• Plant Resources
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.217-224
• /
• 2005

We tested the hypothesis that alpine plants have special physiological and biochemical mechanisms in addition to their structural adaptation in order to survive under extreme conditions. The photosynthetic organs of Pinus pumila were used to examine the seasonal changes in sugar concentration, antioxidative enzyme, and lipid peroxidation. The concentrations of sucrose, glucose, fructose and reducing sugar were the highest in the leaves in April. But sugar contents in buds and inner barks did not respond sensitively on temperature change. Meanwhile superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity responded sensitively on the change of temperature and SOD in all tissues maintained high activity in April. Meanwhile anthocyanin content increased rapidly in June but the increase of anthocyanin content was not enough to prevent their tissues from the damage by the exposure of high temperature or other stress. In conclusion, under low temperature condition, P. pumila increased the concentration of soluble sugars and SOD activity in their tissues in order to overcome extreme environmental condition. But in summer, these stress defense system against high temperature might be disturbed slightly. This results in the increase of malondialdehyde (MDA) contents in three tissues by lipid peroxidation.

• Nutritional Sciences
• /
• v.9 no.4
• /
• pp.240-247
• /
• 2006

In this study we investigated the neuroprotective, antioxidative, and hypocholestrolemic effects of dietary soy protein and soy isoflavone in a rat focal brain ischemia model. Weaning Sprague-Dawley rats were fed a 20% casein-based diet (CA), 20% soy protein-based diet (SP), or 0.2% soy isoflavones-supplemented diet (ISO) for 6 weeks. The cortical infarction volume of the ISO group was significantly lower than that of the SP group. The thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were considerably lower in the ISO group than the CA group. Glutatbione peroxidase activities of the SP group were notably higher than those of the CA group. Acetylcholinesterase (AchE) activities of the SP group were significantly decreased compared to the CA group. LDL cholesterol levels and LDL/HDL ratios of the ISO group were lower than those of the CA and SP groups. Our results collectively suggest that soy isoflavones may contribute to neuroprotection by reducing the TBARS and serum LDL/HDL ratio, whereas soy protein may be associated with the regulation of cognitive functions by modulating AchE activity.

• Annals of dermatology
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.653-661
• /
• 2018

Background: Citron is well known for an abundance of antioxidative and anti-inflammatory ingredients such as vitamin C, polyphenol compounds, flavonoids, and limonoids. Objective: In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effects of citron essential oils on rosacea mediators in activated keratinocytes in vitro. Methods: Normal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs) were stimulated with $1{\alpha}$, 25-dihydroxyvitamin $D_3$ ($VD_3$) and interleukin 33 (IL-33) with LL-37 to induce rosacea mediators such as kallikrein 5 (KLK5), cathelicidin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1). These mediators were analyzed by performing reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative real-time PCR, immunocytofluorescence and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay after NHEKs were treated with citron seed and unripe citron essential oils. Results: The messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein levels of KLK5 and LL-37 induced by $VD_3$ were suppressed by citron seed and unripe citron essential oils. Furthermore, the mRNA and protein levels of VEGF and TRPV1 induced by IL-33 with LL-37 were also suppressed by citron essential oils. Conclusion: These results show that citron essential oils have suppressive effects on rosacea mediators in activated epidermal keratinocytes, which indicates that the citron essential oils may be valuable adjuvant therapeutic agents for rosacea.

• Animal Bioscience
• /
• v.35 no.6
• /
• pp.938-947
• /
• 2022

Objective: The beneficial effects of glycine were tested in piglets with diquat-induced hepatic injury. Methods: Thirty-two piglets were assigned by a 2×2 factorial experimental design including glycine supplementation and diquat challenge. After 3 weeks of feeding with a basic diet or a 1% glycine supplemented diet, piglets were challenged with diquat or saline. After 1 week later, the piglets were slaughtered and samples were collected. Results: Our results indicated that glycine alleviated diquat induced morphological hepatic injury, decreased the activities of plasma alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase and glutamyl transpeptidase in the piglets under diquat challenge, and increased total antioxidant capacity and antioxidative enzyme activity significantly. Adding glycine enhanced the concentrations of hepatic adenosine triphosphate and adenosine diphosphate. Transmission electron microscope observation showed that diquat induced clear hepatocytes ferroptosis and its effect could be alleviated by glycine to a certain degree. Moreover, glycine significantly affected mRNA and protein expression of ferroptosis-related signals in the liver. Conclusion: These results demonstrated that glycine attenuated liver damage via inhibiting ferroptosis.

• International Journal of Industrial Entomology and Biomaterials
• /
• v.45 no.2
• /
• pp.126-130
• /
• 2022

The silkworm is a food material that can simultaneously ingest phytochemicals from mulberry leaves, proteins with essential amino acids, and fatty acids. They are known to have hypoglycemic properties; however, further functional investigation is needed. In this study, four varieties of 3^rd day of fifth instar silkworm with different cocoon colors, namely Baegokjam (BG), Goldensilk (GS), Yeonnokjam (YN), and Juhwangjam (JH), were compared in terms of antioxidant properties and cholesterol-lowering effect. JH, which had the highest polyphenol content (+38% vs. GS, p<0.05) showed high antioxidant efficacy. Treatment with JH also resulted in the lowest cholesterol biosynthesis enzyme activity (28% vs. control, p<0.05). In the animal study, high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice that were orally administered JH extract for 12 weeks showed lower body weight gain (-10.4% vs. HFD, p<0.05) and serum total cholesterol levels (-12.7% vs. HFD, p<0.05). Comparing the varieties, JH had the highest effect. In future studies, analysis of the active ingredients according to their variety should be done.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.171-179
• /
• 2010

Effect of chromium (Cr) stress on antioxidant enzyme activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were investigated in leaves and roots of mangrove (italic (L.) Druce) seedlings. Cr toxicity effects were also assessed on young seedlings. The seedlings were grown in green house condition for three months in nutrient solution with 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, 2.5, and 3 mg $L^{-1}$ $CrCl_3$. This study showed that Cr led to the change of antioxidant enzymes such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT) and activities at different concentrations. The activity of antioxidant enzymes in leaves of K. candel seedlings indicates that enzymes engaged in antioxidant defense in certain level especially in low concentration of Cr treatments. The activities of SOD and POD were activated by Cr in the root level, while CAT activity was inhibited. CAT activity decreased in response to high concentrations of Cr. In the present study indicated that SOD in root was active in scavenging the superoxide produced by Cr. Both in roots and leaves, an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) content was observed with increase in metal concentration and exposure periods. Our finding indicated that the high concentration of excessive Cr supply may interfere with several metabolic processes of seedlings, causing toxicity to plants as exhibited by chlorosis, necrosis, photosynthetic impairing and finally, plant death.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• v.57 no.2
• /
• pp.137-144
• /
• 2024

In this study, we investigated the antioxidant and physiological activities of the Korean marine algae, Enteromorpha compressa. Solvent extracts of E. compressa were prepared using 70% ethanol, 80% methanol, and water, with extraction yields ranging from 9.55% to 25.67%. The total polyphenol and flavonoid contents ranged from 20.76-28.41 mg/g and 2.56-18.59 mg/g, respectively. Compared with the water extract, the ethanol and methanol extracts were found to have higher antioxidant activities. All three extracts were found to promote alcohol dehydrogenase and aldehyde dehydrogenase activities in a concentration-dependent manner, whereas the methanol and ethanol extracts were established to have the highest angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitory activity (IC₅₀=1.40 ㎍/mL) and β-secretase inhibitory activity (IC₅₀=0.17 ㎍/mL), respectively. These findings thus indicate that E. compressa could have beneficial application as a supplementary antioxidant and functional constituent in food and pharmaceutical materials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.25 no.4
• /
• pp.575-580
• /
• 1996

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of dietary vitamin E levels on the enzymes such as superoxide dismutase(SOD), glutathione peroxidase(GSH-Px) and glutathione S-transferase (G57) involved in antioxidative defense system and lipid peroxidation in brain of cadmium administered rats. Sprague-Dawely male rats weighing $60\pm5g$ were divided into control and experimental groups. The experimental groups were divided into Cd-0E(vitamin E free diet), Cd-40E(40mg vitamin E/kg diet) and Cd-400E(400mg vitamin E/kg diet) according to the level of vitamin E supplementation. After each group was fed diet ad libitum for 2 or 4 weeks, 2.5mg cadmium per kg body weight was injected intraperitoneally once a day for 4 days. The rats were sacrificed for examination on the next day after the last injection of cadmium. The results are as follows: SOD activities of rat brain were lower in Cd-0E, but had a similar tendency to Cd-40E, Cd-400E groups compared with control group. GSH-Px acivities of rat brain were decreased in Cd-400E, Cd-40E and Cd-0E groups. GST activities of rat brain were decreased in Cd-0E, Cd-40E groups and not significantly different in Cd-400E compared with control group. Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances(TBARS) of rat brain was increased in Cd-0E, Cd-40E, Cd-400E in that order, TBARS was lower in Cd-40E, and Cd-400E by 28.8% and 44%, respectively, than Cd-0E group. The present result suggests that high level of dietary vitamin E protects against lipid peroxidative damage in rat induced by cadmium.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.36 no.9
• /
• pp.898-907
• /
• 2003

Antioxidative function of uncooked powdered food (Sangsik) was evaluated in rats consuming nutritionally unbalanced diet including 1％ cholesterol, high proportion of animal lipids (lard : soybean oil : 8 . 2) , sub-optimal levels of vitamin and mineral mixture along with 0.5% ethanol in drinking water. The uncooked powdered food tested in the present study was a mixture composed of 42 kinds of plant foods (cereals, legumes, seaweeds, vegetables, and fruits) supplemented with vitamins and minerals, and dietary fiber. Control rats were fed the semi-purified diet based on the AIN-93G composition, and nutritionally unbalanced rats were divided into 3 groups, and fed one of the following diets with 0.5% ethanol in drinking water for 5 weeks : unbalanced control diet (UC) ,20% Sangsik powder supplemented diet (S20), and 40% Sangsik powder supplemented diet (S40) . Food efficiency ratio was significantly higher in rats fed S40 compared to the value for rats fed UC (p < 0.05). Hepatic level of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) was significantly lower in rats fed UC compared to that for control rats (p < 0.05) , and was not influenced by dietary supplementation of the Sangsik powder. Hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was significantly higher in rats fed UC compared to that for control rats (p < 0.05) , and significantly reduced in rats fed S20 or S40 compared to the value for unbalanced control rats. Feeding unbalanced control diet significantly reduced the ratio of hepatic GSH-Px ＋ catalase/SOD activities compared to the value for control rats, and this decrease in the ratio of antioxidant enzyme activities was reversed by adding the Sangsik powder to the diet at 20% (p <0.05) . Based on the results of antioxidant enzyme activities, feeding uncooked powdered diet appears to provide a favorable environment for body's antioxidative defense mechanism. Serum levels of Fe and Cu were significantly lower in rats fed the Sangsik powder supplemented diets compared to the value for unbalanced control rats (p < 0.05) , and levels of Se, Mn, and Zn were also tended to be decreased by dietary supplementation of the Sangsik powder. These results postulate the possibility that ingredients used in the uncooked powdered food may decrease the bioavailability of trace elements in rats.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.13 no.3
• /
• pp.333-342
• /
• 2003

The pathogenic effort of high glucose, possibly in concert with fatty acids, is mediated to vascular complications of diabetes via increased production of reactive oxygen species(ROS), reactive nitrogen species(RNS), and subsequent oxidative stress. This study was carried out to investigate the suppressive effect of buchu(Allium tuberosum) on oxidative stress in streptozotocin(STZ)-induced diabetes in Sprague Dawley male rats. The effect of buchu supplementation (10%) on lipid peroxidation, and antioxidative defense system in blood and liver was compared among normal rats fed basal diet(normal) and diabetic rats fed basal diet(DM-control) or 10% buchu-supplemented diet(DM-buchu). Diabetes was experimentally induced by the femoral muscle injection of 50 mg STZ per kg of body weight. Animals were sacrificed after 4 wks of experimental diets feeding. The induction of diabetes by STZ elevated the level of lipid peroxidation represented by thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances(TBARS) and conjugated dienes in plasma, LDL, liver, and erythrocytes. 10% buchu-supplemented diet significantly reduced the levels of conjugated dienes in erythrocytes(p<0.05) and lowered TBARS in liver and LDL to the levels of control. Induction of diabetes by STZ elevated Mn-superoxide dismutase(Mn-SOD) activity and lowered activities of glutathionine reductase(GSH-red) and glutathionine peroxidase(GSH-px). Catalase activity was not affected by the induction of diabetes by STZ. However, buchu supplementation to diabetic rats significantly elevated catalase activity(p<0.05) and slightly elevated GSH-px and GSH-red activities in liver. GSH levels of blood and liver were lowered or not changed by induction of diabetes by STZ, respectively, while buchu supplementation to diabetic rats significantly elevated hepatic GSH level (p<0.05). In conclusion, it can be concluded that buchu might be a food source to attenuate oxidative stress in diabetic patients by inhibiting lipid peroxidation, by increasing hepatic GSH level, and by inducing anti-oxidative enzyme systems.