed higher antioxidant activity than that of ${\alpha}$-tocopherol. Both ferric thiocyanate (FTC) and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) methods demonstrated that these organic solvent fractions could inhibit lipid peroxidation. The ethyl acetate fractions from hwanggeumchal sorghum, glutinous sorghum, and barnyard millet grains could suppress tertiary-butyl hydroperoxide (TBHP)-induced apoptotic events, including sub-G1 peaks, ${\Delta}{\Psi}m$ loss, activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and cleavage of PARP and lamin B, in human HL-60 cells. These results show that the grains of hwanggeumchal sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench cv. Hwanggeumchalsusu), glutinous sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench cv. Chalsusu), and barnyard millet (Echinochloa esculenta) possess efficient antioxidant activity, which could protect cells from oxidative stress-mediated cytotoxicity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.7
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• pp.989-998
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• 2014

We investigated the characteristics and biological activities of vinegars added with different levels (0%, 0.5%, 1%, 2%, and 3%) of young leaves of Akebia quinata. During alcohol fermentation, alcohol and total acidity contents of vinegars increased. During acid fermentation, total acidity and amino acid contents increased. Vinegar added with 3% A. quinata leaf showed the highest total sensory score. The contents of total polyphenols, flavonoids, and tannin significantly increased during fermentation according to the amount of A. quinata leaf. After 22 days of fermentation, total polyphenol, total flavonoid, and tannin contents of vinegar added with 3% A. quinata were 4,079.08 mg GAE/100 g, 2,927.08 mg CE/100 g, and 3,618.00 mg TAE/100 g, respectively. ABTS radical scavenging activity of vinegar added with 3% A. quinata was 79.63%. Anti-cancer activities of vinegar added with 3% A. quinata were 48.65% and 52.90% against MCF-7 and HepG2 cells, respectively. Vinegar added with 3% A. quinata showed anti-bacterial activities against Bacillus cereus, Shigella flexneri, Salmonella enterica, Bacillus subtilis, and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Our results demonstrate that the biological activities of vinegar added with 3% A. quinata leaf (22 days of fermentation) were excellent, and their enhanced total polyphenol, flavonoid, and tannin contents were associated with antioxidant, anti-cancer and anti-microbial activities. Thus, A. quinata can be used as a functional material in vinegar and other foods.

• Journal of Aquaculture
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.573-580
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• 1998

Red spotted grouper, Epinephelus akaara is distributed in the south and west coasts of Korea. The natural stocks of the fish are decreasing sharply year by uear because of reckless overfishing. This research was carried out to understand general informations on maturation, sex composition and sex-reversals of the fish. Annual fishing uields of red spotted grouper in the castal area of Byonsan Peninsular of Kora decreased over 10% from 1992 to 1994. The main fishing season was from May to July with fishing gear of Hand-lines. Gonadosomatic index (GSI) and condition factor were highest on early and late July, respectively, thus main spawning reriod was assumed from late July to early August. The relationship between total length (X) and body weight (Y) for wild adults was represented as a regression, Y=$0.0169X^{2.9705}$, ($r^2$=0.96). Frequency of sex of wild red spotted gouper showed that the number of female below 38cm in total length was more than that of male, and hermaphrodite mainly occurred from 28cm to 32cm in total length the frequency of male and female were almost same. Also hermaphrodite occurred mainly between 25~29cm. Sex reversal ration of the adults reared in a tank for a year with different sexual compositions revealted that the frequency of female reversed from male was more than that of male reversed from female at 1:1 and 1:2 stocking densities of female and male, respectively. Also, about 20% of female was reversed to male when all females were reared. And the size of the fish reversed to male was larger than that of non-reversed female.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.428-436
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• 2015

Five extraction conditions (AE, autoclave extraction; OE, oven extraction; HWSE, hot water and sonication extraction; HWASE, hot water acidified with 0.5% (v/v) acetic acid and sonication extraction; and BE, boiling extraction) were examined to compare the effects of different hot water extraction methods on the antioxidant properties of blueberries. The extraction yields of the AE, OE, HWSE, HWASE, and BE were 7.94%, 8.35%, 8.55% 9.15%, and 8.50%, respectively. The polyphenol and flavonoid contents of AE were 3.47 mg GAE/g and 1.59 mg RE/g, respectively, which were highest centents among others. Those of OE were ranked second to the highest. The total anthocyanin content of HWSE (5.29 mg/g) was significantly higher than that of others whereas that of AE showed the lowest content (0.96 mg/g). The order of ABTS radical and alkyl radical scavenging activities was as follows: AE > BE > OE > HWSE > HWASE. The antioxidant properties were considerably correspondent with the total polyphenol and flavonoid content. DPPH radical scavenging activity was quite high in HWSE, AE, and BE extraction, however, there were no significant differences among the five extraction methods in the aspect of $Fe^{2+}$ ion chelating activities. Moreover, AE showed the highest SOD activity, and protected the dermal fibroblast the best against $H_2O_2$-induced cytotoxicity. In conclusion, it was suggested that the autoclave extraction (AE) would be the most effective method for preparing blueberry hot water extracts with relatively high antioxidant activities.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.703-708
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• 2015

Hox genes encode a highly conserved family of homeodomain-containing transcription factors controlling vertebrate pattern formation along the anteroposterior body axis during embryogenesis. Retinoic acid (RA) is a key morphogen in embryogenesis and a critical regulator of both adult and embryonic cellular activity. Specifically, RA regulates Hox gene expression in mouse- or human-derived embryonic carcinoma (EC) cells. Histone modification has been reported to play a pivotal role in the process of RA-induced gene expression and cell differentiation. As histone modification is thought to play an essential role in RA-induced Hox gene expression, we examined RA-induced initiation of collinear expression of Hox genes and the corresponding histone modifications in F9 murine embryonic teratocarcinoma (EC) cells. Hox expression patterns and histone modifications were analyzed by semiquantitative RT-PCR, RNA-sequencing, and chromatin immuno-precipitation (ChIP)-PCR analyses. The Hoxc4 gene (D0) was initiated earlier than the Hoxc5 to –c10 genes (D3) upon RA treatment (day 0 [D0], day 1 [D1], and day 3 [D3]). The Hox nonexpressing D0 sample had a strong repressive marker, H3K27me3, than the D1 and D3 samples. In the D1 and D3 samples, reduced enrichment of the H3K27me3 marker was observed in the whole cluster. The active H3K4me3 marker was closely associated with the collinear expression of Hoxc genes. Thus, the Hoxc4 gene (D1) and all Hoxc genes (D3) expressed H3K4me3 upon transcription activation. In conclusion, these data indicated that removing H3K27me3 and acquiring H3K4me3 regulated RA-induced Hoxc gene collinearity in F9 cells.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1164-1168
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• 2005

Korean traditional deer decoction (Nogjungtang), composed of oriental herbs and almost deer parts, has been used as an important resource for human health. For basic studying on Nogjungtang, this experiment was conducted to evaluate nutritional effects of Nogjungtang, and estimate its effect on growth, food efficiency, organ development and hematological indices in growing and adult Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were divided into three groups as follows; control: non-supplementation, Notiungtang I: recommended dose, and Nogjungtang II: thrice recommended dose. Nogjungtang was composed of various general nutrients with up 93$\%$ moisture.Crude protein is the highest value as 22.78$ \%$, Mg is a major mineral as 0.48$\%$ compared to other minerals, and methionine and proline are higher by 1.31 and 1.67$\%$ than other amino acids based on dry matter, re-spectively. In both growing and adult rats, there were no significant difference in body weight gain and feed intake between the control and Nogjungtang groups. Also, organs weights (liver, heart, kidney and stomach) and hematological indices (WBC, RBC, Hb, Hct and Platelet) did not show statistically significant differences among the experimental groups. However, all of experimental rats were normal growth without hypertrophy or negative development of organs by Nogjungtang. Hematological indices maintained in normal value by thrice recommended dose of Nogjungtang. The average body weight of each treatment groups showed similar levels at end of experiment. In case of the feed efficiency ratio (feed intake/body gain), the growing rats showed 6.00, 5.81 and 5.99 and adult rats showed 9.03, 8.98 and 9.10 in control, Nogjungtang I and Nogjungtang II, respectively. In conclusion, although further investigation of Nogjungtang should be performed in the functions registered in many ancient literatures, Nogjungtang is physiologically safe and may have potential as candidate food for human health.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.851-859
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• 2012

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of addition of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) leaf and root extracts on the quality and sensory characteristics of ground pork meat. Four types of ground pork were evaluated: 5% ice water added (T0), 5% lotus leaf extract added (T1), 2.5% lotus leaf extract and 2.5% root extract added (T2), and 5% lotus root extract added (T3). There were no significant differences in moisture, protein, fat, ash, cooking yield, moisture retention, water holding capacity, reduction in diameter, a-value (redness), b-value (yellowness), VBN content (volatile basic nitrogen), hardness, springiness, cohesiveness or chewiness. The fat retention was highest in T0 (p<0.05). The L-values (lightness) of T2 and T3 were higher than those of T0 and T1 (p<0.05). The pH was lowest in T1 (p<0.05). The TBARS (2-thiobarbituric acid reactive substances) values of T0, T1, T2, and T3 were 0.47, 0.17, 0.21, and 0.32 mgMA/kg, respectively, with that of T1 being significantly lower than those of the other samples (p<0.05). The contents of free amino acids related to sweet taste was 642.5 ppm for T1, which was highest among the samples (p<0.05). The flavor was highest in T1 (p<0.05). These results suggest that lotus leaf extracts improved the lipid oxidation and flavor of ground pork meat.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.6
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• pp.735-742
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• 2006

The objective of this study was to elucidate the tolerance of woody plants to simulated acid rain in relation to mycorrhizal inoculation. Germinating seedlings of Robinia pseudoacacia were planted in 1I pots with autoclaved soil mixture of vermiculite, sand and nursery soil at 1:1:1 ratio. Each pot was inoculated with both crushed root nodules from a wild tree of the same species and commercial arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculum of Glomus intraradices at the time of planting the seedlings. Simulated acid rains at pH 2.6, 3.6, 4.6, and 5.6 were made by mixing sulfuric acid and nitric acid at 3: 1 ratio. Each pot received nutrient solution without N and P, and was also supplied with 180 ml of the one pH level of the acid rains once a week for 50 days. The plants were grown in the green house. At the end of experimental period, plants were harvested to determine contents of chlorophyll, mineral nutrients and net photosynthesis in the tissues, dry weight of the plants, and mycorrhizal infection in the roots. Mycorrhizal infection rate was significantly reduced only at pH 2.6, which meant vitality of G intraradices was inhibited at extremely low pH. Height growth, dry weight production, nodule production and chlorophyll content were increased by mycorrhizal infection in all the pH levels except pH 3.6. Particularly, mycorrhizal inoculation increased root nodule production by 85% in pH 5.6 and 45% in 4.6 treatments. But the stimulatory effect of mycorrhizal inoculation on nodule production was reduced at pH 3.6 and 2.6. Net photosynthesis was increased by mycorrhizal infection in all the pH levels. The phosphorus(P) content in the tissues was increased by 43% in average by mycorrhizal inoculation, which was statistically significant except in pH 2.6. It was concluded that mycorrhizal inoculation of Robinia pseudoacacia would enhance growth and resistance of the plants to acid rain by improving the photosynthesis, phosphorus nutrition, and more nodule production.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.37 no.3
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• pp.309-316
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• 2008

This study was carried out to examine the effects of vitamin E on chronic gastric ulcer induced by alcohol treatment in rats. Chronic gastric ulcer model was established by oral administration of 70% ethanol at one time and supply of 15% ethanol for additional 7 days. Male Sprague-Dawley rats, approximately 200 g, were fasted for 24 hours and orally gavaged with 1 mL of 70% ethanol for the induction of acute ulcer. A supply of 15% ethanol dissolved in distilled water for 7 days were followed to maintain chronic gastric ulcer. Acute ulcer group was sacrificed at 3 hours after oral administration of 1 mL of 70% ethanol. Chronic groups were divided into three groups according to vitamin E levels; low-vitamin E (LVE, 0 mg/mL oil/day), normalvitamin E (NVE, 1 mg/mL oil/day) and high-vitamin E (HVE, 10 mg/mL oil/day). These groups were fed vitamin E free diets which were made of vitamin E free vitamin mix followed AIN-93M pattern for 7 days. Histological findings of congestion, hemorrhage and necrosis in gastric tissue were shown severely in acute ulcer group and LVE group of chronic ulcer groups. The concentration of gastrin in serum was significantly higher in LVE group. The content of histamine in stomach was lower in acute ulcer group but there was no significant difference among the chronic groups regardless of vitamin E levels. Content of malondialdehyde (MDA) in gastric tissue was higher in HVE group and activities of antioxidant enzyme, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and catalase, were lower in HVE group. Myeloperoxidase (MPO) activities as a marker of neutrophils infiltration was significantly higher in LVE group. These results suggested that vitamin E supplementation has positive effects on healing of alcohol-induced chronic gastric ulcer through alleviation of gastric tissue injuries and reduction of the MPO activity in gastric tissue and gastrin in serum.