• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.20 no.1
• /
• pp.133-141
• /
• 2010

The protective effect of a mixed powder from solid-cultured and liquid-cultured Lentinus edodes mycelia (2:1, w/w) (designate LED) on the carbon tetrachloride ($CCl_4$)- and ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity of male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat was investigated. In the $CCl_4$-induced rat hepatotoxicity experiment, rats of 4 groups (6 rats/group) were administere with Normal (0.2 ml distilled water), Control (0.2 ml distilled water), LED (LED 200 mg/kg BW + 0.2 ml distilled water), and Silymarin (200 mg/kg BW + 0.2 ml distilled water), p.o., daily for 2 weeks. Afterwards, all groups except for the Normal group were subjected to abdominal injection with $CCl_4$ ($CCl_4$ : corn oil, 1:1 v/v; 0.5 ml/kg BW). For the ethanol- induced rat hepatotoxicity experiment, rats were divided into 5 groups (5 rats/group): Normal; Pair-fed control (PFC); Control (ethanol); LED (ethanol + LED 200 mg/kg BW); and Silymarin (ethanol + silymarin 200 mg/kg BW). Rats of the Normal and PFC groups were fed a basal liquid diet, and rats of the Control, LED, and Silymarin groups were fed a liquid ethanol diet containing LED or Silymarin. Eight weeks later, blood and liver samples were collected to analyze biomarkers. In $CCl_4$-induced SD rats, LED elevated hepatic superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, and glutathione peroxidase (GSH peroxidase) activities and thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) were reduced, resulting in the reduction of glutamate-oxalate transaminase (GOT), glutamate-pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) activities in plasma. Similar results of these enzymes and biochemical markers in both liver tissues and plasma were seen in ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity of SD rats. In addition, elevated alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) activity and reduced expression of cytochrome p450 mixed monooxygenase enzyme (CYP2E1) were seen in liver tissues from ethanol-treated rats by LED treatment. These effects of LED were similar to those of Silymarin. In in vitro experiments, LED showed antioxidant activity in a 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) system and mouse liver mitochondria system induced by NADPH/$Fe^{2+}$ and cumine hydroperoxide (CuOOH). These results indicate that LED protected SD rat hepatotoxicity, induced by $CCl_4$ and ethanol, through its antioxidative activity and might be useful as a material for protection from hepatoxicity in humans.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.41 no.4
• /
• pp.437-442
• /
• 2012

Red yeast rice (RER) has been used in China for centuries for its medicinal properties and is an increasingly popular alternative lipid-lowering treatment. This study was carried out to estimate the antioxidant properties of RER extracts. The ethyl acetate extract exhibited the DPPH radical scavenging activity of 85% at 0.2 mg/mL and $IC_{50}$ 0.13 mg/mL. A significant proportion of hydroxyl radicals in a cuvette were scavenged: 44.2% at 2.5 ${\mu}g$/mL, 74.1% at 5.0 ${\mu}g$/mL, and >100% at 10 ${\mu}g$/mL. The $HepG_2$ cells pre-treated with RER ethyl acetate extract reduced the hydroxyl radicals significantly compared to the control cells. Oxidative DNA damage was measured using a Comet assay. The RER ethyl acetate extract did not induce any DNA damage per se, and appeared to enhance the resistance to DNA damage caused by an oxidant challenge with $H_2O_2$, whereas lovastatin increased the level of DNA damage in the cells in both the unstressed (no oxidant) and those stressed with $H_2O_2$. The relative gene expression of the antioxidant enzymes in $HepG_2$ cells were also affected by the RER ethyl acetate extract. The $HepG_2$ cells were pre-incubated with the RER ethyl acetate extract, and then stressed with $H_2O_2$ or left unstressed (no oxidant). In the unstressed cells, superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were increased significantly 3.25-fold and 2.67-fold, respectively, whereas in the stressed cells, the catalase (CAT) level was increased by 4.64-fold and 7.0-fold at 5 ${\mu}g$/mL and 10 ${\mu}g$/mL, respectively, compared to those of the control. From these results, RER appears to be effective in suppressing oxidative stress.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.110-116
• /
• 2019

This study was conducted to determine the effects of a pre-planting fertilizers with various $NH_4{^+}:NO_3{^-}$ ratios in a coir dust:peatmoss:perlite (3.5:3.5:3.0, v/v/v) medium on the growth of hot pepper (Capsicum annuum L. cv. Nokkwang) plug seedling. Nitrogen levels were fixed to $300mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$ and the $NH_4{^+}:NO_3{^-}$ ratios were varied to 0:100, 27:73, 50:50, 73:27, and 100:0. The 50-cell trays were filled with treatment media containing pre-plant fertilizers, then seeds were sown. After seeds were germinated, the trays were moved to greenhouse and seedlings were feed with 13-2-13 and 20-9-20 fertilizers, alternatively. The changes in pH and EC were measured every week and soil solution for nutrient concentrations were analyzed in week 0, 3, and 7. The measurements of seedling growths as well as analysis of tissue nutrient contents were also conducted in week 7. The varied $NH_4{^+}:NO_3{^-}$ ratios did not influence on the pHs of root media after incorporation of pre-planting fertilizers, but the ECs were heightened as proportion of $NH_4{^+}$ to $NO_3{^-}$ were elevated. During the raising of seedlings, the pHs rose over time in the treatments of 0:100 and 27:73 ($NH_4{^+}:NO_3{^-}$). The concentrations of all macro-elements in root media decreased gradually as seedlings grew in all treatments. The seedling growths 7 weeks after seed sowing were the highest in the treatments of 27:73 and 50:50 ($NH_4{^+}:NO_3{^-}$) and those became worse in the treatments of higher $NH_4{^+}$ ratios than 73%. In terms of inorganic element contents based on the dry weight of above ground tissue, the treatment of 0:100 showed the lowest content of Ca, Mg, Na, Cu, Mn, and Zn. Based on the results, it is desired that $NH_4{^+}$ ratio in pre-planting fertilization is maintained to be 50% or less for the raising of hot pepper plug seedlings.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
• /
• v.34 no.5
• /
• pp.727-735
• /
• 2016

This research was conducted to investigate the influence of various pre-planting $NO_3:NH_4$ ratios in the coir dust+peatmoss+perlite (3.5:3.5:3, v/v/v) medium on the growth of tomato plug seedlings (cv. Dotaerang Dia), changes in chemical properties of root media, and tissue nutrient contents. With the fixation of N concentration to $300mg{\cdot}L^{-1}$, the $NO_3:NH_4$ ratios were adjusted to 100:0, 73:27, 50:50, 27:73, 0:100. Then, root media containing various $NO_3:NH_4$ ratios and equal concentration of other essential nutrients were filled into 50-cell plug trays and the seeds of 'Dotaerang Die' tomato were sown. The investigation of seedling growth and tissue analysis for mineral nutrient contents based on the dry weight of above-ground tissue were conducted 6 weeks after sowing. As seedlings grew, the EC decreased quickly and pH increased gradually in the all treatment media. The plant height, fresh weight and dry weight of seedlings in the treatment of 50:50 ($NO_3:NH_4$) were 29.0 cm, 13.7 g, and 1.21 g, respectively, which were the highest among treatments tested. However, the seedlings in the treatment of 0:100 ($NO_3:NH_4$) had 26.5 cm, 11.2 g, and 0.92 g in plant height, fresh weight and dry weight, respectively. These were the poorest among the treatments tested. The tissue contents of N were 2.77 to 3.22% in all the treatments. The treatment of 27:73 ($NO_3:NH_4$) had the highest contents of Fe, Mn and Zn and that of 0:100 ($NO_3:NH_4$) had the lowest contents of Mg, Na, Cu, Mn and Zn among the treatments tested. The results indicate that $NH_4$ ratio should be lower than 50% in the coir dust+peatmoss+perlite (3.5:3.5:3, v/v/v) medium for seedling growth of tomato and the optimum ratio will be used to draw up guide lines for plug seedling production.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
• /
• v.41 no.1
• /
• pp.55-64
• /
• 2008

A detailed understanding and appreciation of the important mechanisms operating at the soil:root interface, commonly identified as the rhizosphere, is critical for evaluating the potential for particular plant species to be successfully used as part of a phytoremediation technique. For specific plants, mechanisms may exist to overcome the inherit limitation of the phytoremediation technique when poorly mobile soil metals are of interest. In the present study, the influence of root exudates on the rhizosphere chemistry of soil and consequential metal uptake were investigated following culture of vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides), recognized as a promising plant for land stabilization, in three different long-term contaminated soils and one non-contaminated control soil. The soil solution pH increased (0.3-1.1 units) following vetiver grass culture and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) also significantly increased in all soils with the highest increase in PP02 (23 to $173mg\;L^{-1}$). Chemical changes are contributed to root exudation by vetiver grass when exposed to high concentration of heavy metals. Chemical changes, consequently, influenced metal (Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn) solubility and speciation in the rhizosphere. The highest solubility was observed for soil Ko01 (eg. 2091 and $318{\mu}g\;L^{-1}$ for Cd and Pb, respectively). Initial heavy metal solubility in soils varied with soil and either increased or decreased following vetiver grass culture depending on the soil type. An increase in pH following plant culture generally resulted in a decrease in metal solubility, while elevated DOC due to root exudation resulted in an increase in metal solubility via the formation of metal-DOC complexes. Donnan speciation demonstrated a significant decrease in free Cd and Zn in the rhizosphere and the concentration of Cd, Pb, and Zn in vetiver grass shoot was highly correlated with soluble concentration rather than total soil metal concentration.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
• /
• v.20 no.4
• /
• pp.366-377
• /
• 2002

This study investigated the ecological environment of Dongguneung, which royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty aye in. The aim of this study is to do an effective preservation, management and restoration of the royal tomb and garden of the Joseon Dynasty distributed in Seoul and Kyunggi Province through using the data of Dongguneung. In general, Dongguneung contains the predominant Oak class such as Quercus serrata-Quercus mongolica community, while a flatland surrounding its control office, which is often flooded with the rainy season in summer, is mainly Alnus japonica community, Pinus densiflora community ranges around the royal tomb. The subcommunity of Quercus serrata -Quereus mongolica community is distributed into Robinia pseudo-acacia, Pinus rigida, Pinus koraiensis, Carpinus laxiflora and typical subcommunity and so on. In particular, Robinia pseudo -acacia, Pinus rigida and Pinus koraiensis subcommunity, and Alnus japonica community were forested. The soil class of Dongguneung was mainly a sandy loam and its pH was an average of 4.67 (from 4.36 to 5.68). The content of heavy metals including Cu, Pb and Zn etc. in the soil was about twice as much as the natural content in the forest soil. The content of organism and total nitrogen in the topsoil layer was the average of 4.87% and 0.21% respectively, slightly higher than those (organism； 4.55%, total nitrogen； 0.20%) of the forest soil generated from granite bedrock. Cation exchange capacity as the indicator of soil fertility was 15.0 cmol $kg^{-1}$, higher than that in the granite forest soil. However among base exchangeable cations, contents of $Ca^{2+}$ (2.07 cmol $kg^{-1}$), $Mg^{2+}$ (0.40 cmol $kg^{-1}$) and K+ (0.25 cmol $kg^{-1}$) were slightly lower than that. The above results could reflect the need of soil fertilization and liming for the improvement of nutritional status and buffer process.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Grassland and Forage Science
• /
• v.28 no.2
• /
• pp.81-88
• /
• 2008

The study was conducted to investigate the effects of DM (dry matter) content and split application of liquid swine manure (LSM) on productivity of rye and subsequent soil quality on the pasture of Livestock Policy Division, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province. The experiment was done between November, 2005 and June 2006, using split plot design. Treatments were 2 main plots (7.0 and 1.6% DM LSM) and 2 subplots (basal fertilizer 100% and basal fertilizer 50%+top dressing 50%). Application of 7.0% DM LSM resulted in significant increase in DM yield and plant length of rye compared with 1.6% DM LSM (p<0.05). Crude protein content of rye was significantly higher in split application(basal fertilizer 50%+ top dressing 50%) than in basal fertilizer 100% (p<0.05). No significant difference in macro and micro mineral contents of rye or in subsequent soil quality was found by application of LSM. Mean P content (0.16%) of rye appeared to be lower than proper P level $(0.2{\sim}0.4%)$ of grass crop. The pH (5.5), OM (13.3%), available $P_2O_5$ (47.6 mg/kg) and Ca (2.75cmole/kg) content of the pasture soil studied were lower, compared with those of cultivated soil. Results show that the application of a 7.5% DM liquid swine manure increases the productivity of rye compared with a 1.6% DM liquid swine manure, meanwhile the property of pasture soil was not influenced by application of LSM.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.419-426
• /
• 2001

This study was carried out to develope a convenient instant spiced Toha-jeot. Toha-jeot was manufactured by five samples; 8%, 10%, 13% 23% sodium chloride and a conventional type soy sauce. The Toha-jeot was refrigerated at 4$\pm$1$\^{C}$ for 3 months and then boiled glutinous rice, red pepper powder, chopped garlic and ginger were added, and the spiced Toha-jeot was fermented at 4$\pm$1$\^{C}$ for 2 months, was freeze-dried at a condition of 40$\^{C}$, vacuum 100∼200 millitor millitorr and then packed in vacuum. It is called freeze-dried instant spiced Toha-jeot (FIST). Changes in the components and quality of refrigerated spiced Toha-jeot (RST) and FIST were investigated for 30day. The moisture content of RST was 53.79∼58.91%. Among the mineral constituents of RST, Na and Ca were dominantly occupying. Water activity of FIST was 0.28-0.39 while that of RST was 0.87-0.92. TBA value of FIST was lower than that of RST. Acidity, VBN (volatile basic nitrogen) and TBA(thiobarbituric acid) of the FIST and RST increased slightly, whereas pH decreased. The major components of fatty acids in FIST and RST were analysed into a feater amount of linoleic acid (Cl8:2), palmitic acid (Cl6:1), oleic acid (Cl8:1), linolenic acid (Cl8:3), EPA (C2O:5) and stearic acid(Cl8:0). In sensory evaluation, the RST had higher scores in color and taste and the FIST in chewiness and flavor. The qualitative characteristics and sensory evaluation of FIST and RST were similar.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.38 no.6 s.175
• /
• pp.663-673
• /
• 2005

This study investigates the relationship between the geochemical maps and the gold-silver deposit locations. Geochemical maps of 21 elements, which are published by KIGAM, locations of gold-silver deposits, and 1:1,000,000 scale geological map of Korea are utilized far this investigation. Pixel size of the basic geochemical maps is 250m and these data are resampled in 1km spacing for the statistical analyses. Relationship between the mine location and the geochemical data are investigated using bayesian statistics and decision tree algorithms. For the bayesian statistics, each geochemical maps are reclassified by percentile divisions which divides the data by 5, 25, 50, 75, 95, and $100\%$ data groups. Number of mine locations in these divisions are counted and the probabilities are calculated. Posterior probabilities of each pixel are calculated using the probability of 21 geochemical maps and the geological map. A prediction map of the mining locations is made by plotting the posterior probability. The input parameters for the decision tree construction are 21 geochemical elements and lithology, and the output parameters are 5 types of mines (Ag/Au, Cu, Fe, Pb/Zn, W) and absence of the mine. The locations for the absence of the mine are selected by resampling the overall area by 1 km spacing and eliminating my resampled points, which is in 750m distance from mine locations. A prediction map of each mine area is produced by applying the decision tree to every pixels. The prediction by Bayesian method is slightly better than the decision tree. However both prediction maps show reasonable match with the input mine locations. We interpret that such match indicate the rules produced by both methods are reasonable and therefore the geochemical data has strong relations with the mine locations. This implies that the geochemical rules could be used as background values oi mine locations, therefore could be used for evaluation of mine contamination. Bayesian statistics indicated that the probability of Au/Ag deposit increases as CaO, Cu, MgO, MnO, Pb and Li increases, and Zr decreases.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.16 no.5
• /
• pp.356-370
• /
• 2008

This study was conducted for screening on antioxidant activity of 429 plants and selecting new potential antioxidant candidates. In vitro test models such as scavenging activity on DPPH radical and inhibitory activity on linoleic acid oxidation were used in the preliminary study. Flower of Sanguisorba officinalis, flower of Sedum kamtschaticum, flower of Rumex obtusifolius, and root of Sedum kamtschaticum showed very effective antioxidant activity on DPPH radical and linoleic acid oxidation. Those plants showed 8.1, 9.4, 9.9, $11{\mu}g/ml$ in DPPH radical scavenging activity as $SC_{50}$ and did 80.4, 80.1, 84.5, 88.0% in inhibition activity on linoleic acid oxidation, respectively. Root of Sedum middendorfianum M. showed positive effects in superoxide radical scavenging activity ($38.4{\mu}g/ml$) and inhibitory effect on $CuSO_4$-induced LDL oxidation (53.8% at final concentration of $1{\mu}g/ml$). Gleditsia japonica Mig. showed high antioxidant activity on LDL oxidation as 71.6% at final concentration of $1{\mu}g/ml$ and total phenol content of 958.5 mg% as tannic acid equivalent. In conclusion, we think that these plants having potent antioxidant activity might be studied further and could be used as new resources for many purposes including healthy food, functional cosmetics and drug development etc.