• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.848-854
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• 2016

Cymbidium is one of perennial herbs belonging to the Orchidaceae and is known as a medicinal plant. However, its scientific data are insufficient. The purpose of this study is to extract from root and stem of Cymbidium, to investigate the biological effects of them. Cymbidium antibacterial effects of the extracts were performed by antibacterial test against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), Staphylococcus saphrophyticus (S. saprophyticus), Proteus vulgaris (P. vulgaris) and Klebsiella pneumonia (K. pneumonia). Antioxidant effects of the extracts were carried out by DPPH radical scavenging. Total phenolic contents were also determined. Moreover, Cell viability of extracts against MTT assay was cell viability against HepG2 cell and also measures Cholesterol adsorptivity of extracts. In this study, the extracts inhibited the growth of bacteria. Particularly Cymbidium root extracts by only ethanol extraction showed highest antimicrobial effect against S. aureus. The Cymbidium stem extracts by both ethanol extraction and sonication for 1 hour had higher antioxidant activites as well as total phenolic contents. Cell cytotoxicity showed higher than $50{\mu}g/mL$. Cholesterol adsorptivity showed lower than 20%. These results suggest that the Cymbidium might be a source of anti-bacterials and anti-oxidants.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.311-316
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• 2004

Antioxidant effects of Rosa davurica Pall extract on copper-mediated LDL oxidative modification were investigated. Oxidation products of LDL were determined based on TBA value, formation of conjugate diene, and apolipoprotein carbonyl value. As revealed through TBA values, ethyl acetate and butanol fractions of R. davurica Pall root showed strong antioxidant effect, with 85.3 and 93.2% inhibitions at $30\;{\mu}g/mL$ each, respectively. Ethyl acetate and butanol fractions at $30\;{\mu}g/mL$ inhibited LDL oxidation up to 8 hr. Conjugate diene formation by lipid oxidation with $Cu^{2+}$ addition in ethyl acetate and butanol fractions decreased 2.2-and 5.6-fold, respectively, compared to control. Carbonyl value decreased in the presence of butanol and ethyl acetate fractions. Methanol and ethyl acetate extracts of R. davurica Pall root showed higher absorbancy at 285 nm. Ethanol extract of R. davurica Pall root and stem contained 10.6 g/100 g total phenolic compounds. Results reveal phenolic compound as major biological component in R. davurica Pall extracts. Ethyl acetate and butanol fraction showed strongest antioxidant effect on LDL oxidation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.881-886
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• 2016

Cephalanthera erecta (Thunb. ex, Murray) is an herbaceous and a member of the genus Cephalanthera in the family Orchidaceae. The species is an herbaceous and has reputed Chinese medicinal value. It has been investigated the population density and spatial distribution of this species at Mt. Ahop in Korea during 2015. The spatial pattern of C. erecta was analyzed according to several patchiness indexes, population uniformity or aggregation under different sizes of plots by dispersion indices, and spatial autocorrelation. The mean crowding (M*) and patchiness index (PAI) showed positive values except one small plot (2 m × 2 m). Most natural individuals of C. erecta for plots were not uniformly distributed in the forest community. The small plots (2 m × 2 m, to 8 m × 16 m) of C. erecta were uniformly distributed in the forest community and large plots (16 m × 16 m and 16 m × 32 m) were aggregately distributed. Significant aggregations by Moran's I of C. erecta were partially observed within IV classes (12 m). Dissimilarity among pairs of individuals could found by more than 18.0 m. In conclusion, the geographic distribution of C. erecta is not even with varying degrees of size of plots and human activities give rise to density effects in the plots at Mt. Ahop in Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.7
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• pp.983-990
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• 2010

Genus Spiraea is a woody species primarily distributed throughout Asia. Many species of this genus are important plants medicinally and ecologically. I evaluated a representative sample of the sixteen taxa with random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers to estimate genetic relationships within genus Spiraea. In addition, RAPD analysis was also conducted to estimate the genetic diversity and population structure of these species. As the typical populations of Spiraea were small, isolated, and patchily distributed for natural populations, they maintained a low level of genetic diversity for polymorphic primers. The mean H was 0.117 across species. The Korean endemic species (S. chartacea) and patchily distributed species (S. betulifolia) showed fewer alleles per locus (mean 1.240 vs. 1.297), lower percent polymorphic locus (24.0 vs. 29.7), and lower diversity (0.092 vs. 0.121) than a relatively widely spread species. An assessment of the proportion of diversity present within species, $H_{POP}/H_{SP}$, indicated that about 87.8% the total genetic diversity was among species. Thus, the majority of genetic variation (87.8%) resided within species. The phylogenic tree showed three distinct groups. One clade includes S. prunifolia for. simpliciflora, S. thunbergii, S. chamaedryfolia var. ulmifolia, S. media, and S. cantoniensis. Another clade includes S. blumei, S. pubescens, S. chartacea, and S. chinensis. The other clade is the remaining seven species.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.655-663
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• 2014

Woosul (Achyranthis radix), a widely used material in food and oriental medicinal industry, has different origins of plant species in Korea, Japan and China. In Korea, woosul is designated as the radix of Achyranthes japonica Nakai (AJN) and Achyranthes bidentata Blume (ABB) in the regulation of The Korean Pharmacopoeia. However, the comparative study of hot water (HW) extracts between AJN and ABB is still rudimentary. In this study, HW extracts and its subsequent organic solvent fractions of AJB and ABB were prepared, and their in-vitro antimicrobial, antioxidant and anti-diabetes activities were evaluated. The HW extract of ABB has higher sugars and polyphenol compounds, and higher lightness and lower yellowness compared than those of AJN. Analysis of biological activities showed that the ethylacetate (EA) fraction of AJN and n-hexane fraction of ABB have antibacterial activities, and the EA fractions of AJN and ABB has strong antioxidation activities determined by radical scavenging activity and reducing power. In anti-diabetes activity assay, the EA fractions of AJN and ABB showed ${\alpha}$-amylase inhibitory activities, while the butanol fractions of AJN and ABB showed ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activities. Our results suggest that the HW extracts of AJB and ABB have different components and extraction yields, and their subsequent fractions have different biological activity. Therefore it was concluded that the EA fraction of AJN is appropriate to develop as natural medicine, and the HW extract of AJN is suitable to woosul-tea or woosul-sikhye production.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.360-367
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• 2014

Candida albicans is an opportunistic and the most prevalent fungal pathogen that can cause superficial and systemic infections in immunocompromised patients. C. albicans can promote the transition from budding yeast to filamentous form, generating biofilms. Infections associated with C. albicans biofilms are frequently resistant to conventional antifungal therapy. Therefore, the development of more effective antifungal drugs related with biofilm formation is required urgently. The roots of Rheum undulatum have been used for medicinal purposes in Korea and China traditionally. The aim of present study was to evaluate the effect of R. undulatum extract upon preformed biofilms of 12 clinical C. albicans isolates and the antifungal activities. Its effect on preformed biofilms was evaluated using XTT reduction assay, and metabolic activity of all tested strains was reduced significantly ($49.4{\pm}6.0%$) at 0.098 mg/ml R. undulatum. The R. undulatum extract blocked the adhesion of C. albicans biofilms to polystyrene surfaces, and damaged the cell membrane integrity of C. albicans which was analyzed by CFDA, AM, and propidium iodide double staining. It caused cell lysis which was observed by Confocal laser scanning and phase contrast microscope after propidium iodide and neutral red staining, respectively. Membrane permeability was changed as evidenced by crystal violet uptake. The data suggest that R. undulatum inhibits biofilm formation by C. albicans, which can be associated with the damage of the cell membrane integrity, the changes in the membrane permeability and the cell lysis of C. albicans.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.19-25
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• 2014

The total production volume has been sharply increased from year 2008 in Gyeongnam province, South Korea by the policy of preservation and promotion of indigenous balloon flower germ lines. In an attempt to assist the Gyeongnam province's policy, in this study, we tried to establish a technique to differentiate the indigenous balloon flower germ lines with those collected within South Korea and China. Our preliminary results indicated that RAPD analyses with five different primers exhibited high frequency of polymorphic DNA bands up to 76.9% and phylogenetic tree indicated that some of the indigenous lines can be easily differentiated with others. However, it was suggested that more advanced techniques such as single nucleotide polymorphic markers need to be developed in particular, by using extra-chromosomal DNA.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.699-705
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• 2008

This study compared amino acids and effective components of Viola mandshurica produced in Korea with those of Chinese plants, as part of a study on nutritional andfunctional materials, to aid in the development of a valuable food. The contents of reducing sugar, free sugar, polyphenols, and soluble protein in the flowers of V. mandshurica were higher than in other fractions, being 10,485.11 mg%, 118.85 mg%, 1,259.26 mg%, and 23.67 mg%, respectively. Total flavonoid content of Chinese leaves was the highest at 2,370.75 mg%, followed by 1,844.43 mg% in Korean leaves. Free amino acids were highest in Korean leaves (5,345.21 mg%), followed by roots (4,692.24 mg%), flowers (3,807.87 mg%), and leaves of China plants (3,613.81 mg%). Arginine accounted for 55% of free amino acids in the roots, and all plant fractions contained more valine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, alanine, and arginine, than other amino acids. The total content of amino acid derivatives was the highest (9,058.80 mg%) in Korean leaves. Especially, $\alpha$-aminoadipic acid constituted over 50% of total amino acid derivatives in all plant parts of V. mandshurica. When mineral contents were analyzed, leaves grown in China showed the highest content of 5,917.57 mg%, and the contents of K, Ca, and Mg were much greater than those of other minerals, together comprising over 95% of total mineral content in leaves and flowers from Korea.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.90-96
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• 2019

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of Diospyros malabarica stem extract, a natural materials, in oral health material. With this aim in mind, thin layer chromatography (TLC), TLC-bioautography, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), electrospray ionization-mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and real-time qPCR were performed. The antibacterial activity of D. malabarica stem extract against Streptococcus mutans KCTC3065 was confirmed in an n-hexane fraction with low polarity. The molecular weight of the antibacterial compound was estimated to be 188 by ESI-MS analysis. The inhibitory effects of the extract on biofilm formation and gene expression related to biofilm formation of S. mutans were determined by SEM and real-time PCR analysis. The extract inhibited the formation of S. mutans biofilms at D. malabarica stem extract concentrations of 1 mg/ml, as shown by SEM. The real-time PCR analysis showed that the expression of the gtfC gene, which is associated with biofilm formation, was significantly decreased in a dose-dependent manner. Based on the above results, it can be concluded that D. malabarica stem extracts, a natural materials, can be used in oral health products to suppress the formation of biofilms by inhibiting tooth adhesion of S. mutans, a causative agent of dental caries.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.71-78
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• 2018

Objectives : This study was fulfilled to investigate nominee materials as anti-inflammatory agent from ethanol extract of Chinese medicinal plants in Yanjin. Among the 20 candidates, we selected most effective one, the ethanol extract of Cicuta virosa L. (CVL). The mechanism underlying the anti-inflammatory effects of CVL is not clearly identified as yet. Accordingly, we clarified the anti-inflammatory effects of CVL and its underlying molecular mechanisms in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Methods : RAW264.7 macrophages were incubated with CVL (12.5, 25, or $50{\mu}M$) and/or lipopolysaccharide (LPS) ($1{\mu}g/m{\ell}$). Cytotoxicity was determined using a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide assay and the level of nitric oxide (NO) production was measured with Griess reagent. The prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) production was measured with enzyme immunoassay kits and the protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) was determined using Western blot analysis. Results : Among the 20 ethanol extract of Chinese medicinal plants of Yanjin tested, CVL significantly reduced the production of NO in a dose-dependent manner via inhibition the protein expressions of iNOS without cytotoxicity on the LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. In addition, CVL also effectively declined the production of $PGE_2$ in LPS-simulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Conclusions : Taken together, these data presented in this study demonstrate that CVL possesses anti-inflammatory activity by suppressing the production of pro-inflammatory mediators NO and $PGE_2$, and pro-inflammatory protein iNOS expression in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages.