• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.17-21
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• 1991

The experiment was conducted to investigate the origin of pH changes in a continuous cropping soil. The results obtained were as follows : 1. The concentration of phytotoxin increased and at the same time the soil pH decreased with the prolonged practice of continuous cropping. 2. The decrease of soil pH by the phytotoxin materials was higher in the distilled water and tap water than in the soil. 3. The effect of phytotoxin on plant germination was higher in benzoic acid than in p-hydroxybenzoic acid. 4. The treatment of acetone to the continuous cropping soil recovered the initial soil pH and sesame growth was normal in the soil.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.311-318
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• 1991

Corneal permeability of various n-alkyl p-hydroxybenzoates (parabens) was studied in vitro using excised rabbit corneas, and the effect of lipophilicity of parabens on the corneal permeability was also investigated. Permeability coefficients were obtained from the least-square linear regression after the steady state had been reached. Lipophilicity of parabens was calculated by distribution coefficients determined in octanol-S | $12{\phi}{\parallel}$) rensen's buffer solution (pH 5.0). The relationship between lipophilicity and corneal permeability of parabens was not linear, but the optimum lipophilicity for the maximum permeation was found. The influence of tween 80 on corneal permeability of methyl and butylparaben was not significant.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.191-202
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• 2017

Chemical compounds from four different tissues of the kenaf plant (Hibiscus cannabinus), a valuable medicinal crop originating from Africa, were examined to determine its potential for use as a new drug material. Leaves, bark, flowers, and seeds were harvested to identify phytochemical compounds and measure antioxidant activities. Gas chromatography mass spectrometry analyses identified 22 different phytocompounds in hexane extracts of the different parts of the kenaf plant. The most abundant volatile compounds were E-phytol (32.4%), linolenic acid (47.3%), trisiloxane-1,1,1,5,5,5-hexamethyl-3,3-bis[(trimethylsilyl)oxy] (16.4%), and linoleic acid (46.4%) in leaves, bark, flowers, and seeds, respectively. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography identified the major compounds in the different parts of the kenaf plant as kaemperitrin, caffeic acid, myricetin glycoside, and p-hydroxybenzoic acid in leaves, bark, flowers, and seeds, respectively. Water extracts of flowers, leaves, and seeds exhibited the greatest DPPH radical scavenging activity and SOD activity. Our analyses suggest that water is the optimal solvent, as it extracted the greatest quantity of functional compounds with the highest levels of antioxidant activity. These results provide valuable information for the development of environmentally friendly natural products for the pharmaceutical industry.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.28 no.7
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• pp.761-764
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• 2005

Indigin, alkylated xanthene (1) and indigoferic acid (2) have been isolated from the chloroform soluble fraction of Indigofera oblongifolia, along with $\beta$-sitosterol (3) and 3-hydroxybenzoic acid (4), which are reported for the first time from this species. Their structures were determined through spectroscopic techniques. Both the new compounds 1 and 2 showed significant activity against enzyme lipoxygenase, while 2 further showed moderate inhibition against BChE.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.47-51
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• 2012

Among 38 Vietnamese medicinal plant extracts investigated for their ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activity, 35 extracts showed $IC_{50}$ values below $250{\mu}g/mL$. The MeOH extracts of the heartwood of Oroxylum indicum, the seeds of Caesalpinia sappan, and the fruits of Xanthium strumarium exhibited strong ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activity with $IC_{50}$ values less than $50{\mu}g/mL$. Fractionation of the MeOH extract of the heartwood of O. indicum led to the isolation of oroxylin A (1), oroxyloside (2), hispidulin (3), apigenin (4), ficusal (5), balanophonin (6), 2- (1-hydroxymethylethyl)-4H,9H-naphtho[2,3-b]furan-4,9-dione (7), salicylic acid (8), p-hydroxybenzoic acid (9), protocatechuic acid (10), isovanillin (11), and ${\beta}$-hydroxypropiovanillon (12). Compounds 1 - 3, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 12 showed more potent activities, with $IC_{50}$ values ranging from 2.13 to $133.51{\mu}M$, than a positive control acabose ($IC_{50}$, $241.85{\mu}M$). The kinetic study indicated that oroxyloside (2) displayed mixed-type inhibition with inhibition constant (Ki) was $3.56{\mu}M$.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.115-121
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• 2019

Alzheimer's disease is a chronic neurodegenerative disorder with no curative treatment. The commercially available drugs, which target acetylcholinesterase, are not satisfactory. The aim of this study was to investigate the cholinesterase inhibitory activity of Solenostemma argel aerial part. Eight compounds were isolated and identified by NMR: kaempferol-3-O-glucopyranoside (1), kaempferol (2), kaempferol-3-glucopyranosyl($1{\rightarrow}6$)rhamnopyranose (3) p-hydroxybenzoic acid (4), dehydrovomifoliol (5), 14,15-dihydroxypregn-4-ene-3,20-dione (6), 14,15-dihydroxy-pregn-4-ene-3,20-dione-$15{\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside (7) and solargin I (8). Two of them (compounds 2 and 3) could inhibit over 50 % of butyrylcholinesterase activity at $100{\mu}M$. Compound (2) displayed the highest inhibitory effect against acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) with a slight selectivity towards the latter. Molecular docking studies supported the in vitro results and revealed that (2) had made several hydrogen and ${\pi}-{\pi}$ stacking interactions which could explain the compound potency to inhibit AChE and BChE.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2016

Enhanced production of individual phenolic compounds by subcritical water hydrolysis (SWH) of pumpkin leaves was investigated at various temperatures ranging from 100 to $220^{\circ}C$ at 20 min and at various reaction times ranging from 10 to 50 min at $160^{\circ}C$. Caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid, and gentisic acid were the major phenolic compounds in the hydrolysate of pumpkin leaves. All phenolic compounds except gentisic acid showed the highest yield at $160^{\circ}C$, but gentisic acid showed the highest yield at $180^{\circ}C$. The cumulative amount of individual phenolic compounds gradually increased by 48.1, 52.2, and $78.4{\mu}g/g$ dry matter at $100^{\circ}C$, $120^{\circ}C$, and $140^{\circ}C$, respectively, and then greatly increased by $1,477.1{\mu}g/g$ dry matter at $160^{\circ}C$. The yields of caffeic acid and ferulic acid showed peaks at 20 min, while those of cinnamic acid, p-coumaric acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, and procatechuic acid showed peaks at 30 min. Antioxidant activities such as 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl and ferric reducing antioxidant power values gradually increased with hydrolysis temperature and ranged from 6.77 to 12.42 mg ascorbic acid equivalents/g dry matter and from 4.25 to 8.92 mmol $Fe^{2+}$/100 g dry matter, respectively. Color $L^*$ and $b^*$ values gradually decreased as hydrolysis temperature increased from $100^{\circ}C$ to $140^{\circ}C$. At high temperatures ($160^{\circ}C$ to $220^{\circ}C$), L* and b* values decreased suddenly. The $a^*$ value peaked at $160^{\circ}C$ and then decreased as temperature increased from $160^{\circ}C$ to $220^{\circ}C$. These results suggest that SWH of pumpkin leaves was strongly influenced by hydrolysis temperature and may enhanced the production of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activities.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.276-283
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• 1997

This experiment was conducted to investigate the optimum temperature and the effects of sulfuric acid, flowing water and $GA_3$ on the germination of Bupleurum falcatum. At the same time, the effect of germination-related compounds in Bupleurum falcatum seed was tested. Among the tested temperatures $(15,\;20,\;25\;and\;30^{\circ}C)$ the highest germination rate was obtained at $15^{\circ}C$. The optimum soaking time of sulfuric acid was 5 minutes at the concentration of both 0.1 and 1.0%. At the same time, the germination rate was highest when Bupleurum falcatum seed was washed for 2 days in the flowing water before germination test. The effect of $GA_3$ on the germination was highest at 100 ppm out of 10, 50 and 100 ppm. Regardless of treatments, the germination rate of Jeongseon species was higher than that of Mishima species. SEM photographs revealed that most of germination-inhibiting substances in the seed coat were washed away by rinsing in the flowing water for 2 days thus the seed coat became more smooth. The 4, 000 ppm alcohol extract of Bupleurum falcatum seeds inhibited the germination of lettuce seeds as much as 41.7% in Jeongseon species and 58.3% in Mishima species. The higher extract concentration from seed of Bupleurum falcatum, the lower the germination of lettuce seeds was obtained. Out of phenolic acids, the contents of orchinol, pyrogallol, and p-hydroxybenzoic acid were highest in both varieties. Compared with Mishima species, Jeongseon species showed much higher content of salicylic and vanillic acid.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.323-333
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• 2009

Parabens are alkyl esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid, which are widely used in foods, cosmetics, and pharmaceutic products as preservatives. Absorbed parabens are metabolized fastly and excreted. Actually human body is exposed to complex mixture of parabens. Safety assessment at various toxicological end points revealed parabens have a little acute, subacute and chronic toxicities. Some reports have argued that as parabens have estrogenic activity, they are associated with the incidence of breast cancer through dermal absorption by cosmetics. There is an inference that antiandrogenic activity of parabens may give rise to a lesion of male reproductive system, but also there is an contrary. At cellular level, parabens may inhibit mitochondrial function of sperms and androgen production in testis, but also there is an contrary. Parabens seem to have little or no toxicity in embryonic development. Parabens can cause hemolysis, membrane permeability change in mitochondria and apoptosis, suggesting cellular toxicity of parabens. Parabens evoked endocrine disruption in several fish species and have toxic effect on small invertebrates and microbes. Therefore, the toxicity of parabens should be considered as a potentially toxic chemical in the freshwater environment. In conclusion, though parabens may be considered as a low toxic chemical, more definite data are required concerning the endocrine disrupting effect of parabens on human body and aquatic animals according to route and term of exposure as well as the residual concentration of parabens.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.193-200
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• 2016

This study describes the anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and melanogenesis inhibition activities of methanol extract and various organic solvent fractions of Arecae Pericarpium. We examined the inhibition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW 264.7 cells, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine (DPPH) scavenging activity, mushroom tyrosinase inhibition activity and melanin contents. The study showed that, among all tested fractions, methylene chloride fraction showed the strongest inhibition of LPS-induced NO production in RAW 264.7 cells ($IC_{50}$ value $8.89{\mu}g/mL$) and DPPH radical scavenging activity ($EC_{50}$ value $21.39{\mu}g/mL$). Methylene chloride and ethyl acetate fractions similarly inhibited mushroom tyrosinase activity. Methanol extract exhibited strongest reduction of melanin content in B16F10 melanoma cells. Based on the bioactivity assay results, methylene chloride and ethyl acetate fractions were further separated. Eight phenolic compounds were isolated, which are dimeric syringol (1), catechol (2), 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde (3), vanillin (4), 4-hydroxyacetophenone (5), apocynin (6), protocatechuic acid (7) and 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (8). Among the isolated compounds tested, catechol showed the strongest inhibition of LPS-induced NO production in RAW 264.7 cells. Catechol also showed the concentration-dependent NF-${\kappa}B$ inhibition activity. Arecae Pericarpium might have potentials to be developed as anti-inflammatory agent or dermatological product for skin-whitening agent.