• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.2 s.69
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• pp.279-286
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• 2005

The Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten Makino (Cactus) is a tropical or subtropical plant, which is cultivated or grows naturally in Jeju island. It has been widely used as folk medicine for burned wound, edema and indigestion. In addition, its extract has been claimed to have several biological activities including anti-inflammation in oriental medicine. In this study, we examined the antimicrobial activities of the methanol extract of Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten Makino. The extract showed a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against pathogenic bacteria, including antibiotics resistant bacteria (MRSA, R-P. aeruginosa, VRE) and Propionibacterium acnes, yeast, and fungi. The extract retained the activity after heat treatment for 15 min at $100^{\circ}C$ and $121^{\circ}C$ and after extended storage, up to 10 weeks storage period at $4^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$, also stably retained its activity. It showed a better inhibitoring effect to the growth of E. coli than sodium benzoate did it at the same concentration. Addition of various salts or metal ions did not affect on its antimicrobial activity. Therefore, the antimicrobial characteristics of the extract can be applicable as a natural preservative and an antimicrobial agent for bacterial disease.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.717-720
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• 2010

A new cultivar of Euphorbia milii, 'Panorama' was developed at Cactus Research Institute, Gyeonggi-do Agricultural Research & Extension Services in 2009. 'Gabi' and 'Maxi' were crossed in 2001 and three $F_1$ seedlings were obtained. Pedigree selection was performed in 2002. One line was finally selected and named as 'Panorama' through the test of specific character from 2007 to 2009. The new cultivar 'Panorama' has green and pink colored bract, and it has 2~3 each of inflorescence number, 2.0 cm of bract width, 4.3 each of lateral shoot and 14.9 cm of plant height. Characters of the cultivar can be maintained by vegetative propagation.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.953-958
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• 2009

The antimicrobial activities, antioxidant effects, and total polyphenol contents of extracts of Prickly Pear Opuntia ficus indica, were investigated. In antimicrobial activity assays of solvent extract fractions, methanol and butanol extracts showed higher activities than did hexane and ether extracts. The stem showed a higher antimicrobial activity than did the fruit. When the antimicrobial activities of fruit and stem extracts was tested using 10 bacterial strains, strong activity was evident against Escherichia coli, with a lowest minimum inhibitory concentration of 100 mg/disk. However, no antimicrobial activities against lactic bacteria or yeasts were evident, even with disks containing more than 500 mg extract/disk. Antimicrobial substances in butanol extracts of fruit and stem maintained activity after heating at $100^{\circ}C$ for 30 min and were not affected by changes in pH. DPPH free radical-scavenging activities of solvent extracts were in the order of water, ethyl acetate, butanol, ether, and ethanol. The stem showed greater DPPH free radical-scavenging activity than did the fruit. The total polyphenol contents in fruit and stem were 520.57 and 203.26 mg%, respectively.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.36-41
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• 2010

Fermentation characteristics of yakju prepared with addition of Opuntia ficus indica were examined, with respect to the nature and concentration of additional added materials. The pH level began to decrease after the secondary brewing stage and the total acid content increased during fermentation. The level of reducing sugars in yakju prepared with Opuntia ficus indica increased at the first brewing stage and then slowly decreased after 4 days of fermentation. The ethanol content of supplemented yakju rapidly increased during the initial 6 days of fermentation, to a maximum content of 17.1% after 14 days. The free sugar content was higher in yakju fermented with Opuntia ficus indica stem compared with fruit. The level of organic acids increased as the amount of Opuntia ficus indica material increased. Organic acid level increased during fermentation and lactic acid was the main organic acid in yakju fermented with Opuntia ficus indica. Sixteen volatile compounds were found by GC-MS in supplemented yakju. The most prominent volatile component was iso-amyl alcohol, followed by butyl alcohol and methyl esters. The DPPH radical-scavenging activity of yakju fermented with Opuntia ficus indica stem was higher than when yakju was prepared with fruit. Sensory scores of yakju fermented with 20% (w/v) fruit and 10% (w/v) stem were greater than those of yakju prepared by other treatments.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.10
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• pp.1525-1530
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to investigate anti-tumor activities, general composition, elemental composition and mineral contents of fermented liquid stem, root and fruit of Opuntia humifusa. In the general composition, the energy, crude protein, crude lipid and crude carbohydrate contents of fermented liquid stem were 86.21 Kcal, 0.92$\%$, 0.12$\%$, and 20.34$\%$, respectively. Fermented liquid fruit showed 65.32 Kcal, 1.04$\%$, 0.08$\%$, and 15.15$\%$. In mineral analysis, fermented liquid stem and fruit showed 1,800 and 388 mg of calcium per 100g. The ferrous concentrations of fermented liquid stem and fruit were 21 and 10 mg per 100 g, respectively. Methanol, ethanol and water extracts of nonfermented liquid stem and fruit did not inhibit the proliferation in human cervical cancer cells (Caski, SiHa and HaCaT), but the fermented liquid fruit showed the inhibition of Proliferation with dose-response manner in Caski and SiHa cells, but not HaCaT. Therefore, it suggests that fermented cactus may be used as one of potential adjuvant for the treatment of cervical carcinomas.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.502-509
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• 2016

The seasonal appearance and the chemical composition characteristics of cladode of Opuntia humifusa were investigated in this study. The minor (horizontal) and major (vertical) axes, the width, and weight of O. humifusa cladode were compared for its appearance features. Moisture, crude protein, ash, fat, color, dietary fiber, mineral, and amino acids contents were measured for the comparison of their chemical composition characteristics. The cladode of O. humifusa harvested in summer showed higher values of minor and major axis, width, and weight than those harvested in winter. According to the results of Hunter color index, cladode of O. humifusa harvested in summer showed the highest lightness level (Hunter L value). In the meanwhile, cladode of O. humifusa harvested in spring showed the highest Hunter a (redness) and b (yellowness) values. Cladode of O. humifusa harvested in summer had the lowest crude protein and crude fat contents, while it showed the highest crude ash content. The total contents of moisture and dietary fiber were significantly greater than summer-harvested cladode of O. humifusa followed by spring- and winter-harvested cladode of O. humifusa. The major mineral content of all seasonal cladode of O. humifusa was $Ca^{2+}$. Glutamic acid and aspartic acid were the major amino acids in all seasonal samples. Contrary, the contents of total amino acids and free amino acids were the lowest in summer-harvested cladode of O. humifusa. Taken together, it was concluded that the appearance and chemical quality of cladode of O. humifusa was versatile depending on the harvesting season.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.7 s.87
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• pp.915-922
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• 2007

In order to discover physiologically active substance, we investigated a powder obtained by processing of Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten Makino trunk. The powder was treated by sulfuric acid and then extracted by several solvents such as methanol, methylene chloride, ethanol etc. Among them, the best antimicrobial activity was showed by methylene chloride extract. To identify materials exhibiting physiological activation, the acid hydrolyzed extract was separated by 7 fractions through preparative silica gel TLC. The effective fraction exhibiting the best broad antimicrobial activity was identified, named as MBT-01108. From structural analysis of the products extracted to acid hydrolysis, a compound exhibiting the antimicrobial activities is identified to levulinic acid. Levulinic acid isolated from Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten Makino may be applicable as a natural preservative of food or cosmetic and for prevention of bacterial diseases, an ingredient of acne, ageing and whitening cosmetics and an antimicrobial agent.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.117-121
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• 2012

Biological activities of the hot water and ethanol extracts from Opuntia humifusa cladodes were investigated. 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl hadrazyl (DPPH) electron donating ability of hot water and ethanol extracts was 79.07 and 82.54%, respectively. Hot water extract generally showed better cytotoxic activity than ethanol extract against each cell line. HeLa and AGS cell lines treated with hot water extract had more than 50% cytotoxic activities. Based on the antimicrobial activities against four microbial strains, both extracts inhibited growth of Staphylococcus aureus KCCM 11593, whereas affected cell growth of three other microorganisms, Escherichia coli (KCCM 11234), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 27853), and Salmonella typhimurium (ATCC 11862), in proportion to the concentration of extracts. The inflammatory activities against hot water extract (34.31%) showed higher than that of ethanol extract (25.59%). The effect of extracts on 3T3-L1 preadipocytes differentiation showed that differentiation of treated group with 80 and 100 ${\mu}g/mL$ of hot and ethanol extracts were increased more than treated group with isobutyl methyl xanthine (IBMX) + dexamethasone. These results indicate that the O. humifusa cladodes extracts can be used as a functional material due to their effective biological activities.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.742-746
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• 2009

The proximate compositions of Opuntia ficus indica fruits from Shinan were moisture 71.18%, crude protein 1.69%, crude ash 0.93%, crude fat 0.55%, crude fiber 1.54% and 24.11% nitrogen free extracts. And the proxmate compositions of Opuntia ficus indica stem were moisture 74.85%, crude protein 3.48%, crude ash 0.54%, crude fat 0.48%, crude fiber 2.58% and 18.07% nitrogen free extracts. The crude protein and crude fiber content of Opuntia ficus indica stem from Shinan were higher than those of fruit. The contents of fructose, sucrose and glucose were higher than maltose. As the result of organic acid, the content of citric acid was higher than malic acid and tartaric acid. As a result of mineral analysis, the contents of potassium was the highest among the minerals in Opuntia ficus indica from Shinan. Analysis of total amino acids in Opuntia ficus indica from Shinan. The contents of total amino acid of fruit and stem were 1,604.64 mg% and 3,245.98 mg% and the free amino acid contents of fruit and stem were 556.02 mg% and 1,101.35 mg%, respectively. The major components of total amino acids were glutamic acid, proline and threonine. The levels of total amino acids and free amino acids in Opuntia ficus indica stem were higher than those in its fruit.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.33 no.3 s.130
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• pp.238-244
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• 2002

The extracts from stem and fruit of Cactus (Opuntia ficus-indica var. saboten Makino) were applied to confirm the antiatherosclerotic effects in subacute alcoholic hyperlipidemic rats. It was observed that several indications of hyperlipidemia were prevented or changed by the treatments of the extracts but activities of hepatic HMG-CoA reductase and alcohol dehydrogenase were not affected, which suggest that the extracts may promote the fecal excretion and delay the absorption of alcohol in hyperlipidemic rats.