• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.23 no.6
• /
• pp.890-898
• /
• 2016

The purpose of this paper is to investigate potential anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects of Tenebrio molitor. Macrophage cell response by outside stimulation leads expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$ ($TNF-{\alpha}$), interleukin-6 (IL-6), $interleukin-1{\beta}$ ($IL-1{\beta}$), and trigger expression of genes which are affected by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), resulting in formation of inflammatory factors like nitric oxide (NO) and Prostaglandin $E_2$ (PGE2). Cell viability was determined by MTT assay. In order to investigate anti-inflammatory agents, the inhibitory effects on the production of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced NO in RAW 264.7 cells were examined. T. Molitor significantly decreased the production of NO in a dose-dependent manner, and also reduced the expression of iNOS, a COX-2 protein. As a result, the levels of protein such as $PGE_2$, iNOS, COX-2 and MARKs were significantly reduced compared to non-treated group in T. Molitor water extract (TDW) treated group. Also, antioxidant effect of T. Molitor were investigated using DPPH, ABTS+ and superoxide anion radical scavenging activity tests in cell-free system. Antioxidant activity of T. molitor was found low in the DPPH radical scavenging test while high in the ABTS+ and superoxide anion radical scavenging activity tests. These results show that TDW could be an effective anti-pro-inflammatory and anti-oxidant agent.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.380-391
• /
• 2014

Plants as well as crops are damaged by a combination of the hot and dry winds that has been a major factor in the reduction of crop production. A means to protect them from damaging conditions is to consider a coating material. In this study, we established laboratory screening methods to find a coating material to protect a crop from rapid transpiration caused by various factors. In a test measuring the weight loss of kidney bean seedlings for 6 days, Avion treatments decreased its weight loss (P=0.05). Owing to long-time spend in completing this assay, we performed a more simple method using a cobalt chloride paper strip, which changes from blue to red colors under water condition. Beewax, guagum, paraffin liquid, soybean oil, and PE-635 gave a waterproofing effect above 37 and 43% at 0.5 and 1 h after treatment, respectively. However, these tested materials did not show significant waterproofing results at 2 h. Although the methods produced reasonable results, a screening method to obtain more objective data is needed. An alternative is to use an instrument that can detect the transpiration of crop leaves. In a preliminary test using barley leaves, a portable photosynthesis system showed transpiration inhibition of 2% soybean oil and 10 times-diluted Avion under field conditions. In another test using the leaves of maize seedlings and apricot tree, 2% liquid paraffin and plant oils such as apricot oil, linseed oil, olive oil, and soybean oil showed significant transpiration inhibition (P=0.05). Especially, paraffin liquid and soybean oil selected from above tests gave good transpiration inhibitory effects against rice at 2%. In addition, the mixture of 2% soybean oil and a spreader showed more elevated inhibition results comparing with soybean oil or the spreader alone indicating that the spreader may be attributed to more uniform diffusion of the hydrophobic material onto the leaf surface of maize seedlings. The hydrophobic material coated physically the stomata and cuticle layers on leaf surfaces of rice. These hydrophobic materials screened in this study are expected to be used as plant coating materials.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• v.46 no.3
• /
• pp.240-247
• /
• 2010

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram (-) opportunistic human pathogen causing a wide variety of infections on lung, urinary tract, eyes, and burn wound sites and quorum sensing (QS), a cell density-sensing mechanism plays an essential role in Pseudomonas pathogenesis. In order to investigate the importance of QS in the Pseudomonas infections of Korean patients, we isolated 189 clinical strains of P. aeruginosa from the patients in Pusan Paik Hospital, Busan, South Korea. The QS signal production of these clinical isolates was measured by signal diffusion assay on solid media using reporter strains. While most clinical strains (79.4%) produced the QS signals as similar level as a wild type strain, PAO1 did, where LasR, the initial QS signal sensor-regulator was fully activated, a minority of them (4.2%) produced much less QS signals at the level to which LasR failed to respond. Similarly, while 72.5% of the clinical isolates produced QS signals enough to activate QscR, an another QS signal sensor-regulator, some few of them (9%) produced the QS signals at much lower level where QscR was not activated. For further analysis, we selected 74 clinical strains that were obtained from the patients under suspicion of Pseudomonas infection and investigated the total protease activity that is considered important for virulence. Interestingly, significant portion of them showed very low protease activity (44.6%) or no detectable protease activity (12.2%). When the biofilm-forming ability that is considered very important in chronic infection was examined, most isolates showed lower biofilm-forming activity than PAO1. Similarly, significant portion of clinical isolates showed reduced motility (reduced swarming activity in 51.4% and reduced twitching activity in 41.9%), or non-detectable motility (swarming-negative in 28.4% and twitching-negative in 28.4%). Our result showed that the clinical isolates that produced QS signals at the similar level to wild type could have significantly reduced activities in the protease production, biofilm formation, and motility, and some clinical isolates had unique patterns of motility, biofilm formation, and protease production that are not correlated to their QS activity.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.19 no.8
• /
• pp.1039-1046
• /
• 2009

The cytochrome P450s (P450s) metabolizing natural products are among the most versatile biological catalysts known in plants, but knowledge of the structural basis for their broad substrate specificity has been limited. The activity of p-coumarate 3-hydroxylase (C3H) is thought to be essential for the biosynthesis of lignin and many other phenylpropanoid pathway products in plants however, all attempts to express and purify the protein corresponding C3H gene have failed. As a result, no conditions suitable for the unambiguous assay of the enzyme are known. The detailed understanding of the mechanism and substrate-specificity of C3Hdemands a method for the production of active protein on the milligram scale. We have developed a bacterial expression and purification system for the plant C3H, which allows for the quick expression and purification of active wild-type C3H via introduction of combinational mutagenesis. The modified cytochrome P450 C3H ($C3H_{mod}$) could be purified in the absence of detergent using immobilized metal affinity chromatography and size exclusion chromatography following extraction from isolated membranes in a high salt buffer and catalytically activated. This method makes the use of isotopic labeling of C3H for NMRstudies and X-ray crystallography practical, and is also applicable to other plant cytochrome P450 proteins.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.24 no.8
• /
• pp.820-826
• /
• 2014

The localization to specific subcellular sites and the regulation of cell surface receptors and channels are crucial for proper functioning. Postsynaptic density-95/Disks large/Zonula occludens-1 (PDZ)-domain is involved in recognition of and interaction between various proteins, by which the localization and the regulation are mediated. Multi-PDZ domain protein 1 (MUPP1) contains 13 PDZ domains. MUPP1 serves a scaffolding function for structure proteins and signaling proteins, but the mechanism how MUPP1 is stabilized and signalized has not yet been elucidated. We used the yeast two-hybrid system to identify proteins that interact with PDZ domains of MUPP1. We found an interaction between MUPP1 and Parkin. Parkin is an E3 ubiquitin ligase. Loss-of-function mutations of Parkin gene are known to cause an autosomal recessive juvenile parkinsonism. Parkin bound to the $12^{th}$ PDZ domain, but not to other PDZ domains of MUPP1. The C-terminal end of Parkin has a type II PDZ-association motif, which was essential for the interaction with MUPP1 in the yeast two-hybrid assay. When co-expressed in HEK-293T cells, Parkin co-localized with MUPP1. When co-expressed with ubiquitin in HEK-293T cells, MUPP1 has been strongly ubiquitinated by Parkin. These findings collectively suggest that MUPP1 is a novel substrate of Parkin and its function or stability could be modulated by Parkin-mediated ubiquitination.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.23 no.5
• /
• pp.616-621
• /
• 2013

Aconitum pesudo-laeve var erectum has been known to possess anti-inflammatory activity and modulate the intestinal immune system. In addition, it has traditionally been used for the treatment of water retention in the body. In this study, the anti-aging and anti-diabetes effects of water and ethanol extracts from Aconitum pesudo-laeve var. erectum were investigated. The activities of each extract were measured by antioxidant tests such as DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity, antioxidant protection factor (PF), TBARs content, and ${\alpha}$-amylase and ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibition activity assay. DPPH radical scavenging activity was found in over 50% of water and ethanol extracts at $100{\mu}g/ml$, $50{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The ABTS radical scavenging activity of ethanol extract was $99.8{\pm}0.1$% at $1,000{\mu}g/ml$ in water, which was highest among the ethanol extract concentrations. PFs measured with ${\beta}$-carotene-linoleate model systems were in the order of ethanol (1.49 PF at $1,000{\mu}g/ml$) > ethanol (1.40 PF at $500{\mu}g/ml$) > water (1.33 PF at $1,000{\mu}g/ml$) > water (1.27 PF at $500{\mu}g/ml$). TBARs content in ethanol extracts ($1,000{\mu}g/ml$) was $0.16{\pm}0.03{\mu}M$, which was lower than that of water extracts and other ethanol extract concentrations. The extracts also showed over 90% of ${\alpha}$-amylase inhibition and over 60% of ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibition ratio in water ($1,000{\mu}g/ml$) and ethanol extracts (100~$1,000{\mu}g/ml$). These results suggest that Aconitum pesudo-laeve var. erectum extracts could be used as a cosmetic source and preventive agent for aging and diabetes.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.225-231
• /
• 1998

Purpose : To determine whether TNF-$\alpha$ increases the antitumor effect of radiotherapy in murine syngeneic tumor system. Materials and Methods : Syngeneic murine tumors of MCa-K or MCa-4 (mammary carcinoma), OCa-I (ovarian carcinoma), or HCa-I(hepatocarcinoma were grown in hind legs of C3Hf/HeJ mice. When tumors were grown to 6 mm in mean diameter mice were treated with TNF-$\alpha$, radiation, or combination of the both. Gamma-radiation was given as a single dose of 30 Gy for HCa-I and 15 Gy for other tumors using Cobalt-60 teletherapy unit. A novel TNF-$\alpha$ mutein developed in Korea, was intraperitoneally administered daily at a dose of 10 ug per mouse for 7 days. In combination of radiation and TNF-$\alpha$, the drug was started 1 hour after radiation. Tumor growth delay assay was used to measure the tumor response to the treatment. Results : Among 4 tested tumors, TNF-$\alpha$ alone showed significant antitumor activity in MCa-K and OCa-I tumors, which showed absolute growth delay (AGD) of 5.0 days and 6.5 days, respectively. In combination with radiation, TNF-$\alpha$ showed significant delay of AGD (41.1 days) in OCA-I compared to AGDs of TNF-$\alpha$ alone and radiation, i.e., 6.5 days and 26.9 days, respectively(p<0.05). Enhancement factor was 1.29 in OCa-I, which showed supraadditive effect. TNF-$\alpha$ did not show significant delay of AGDs in the remaining 3 tumors compared to AGDs of TNF-$\alpha$ alone and radiation. Conclusions: TNF-$\alpha$ alone showed antitumor effects in MCa-K and OCa-I. In combination with radiation, TNF-$\alpha$ acted in supraadditive way in OCa-I only. The results of this study imply that the combination of TNF-$\alpha$ and radiation has different therapeutic potential depending on tumor model and further study is advocated.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
• /
• v.33 no.4
• /
• pp.647-657
• /
• 2016

In this study, the antioxidative effects and active component analysis of 50% ethanol extract, ethyl acetate fraction and aglycone fraction obtained from Prunella vulgaris L. were investigated. The free radical scavenging activities ($FSC_{50}$) was investigated at 50% ethanol extract ($15.25{\mu}g/mL$), ethyl acetate fraction ($8.68{\mu}g/mL$), and aglycone fraction ($8.25{\mu}g/mL$) respectively. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activities ($OSC_{50}$) in $Fe^{3+}-EDTA/H_2O_2$ system using the luminol-dependent chemiluminescence assay was investigated at 50% ethanol extract ($4.68{\mu}g/mL$), ethyl acetate fraction ($1.00{\mu}g/mL$), and aglycone fraction($1.02{\mu}g/mL$) respectively. In the cellular protective effect against $^1O_2$ induced cellular damage of human erythrocytes, extract/fractions of P. vulgaris L. were increased in a concentration dependent manner($1{\sim}25{\mu}g/mL$). Especially, ${\tau}_{50}$ of aglycone fraction at concentrations of $25{\mu}g/mL$ showed the most protective effects at 337.9 min. It's showed nine times higher (+)-${\alpha}$-tocopherol (${\tau}_{50}=38.7min$) as typical antioxidant in the $^1O_2$-induced photohemolysis of human erythrocytes. TLC and HPLC were used to analyse active components in the ethyl acetate fraction and aglycone fraction of P. vulgaris L. In ethyl acetate fraction, caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, quercetin 3-${\beta}$-D-glucoside, rutin, kaempferol-3-O-rutinoside, astragalin (kaempferol-3-O-glucoside) were identified. In aglycone fraction, caffeic acid, rosmarinic acid, quercetin, kaempferol were identified. These results indicated that extract/fraction of P. vulgaris L. is may be used in cosmetics industry as natural antioxidants by quenching and/or scavenging $^1O_2$ and other ROS, and protecting cellular membranes.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.37 no.1
• /
• pp.27-34
• /
• 2008

This study investigated the anti-hypertensive effect of Phyllostachys pubescens culm extract (PCE) by examining its effects on renal angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition and blood pressure using the spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) system. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were measured weekly for 8 weeks. Also, total antioxidant capacity and protein oxidation of tissues were examined by plasma Trolox Equivalent Antioxidant Capacity assay (TEAC) and hepatic protein carbonyl values, respectively. Twenty male SHR were randomly divided into four groups: PCE50, PCE100, and PCE500 (50, 100, and 500 mg of PCE per kilogram bodyweight daily, respectively), and control group. At week 2, the SBP in all PCE groups appeared to be significantly lower than the control (p<0.05), whereas the DBP were not different until week 4 (p<0.05). At week 8, SBP in the PCE500 was lower by 20% than the control. PCE groups considerably suppressed ACE dose-dependently compared with the control. Plasma TEAC and hepatic protein carbonyl values indicated increased antioxidative activity due to the PCE feed. No adverse effect was observed on the liver of SHR as there was no difference for the GOT and GPT values among the groups. Results of this study suggest that ACE inhibition may be one possible mechanism for the blood pressure lowering effect of PCE; thus, long term consumption of PCE may be beneficial in preventing high blood pressure along with the increased antioxidative status.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.36 no.10
• /
• pp.1271-1278
• /
• 2007

In this study, the ability of Styela clava or Styela plicata to reduce ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity and hepatic and leucocytic DNA damages was evaluated. Twenty four male SD rats were given 25% ethanol containing water (ad lib, p.o.) and divided into 3 groups; ethanol treated control group (EtOH), ethano1+3% S. clava (EtOH+SC), and ethano1+3% S. plicata (EtOH+SP). After 6 weeks, the supplementation of S. clava reduced the plasma ALT, ALP and LDH activities significantly (p<0.05), while S. plicata induced significant decrease in the plasma LDH activity only. The comet assay was employed to quantify the alcohol-induced DNA damage in rat hepatocytes and leucocytes. A significant protective effect on hepatic and leucocytic DNA damages was observed in S. clava or S. plicata supplemented groups compared to the EtOH control group. The hepatic DNA damage was correlated positively with plasma ALP and LDH activities. These results demonstrated that S. clava or S. plicata supplementation protected alcohol-induced hepatic and leucocytic DNA damage.