• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.95-110
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• 2020

Background: In Korea, Agastache rugosa (Fisch. & C. A. Mey.) O. Kuntze is one of the well-known perennial plants belonging to Lamiaceae. This mint-fragranced plant has long been used for the treatment of abdominal pain, congestion, chills, and diarrhea since the Goryeo Dynasty. Although this plant has various medicinal properties, it is only used as a spice and for landscape purposes. Methods and Results: The objective of this paper was to review the chemical composition and biological properties of the essential oil of A. rugosa. Several studies reported that the essential oil contains more than 60 different chemical components of monoterpene and sesquiterpene hydrocarbons and oxygenated hydrocarbons. The major component is methyl chavicol (estragole), accounting for 64% - 88% of the oil. The chemical composition of this essential oil vaired widely according to the planting time, environmental conditions, planting distance, fertilizer application, and harvesting time. Conclusions: The essential oil of A. rugosa possesses various pharmacological properties such as antioxidant, antibacterial, anticancer, antiviral, nematicidal, antifungal, insecticidal, wrinkle improver, stress reliever, and Alzheimer's disease alleviator. Hence, the essential oil from A. rugosa could be used for the development of high value-added industrial products in the near future.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.48 no.2
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• pp.236-244
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• 2024

Background: Fusarium oxysporum (F. oxysporum) is the primary pathogenic fungus that causes Panax notoginseng (P. notoginseng) root rot disease. To control the disease, safe and efficient antifungal pesticides must currently be developed. Methods: In this study, we prepared and characterized a nanoemulsion of Foeniculum vulgare essential oil (Ne-FvEO) using ultrasonic technology and evaluated its stability. Traditional Foeniculum vulgare essential oil (T-FvEO) was prepared simultaneously with 1/1000 Tween-80 and 20/1000 dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). The effects and inhibitory mechanism of Ne-FvEO and T-FvEO in F. oxysporum were investigated through combined transcriptome and metabolome analyses. Results: Results showed that the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of Ne-FvEO decreased from 3.65 mg/mL to 0.35 mg/mL, and its bioavailability increased by 10-fold. The results of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) showed that T-FvEO did not contain a high content of estragole compared to Foeniculum vulgare essential oil (FvEO) and Ne-FvEO. Combined metabolome and transcriptome analysis showed that both emulsions inhibited the growth and development of F. oxysporum through the synthesis of the cell wall and cell membrane, energy metabolism, and genetic information of F. oxysporum mycelium. Ne-FvEO also inhibited the expression of 2-oxoglutarate dehydrogenase and isocitrate dehydrogenase and reduced the content of 2-oxoglutarate, which inhibited the germination of spores. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that Ne-FvEO effectively inhibited the growth of F. oxysporum in P. notoginseng in vivo. The findings contribute to our comprehension of the antifungal mechanism of essential oils (EOs) and lay the groundwork for the creation of plant-derived antifungal medicines.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.277-282
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• 2008

Oriental herbs are reported as having potent functions for preventing many types of diseases. They also appear to have positive effects and potential capabilities for skin care. Among the many oriental herbs that are available, we chose to analyze four medicinal herbs, Korean red ginseng, Artemisia capillaries Thunb, Schizonepeta tenuifolia Briq, and Foeniculum vulgare Mill, because all are popular and considered as favorite medicinal plants in Korea. Extracts of the herbs were obtained by various methods such as using distilled water, ethyl ether, methanol, ethanol, benzene, 1-butanol, and chloroform. Nine phytochemicals were detected in the extracts: maltol, adenosine, b-pinene, menthone, pulegone, limonene, anethole, estragole, and fenchone, which reportedly have multi-functionalities. All phytochemicals were analyzed quantitatively by various chromatographic techniques such as HPLC and gas chromatography-mass (GC-MS) spectrometry. This article also presents the optimum conditions for extracting these 9 targeted phytochemical compounds that were derived from 4 popular oriental herbs, which could be useful for the efficient preparation of each phytochemical.