• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.378-383
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• 2016

Diabetic kidney disease is the most common and severe chronic complication of diabetes. The leaf of Diospyros kaki Thumb (persimmon) has been commonly used for herbal tea and medicinal purposes to treat a variety of conditions, including hypertension and atherosclerosis. However, the effect of persimmon leaf on kidney failure has not been investigated. This study aimed to examine the role of persimmon leaf in protecting the diabetes-associated kidney damage in a mouse model of type 2 diabetes. Mice were fed either a normal chow diet with or without powered persimmon leaf (5%, w/w) for 5 weeks. In addition to kidney morphology and blood markers of kidney function, we assessed levels of oxidative stress markers as well as antioxidant enzymes activities and mRNA expression in the kidney. Supplementation of the diet with powered persimmon leaf not only decreased the concentration of blood urea nitrogen in the plasma but also improved glomerular hypertrophy. Furthermore, the persimmon leaf significantly decreased the levels of hydrogen peroxide and lipid peroxide in the kidney. The activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase and the mRNA expression of their respective genes were also increased in the kidney of persimmon leaf-supplemented db/db mice. Taken together, these results suggest that supplementation with the persimmon leaf may have protective effects against type 2 diabetes-induced kidney dysfunction and oxidative stress.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.50 no.3
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• pp.225-235
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• 2017

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the potential of freeze-dried persimmon powder (Diospyros kaki Thumb.) to protect against dyslipidemia induced by a high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFD) in a rat model. Methods: Fifty Wistar rats were randomly divided into five groups: normal control (NC), high-fat/cholesterol control (HC), tannin in HFD (HT, 1% of diet), immature persimmon in HFD (HI, 7% of diet), and mature persimmon in HFD (HM, 7% of diet). Tannin was used as a positive control. Biochemical, molecular, and histopathological changes were observed in the blood and liver. Results: We confirmed that a high fat/cholesterol diet successfully induced dyslipidemia, which was characterized by significantly altered lipid profiles in the plasma and liver. However, oxidized low-density lipoprotein levels, histopathological damage in the liver, and hepatic triglyceride levels were significantly reduced in all HT, HI, and HM groups compared to those in the HF group. In contrast, plasma apolipoprotein B level was significantly reduced only in the HT and HM groups, whereas reduction of the LDL-C level was detected only in the HI group. Although HF-induced sterol regulatory element-binding protein (SREBP) gene expression was significantly reduced in all treated groups, downstream gene expression levels varied among the different groups; significant reduction of fatty acid synthase (FAS) and 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-CoA (HMGCR) gene expression was detected only in the HI group, whereas cholesterol $7{\alpha}$-hydroxylase (CYP7A1) gene expression was significantly elevated only in the HM group. Conclusion: Taken together, the data suggest that protection of LDL oxidation and hepatic lipogenesis might be, at least partly, attributed to tannin in persimmons. However, the identified mechanisms varied up to the maturation stage of persimmon. In the case of immature persimmon, modulation of FAS and HMGCR gene expression was prominent, whereas in the case of mature persimmon, modulation of CYP7A1 gene expression was prominent.

• Journal of the Korea Furniture Society
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.294-299
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• 2008

Collapse is an abnormal shrinkage resulting in uneven, rough surfaces and/or warping of sawn timber. The maximum abnormal shrinkages of the oak and persimmon specimens were obtained by the quasi-equilibrium drying and were compared with the other drying methods. The effect of steaming and freezing treatments on the shrinkage of wood was also investigated. The Quasi-equilibrium drying used in this study was proved as a good tool to make the maximum abnormal shrinkage of wood. The maximum abnormal volumetric shrinkage possibly caused by collapse could be 16.3% and 14.3% for the oak and persimmon specimens, respectively. In general the steaming-treated specimens shrank less than the controls for the oak specimens, but did more for the persimmon specimens. The volumetric shrinkages of the freezing-treated specimens were more various between the drying methods than those of the control and steaming-treated specimens.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.4
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• pp.275-286
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• 2018

Purpose: Our previous study demonstrated that persimmon (Diospyros kaki Thumb.) at different stages of ripening provided different protective effects against high-fat/cholesterol diet (HFD)-induced dyslipidemia in rats. In this study, we compared the metabolites profile and gene expressions related to triglyceride (TG)/cholesterol metabolism in vitro and in vivo after treating with persimmon water extracts (PWE) or tannin-enriched persimmon concentrate (TEP). Methods: Primary and secondary metabolites in test materials were determined by GC-TOF/MS, UHPLC-LTQ-ESI-IT-MS/MS, and UPLC-Q-TOF-MS. The expression of genes related to TG and cholesterol metabolism were determined by RT-PCR both in HepG2 cells stimulated by oleic acid/palmitic acid and in liver tissues obtained from Wistar rats fed with HFD and PWE at 0, 150, 300, and 600 mg/d (experiment I) or TEP at 0, 7, 14, and 28 mg/d (experiment II) by oral gavage for 9 weeks. Results: PLS-DA analysis and heatmap analysis demonstrated significantly differential profiling of metabolites of PWE and TEP according to processing of persimmon powder. In vitro, TEP showed similar hypolipidemic effects as PWE, but significantly enhanced hypocholesterolemic effects compared to PWE in sterol regulatory element-binding protein 2 (SREBP2), HMG-CoA reductase (HMGCR), proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), cholesterol $7{\alpha}-hydroxylase$ (CYP7A1), and low density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR) gene expression. Consistently, TEP and PWE showed similar hypolipidemic capacity in vivo, but significantly enhanced hypocholesterolemic capacity in terms of SREBP2, HMGCR, and bile salt export pump (BSEP) gene expression. Conclusion: These results suggest that column extraction after hot water extraction may be a good strategy to enhance tannins and long-chain fatty acid amides, which might cause stimulation of hypocholesterolemic actions through downregulation of cholesterol biosynthesis gene expression and upregulation of LDL receptor gene expression.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.720-726
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• 1995

Chemical components relevant to the characteristic taste of the Korean native persimmon(Diospyros kaki, Thumb) leaf tea were analyzed. Samples were processed by using three different methods ; SHT(steamed and then hot-air dried), DHT(dried in the shade, steamed and then hot-air dried) and RHT(roasted and then hot-air dried). The components analyzed were general compositions of dried perisimmon leaves and extracted solution. The composition of moisture, ash, crude lipid and total nitrogen did not show significant variation among different processing methods of the persimmonleaf tea. The contents of caffeine, tannin and vitamin C in persimmon leaf tea were in the range of $178.4~209.8{\mu}mol/g$, 29.1~38.5mg% and 325.3~2084.7mg%, respectively. The vitamin C content was significantly higher in the RHT than other treatments. The contents of caffeine, tannin and vitamin C in the tea extracted solution were in the range of $101.5~130.1{\mu}mol/g$, 15.4~25.9mg% and 111.0~1274.3mg%, respectively. The vitamine C in the tea solution was the highest in the RHT treatment and 61.1% of vitamin C in the leaf tea was extracted out in these processing methods. The major amino acids contained in the leaf tea were in decreasing order glutamic acid, aspartic acid, leucine and phenylalanine, these four amino acids consisting 38.9~39.8% of the total amino acid contained in the persimmon leaf tea. The major amino acids contained in the tea solution were glutamic acid, proline, histidine and arginine. Six kinds of 5'-nucleotides, CMP, AMP, UMP, IMP, GMP and hypoxanthine were detected and CMP was the most abundant component in fresh leaf, leaf tea and tea solution. The second highest 5'-nucleotides in both leaf tea and tea solutions were GMP, AMP and UMP in all processing method. The highest free sugar contained in the fresh leaf tea and tea solution was sucrose.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.254-263
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• 2017

The inhibition effect of persimmon peel extracts (PPE) (0.05(PPE-0.05), 0.1(PPE-0.1), and 0.2 g(PPE-0.2) per meat sample) on lipid and protein oxidation of pork patties during chilled storage for 12 days were investigated and compared to ascorbic acid (As-0.05) and butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) (BHT-0.01). The meat samples treated with PPE had greater (p<0.05) $a^*$ values comparing control in raw pork patties meat from day 4 of storage. The addition of PPE at all concentrations on meat samples effectively inhibited the formation of oxidation products as shown by decreasing conjugated dienes (CD), peroxide values (POVs), thiobarbituric acid reaction substances (TBARS), and carbonyl content during chilled storage for 12 d. The PPE-0.2 and BHT-0.01 had the lowest in decrease rate of free thiol content (0.24 and 0.22 times) during chilled storage. Therefore, results of this study suggest that PPE can be considered a potential antioxidant against lipid and protein oxidation of raw meat products.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.13 no.5
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• pp.440-445
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• 2000

To develop a new processed foods with prepersimmon, the contents of approximate composition, free sugar, organic acid, mineral and vitamins in prepersimmon(Diospyros kaki Thumb. cv. Fuyu) were investigated. The approximate composition was 89.08% of moisture, 0.26% of crude ash, 0.56% of crude fat and 0.75% of crude protein respectively. Free sugars were composed of glucose, fructose and sucrose. Glucose(3.34%) and fructose(3.01%) were major free sugars, and sucrose was detected a small quantities. The organic acids were composed of citric acid. maleic acid, fumalic acid and lactic acid. Lactic acid(68.65mg%) was major a organic acid and took 79% of total organic acid amount. Minerals were K, P, Na. Ca, Fe and Zn, and K was a major mineral and detected 126.l2mg%, and Fe and Zn were a small quantities. The content of vitamin A was 33.95 R.E., and less than that in hard persimmon, and the content of vitamin C was 171.01 mg%, 10 times higher in comparison with that in hard persimmon, and vitamin B$_1$ and B$_2$ were detected a small quantities.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.41 no.1
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• pp.64-68
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• 2009

The effects of drying methods (hot air, cold air, vacuum, and infrared drying) on physicochemical and organoleptic qualities of sliced-dried persimmons (Diospyros kaki Thumb. cv. Cheungdobansi) were investigated. The weight of the sliceddried persimmons ranged from 9.30 to 12.01 g, the length from 3.55 to 4.06 cm, the width and thickness were from 3.17 to 3.73 cm and 1.82 to 2.04 cm, respectively. Hot air drying resulted in the highest hardness value as well as Hunter's L, a, and b values. Infrared drying showed the lowest L value and vacuum drying revealed the lowest a and b values. Moisture contents of the sliced-dried persimmons ranged from 38.04 to 46.41%, and soluble solid contents were 42.96-$48.44^{\circ}Bx$. The phenolic compounds and DPPH radical scavenging activity were high for infrared and vacuum drying methods, and all the sliced-dried persimmons showed relatively high antioxidant activities. The sensory evaluation results indicated that the organoleptic scores for the overall preference were high in the order of vacuum > infrared > hot air > cold air drying. These results suggest that the drying methods affected the qualities of the sliced-dried persimmons, showing that vacuum drying is the mast effective among the methods tested for manufacturing the high-quality sliced-dried persimmons.