• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.7
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• pp.1041-1051
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• 2005

In order to assure the safety of the seaweeds, we measured the contents of the trace metals in the seaweeds harvested from Korean coastal area. We collected 620 marine algal samples from fourteen areas, and then analyzed the trace metals such as Hg, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn. The contents of Hg, Cd, Ni and Mn were higher in the seaweeds collected from Chungnam Taean area. The contents of Cr and Cu were higher in the seaweeds collected from Yeongdeok and Tongyeong area, respectively. And Pb and Zn were highly detected from the seaweeds of Ulsan area. The mean levels of trace metals were high in the order of Zn $(48.02\pm41.20{\mu}g/g)\;>\;Mn (34.63\pm38.95{\mu}g/g)\;>\;Cu(6.29\pm6.52{\mu}g/g)\;>\;Ni(2.17\pm4.00{\mu}g/g)\; >\;Cr(1.61\pm2.35{\mu}g/g)\;>\;Pb(1.28\pm2.37{\mu}g/g)\;>\; Cd(0.67\pm0.75{\mu}g/g)\;>\;Hg(0.02\pm0.02{\mu}g/g)$. Zn was consistently most abundant metal in all samples, followed by Mn and Cu, which are very important for human health. There were higher contents of Hg and Cd in brown algae, the contents of Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni and Pb in green algae, the content of Zn in red algae among them. Additionally, significant linear correlations were observed between a total 28 different pairs of metals, of them, the correlation factor between Cr and Ni showed the highest (r=0.374, p<0.001). The trace metal contents of seaweeds varied with habitats and kinds of samples, nevertheless they showed very safe level in edible seaweeds tested. Scytosiphon lomentaria, which has been known as a little use of food, have shown a clear selectivity for Cr and Pb. Among non-edible seaweeds, Sargassum thunbergii for both Cd and Mn, Lomentaria hakodatensis for Ni and Grateloupia prolongata for Zn have shown a clear selectivity, respectively. Therefore, these seaweeds could be useful as bioindicator for each trace metal pollution.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.11
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• pp.1581-1590
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• 2009

Hizikia fusiforme is a kind of brown edible seaweed that mainly grows in the temperate seaside areas of the northwest pacific, including Korea, Japan and China, and has been widely used as a health food for hundreds of years. Recently, H. fusiforme has been known to exert pharmacological activities including antioxidant, antimutagenic and anticoagulant activities. However, the molecular mechanisms of H. fusiforme in malignant cells have not been clearly elucidated yet. In this study, the effects of ethyl alcohol extract of H. fusiforme (EAHF) on the anti-proliferative effects of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 human breast cancer cells were investigated. EAHF treatment resulted in a concentration-dependent growth inhibition by including apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells and G1 phase arrest in MCF-7 cells, which could be proved by MTT assay, DAPI staining, agarose gel electrophoresis and flow cytometry analysis. In MDA-MB-231 cells, the increase in apoptosis induced by EAHF treatment correlated with up-regulation of pro-apoptotic Bax expression. EAHF treatment induced the proteolytic activation of caspase-3 and caspase-9, and a concomitant inhibition of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase, $\beta$-catenin, phospholipase-${\gamma}1$ protein and DNA fragmentation factor 45/inhibitor of caspase-activated DNase. Taken together, these findings provide important new insights into the possible molecular mechanisms of the anti-cancer activity of H. fusiforme.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.10 no.3
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• pp.151-162
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• 1977

Distribution of marine algae is diverse in Korea and the resource of edible algae is abundant marking 239,037 tons of yearly production in 1976. They have been known as a protein source and used as a supplement in Korean diet. It is necessary to estimate the potentiality and properties of usable algal proteins especially as food resources and studies of extraction and separation of the proteins, therefore, are basically required for this purpose. In this study, the influence of various factors including the sample treatment, extraction time and temperature, sample us extraction solvent ratio and pH upon the extractability of the water soluble protein was determined. And the effect of precipitation treatment for isolation of the algal protein from the extracts was also tested. Nine species of algae, the major ones in consumption as food namely Porphyra suborbiculata, Undaria pinnatifida, Hizikia fusiforme, Sargassum fulvellu, Enteromorpha linza, Codium fragile, Sargassum kjellmanianum and Ulva pertusa were collected as fresh from Kijang, Yangsan Gun, in the vicinity of Busan city. The content of crude protein $(N\times6.25)$ of the algae ranged from $9.46\%\;to\;24.14\% showing the highest value in Porphyra suborbiculata and the minimum in Hizikia fusiforme. In the effort of maceration of blending methods on the extractability, immersion freezing in dry ice-methanol solution appeared most effective yielding 1.5 to 2.5 times extractability than that of the mortar grinding method. The effect of the ratio of sample vs solvent on extractability differed from species. It was enhanced at the ratio of 1:20 (w/v) in Ulva pertusa and Enteromorpha linza while the ratio was 1:30 (w/v) for Cedium fragile, Undaria pinnatifida, Hizikia fusiferme, Sargassum fulvellum and Porphyra suborbiculata and 1:40 for Sargassum kjellmanianum respectively. The effect of extraction time and temperature was revealed differently from species which might be caused by differences in the constitution of algal tissues resulting in that the extraction for 1 hour at $50^{\circ}C$ gave the maximum extractabilily in Ulva pertusa and Enteromorpha linza, 2 hours in Porphyra suborbiculata, Hikikia fusiforme, Undaria pinnatifida, Sargassum kjellmanianum and 3 hours in Codium fragile. And the extractability was higher at $50^{\circ}C$ to $60^{\circ}C$ for the most of the tested samples except Hizikia fusiforme. The optimum pH for the extraction was 9 to 12. The recovery of extractable nitrogen to the total nitrogen was $63\%$ in average with the first extracts and $8.6\%$ with the second extracts respectively. Both extracts were prepared by 2 hour extraction at $50{\pm}1^{\circ}C$ with dry ice-methanol frozen and seasand macerated materials. And these conditions assumed to be an optimum for the extraction of water soluble algal proteins since the nitrogen content after the first extraction covered $90\%$ of the total water extractable nitrogen. In the precipitation of the extracted proteins, Barnstein method and methanol treatment seemed to be more efficient than other precipitation methods.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.300-308
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• 2011

Osteoporosis is a disease involving a decrease in bone mineral density and increased risk of fractures. Osteoblast and osteoclast activities are important for bone formation. The MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cell line is a well-accepted model of osteogellsis in vitro. Hijikia fusiforme is a kind of edible brown seaweed that grows mainly in the Northwest Pacific region, including the countries of Korea, Japan and China, and it has been widely used as a medicinal and health food in Korea. In this study, by using osteoblasts, the effects of Hijikia fusiforme fractions on proliferation, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, collagen synthesis and mineralization of cells were investigated. Hijikia fusiforme were subjected to fractionation by using hexane, methanol, butanol and aqueous. Proliferation of the MC3T3-E1 osteoblastic cells that were treated with Hijikia fusiforme fractions increased by approximately 120%. Regarding effects of Hijikia fusiforme fractions on ALP activity, 1 ${\mu}g$/ml butanol fraction showed the highest activity. The synthesis of collagen increased significantly in response to treatment with Hijikia fusiforme fractions, with the exception of the hexane fraction. Moreover, mineralization in the MC3T3-E1 cells that were treated with 100 ${\mu}g$/ml butanol fraction increased by 281%. Also, when 100 ${\mu}g$/ml aqueous fraction was added, mineralization increased by 240%. These results indicate that Hijikia fusiforme fractions have anabolic effect on bone through the promotion of osteoblastic differentiation, suggesting that it could be used for the treatment of common metabolic bone diseases.