• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.152-156
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• 1997

Platycodon root contains abundant pharmaceutical substances and is widely used as a food and a medicinal herb. The three-year-old and the 24-year-old Platycodon roots cultivated in a local farm were analysed and compared with their pharmaceutical substances to identify the major components. Reverse column HPLC analysis of ethanol extracts from the 24-year-old roots showed some distintive peaks after the retention time of 50 min which were absent in the extracts from the three-year-old roots. This indicates that several pharmaceutical substances are present in the older roots. There were no differences in sterol composition and saponin content between the 24-year and three-year-old roots. The 15-year-old and the 23-year-old Platycodon roots, the 6-year-old Ginseng root, and the three-year-old Condonopsis root all did not show significant anticomplement activity.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.296-303
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• 2007

Acer tegmentosum (Acereaceae) has been used a source of traditional medicines for the treatment of hepatic disorders in Korea. This research was conducted to determine biofunctional activities of A. tegmentosum stem extract and to identify its bioactive components. Methanolic extract from A. tegmentosum stem was partitioned by using organic solvents, including n-hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water. Two compounds were isolated by using an ODS column chromatography from ethyl acetate soluble fraction shown to the strongest antioxidant activity ($RC_{50}=3.15\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$) among the fractions. The isolated compounds were analyzed by $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR, IR, UV/VIS, MS spectrum data and identified as catechin, ${\rho}-Hydroxyphenethyl$ alcohol $1-O-{\beta}-_D-(6'-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside$. The compounds have shown strong antioxidant activity, with similar activity to BHA ($RC_{50}=2\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$). Especially, ${\rho}-Hydroxyphenethyl$ alcohol 1-O-{\beta}-_D-(6'-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside$ was shown strong anti-lipid peroxidative activity. However, the compounds were not shown antimicrobial activities. In antimicrobial activity assays, ethyl acetate soluble fraction was effective to bacterial inhibition, such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, with minimum inhibitory concentrations in $125\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. Otherwise, antifungal activity against Candida albicans was shown in n-hexane soluble fraction exhibiting $63\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ of minimum inhibitory concentration. In anticomplementary activity assays, water soluble fraction was the most effective exhibiting 24% inhibitory activity.