• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.123-126
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• 2007

We isolated a lignan, kobusin from Geranium thunbergii and studied its effect on the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) gene in a monocyte/macrophage cell line, RAW264.7 cells. Kobusin inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated NO production and the expression of iNOS in a concentration-dependent manner. To identify the mechanistic basis for its inhibition of iNOS induction, we examined the effect of kobusin on both the luciferase reporter activity using $NF-{\kappa}B$ minimal promoter and the nuclear translocation of p65. Kobusin suppressed the reporter gene activity and the LPS-induced movement of p65 in to nucleus. $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation is controlled by the phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of $I-{\kappa}B{\alpha}$, and in the present study, we found that $I-{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ phosphorylation was also inhibited by kobusin. Our findings indicate that kobusin may provide a developmental basis for an agent against inflammatory diseases.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.15-20
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• 1978

Pathological and anatomical studies on the cause of the crown gall like symptoms associated with the chestnut nurse grafts were undertaken. The crown gall bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens, was isolated from the gall tissues of chestnut nurese grafts by using selective media developed by S초개소 et al. and kado and Heskett. Typical crown gall symptoms appeared on tomato, castor bean and geranium plants 10~21 days following inoculation with the bacterium isolated from the gall tissues of chestnut nurse grafts. Agrobacterium tumefaciens was reisolated from crown gall tissues of tomato, castor bean and geranium. Anatomical studies on the origin, growth and differentiation of the gall tissues of the chestnut nurse grafts confirmed that the gall tissues are of crown gall origin. Masses of Agrobacterium tumefaciens were observed from gall tissues of chestnut nurse grafts, so it could be confirmed that the crown gall symptoms prevalent on chestnut nurse grafts are caused by the crown gall bacterium, Agrobacterium tumefaciens.

• Journal of Bio-Environment Control
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.460-467
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• 2009

This research was conducted for the purpose of investigating the influence substrates addition such as germanium or Granite porphyry gravel have on the growth of foliage, on the inorganic compositions of leaves as well as on root activity, in order to discover effective means of introducing plants to the indoors. Syngonium podophyllum, Dracaena sanderiana, Epipremnum aureum and Hedera helix were used as study subjects to which soil (mixed top-soil: Sunshine Mix No. 2, USA), tap water, tap water with germanium (300g), tap water with Granite porphyry gravel (300g) were added respectively and formulated. Studies on growth variations according to substrates addition indicate that growth of Syngonium podophyllum was most sluggish under tap water only treatment. Plant growth was most active under geranium-gravel treatment. In the case of Dracaena sanderiana, treatment of substrates addition had no meaningful influence on plant growth. However, the growth of Epipremnum aureum and Hedera helix was also shown to be most active under geranium-gravel treatment. Geranium-gravel treatment was shown to be particularly beneficial for root length, number of roots and dry weight. Root activity was analyzed on ten day intervals and there was discernable difference in the root activity of all the plants according to the varying treatments. In the case of the Syngonium podophyllum, the root activity was sluggish in all three types of treatment on the 10th day but improved gradually. On the 30th to the 50th day of the experiment, the root activity was found to be best under the Granite porphyry gravel treatment. In the case of the Dracaena sanderiana, the root activity was most active under the geranium-gravel treatment from the 10th to the 40th day but deteriorated from the 50th day. However, there was no significant different in all three treatments from the 60th day onwards. Analysis of the inorganic components of the leaves indicates that, while Ca and Mg were higher in the geranium than in the Granite porphyry gravel, they do not directly influence the content of inorganic components in the leaves. The results indicate that Epipremnum aureum and Hedera helix grow better under hydro-culture than when grown in soil and growth under hydro-culture is shown to increase when germanium is added to tap water.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.404-411
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• 2019

This study was carried out to investigate the antioxidant effects of extracts from 9 species of forest plants in Korea. DPPH, ABTS, $NaNO_2$, hydrogen peroxide radical scavenging activity and reducing power activity were evaluated to measure the antioxidant activities of plant extracts. As a result, Geranium thunbergii has been identified as the most effective antioxidant resource. Also, total phenolic content was highest in Geranium thunbergii ($303.94{\pm}0.63mg\;GAE/g$) among 9 species extracts. Total flavonoid content was highest in Rosa multiflora ($24.32{\pm}0.22mg\;QE/g$) and proanthocyanidin content was highest in Vitis ficifolia ($279.00{\pm}4.58mg\;CE/g$) among 9 species extracts. In addition, the protective effect of plant extracts in $H_2O_2-induced$ human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cell systems were also assessed. Significant protective effects in $H_2O_2-induced$ human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cell systems were found in all plant extracts, especially in Geranium thunbergii. These results suggest that Geranium thunbergii could be a potential natural resource for antioxidant activity.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.9
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• pp.3358-3365
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• 2010

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of Sorbus commixta (SC), Geranium thunbergii (GT) and their mixture (SC:GT=1:1, MIX) on inhibition of bone loss and chondral defect. To examine their activities, we measured the alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in human osteoblast-like MG-63 cells and performed tartrate-resistant acid phosphate (TRAP) staining in osteoclast differentiated from Raw264.7 cells. To investigate the influence on chondrocyte differentiation, we performed alcian-blue staining in chondrocyte differentiated from ATDC5 cells. All of SC, GT and MIX did not increase ALP activity in MG-63 cells. However, SC and mixture (SC:GT=1:1, MIX) significantly inhibited osteoclastic differentiation. And they also induced chondrocyte differentiation. These results suggest that SC and GT may have a potential for the treatment of bone loss and chondral defect by suppression of osteoclast differentiation and stimulation of chondrocyte differentiation. Therefore, clarification of their mechanisms and active components will be needed.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.55 no.2
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• pp.117-123
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• 2015

Necrotic enteritis (NE) caused by Clostridium (C.) perfringens commonly occurs in domestic broiler farms since antibiotic supplementation in poultry feed has been banned. We evaluated the antibacterial activities of medicinal plant extracts against C. perfringens isolates to select alternative compounds for preventing NE. We compared antibacterial activities using two methods and evaluated susceptibilities of the isolates based on minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC). Two (Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance [FRH] and Geranium koreanum Kom. [GKK]) of the 30 plant extracts had potent antibacterial activities against C. perfringens ATCC 13124 in two assays. The MIC values for FRH and GKK against 20 C. perfringens isolates were $128{\sim}256{\mu}g/mL$ and $32{\sim}128{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The geometric MIC mean values for the two extracts were $147.2{\mu}g/mL$ and $68.8{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The MBCs for the two extracts against the same strains were $1,024{\sim}2,048{\mu}g/mL$ and $256{\sim}1,024{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The geometric mean MIC and MBC for GKK were about two-fold lower than those of FRH. The modified spot-on-lawn assay may be useful for measuring primary antibacterial potential. FRH and GKK are expected to be used as feed additives to prevent or treat NE in veterinary practice.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.325-333
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• 2017

This study aimed to investigate the various biological activities of Geranium thunbergii such as antimicrobial activity and protective effect against oxidative damage. To evaluate its antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, we first performed methanol extraction; this methanol extract was further partitioned using various solvents. And then, its antioxidant activity was measured using various assays including total phenolic content and protection against oxidative DNA damage, and antimicrobial activities were examined using minimum inhibiting concentration (MIC) test, and paper disc method. In addition, high-performance liquid chromatography was performed to analyze the major chemical components of ethyl acetate fraction. The G. thunbergii fraction with ethyl acetate exhibited higher antioxidant and antimicrobial activities than the other fractions. The results showed that G. thunbergii ethyl acetate fraction at $50{\mu}g/mL$ had strong DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities of 80.88% and 80.12%, respectively. In addition, the ethyl acetate fraction protected DNA from the oxidative damage induced by ferrous ion and hydroxyl radicals and showed high antimicrobial activity with diameter of inhibition zones ranging from 13.33 to 15.67 mm. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis revealed the major phenolic compounds of G. thunbergii to be ellagic acid and gallic acid. These results suggest that G. thunbergii might protect DNA against oxidative stress induced by reactive oxygen species and can be utilized as a natural source of antioxidant and antimicrobial agent in the food industry.

• 한국문화재보존과학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.11a
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• pp.81-86
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• 2006

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.127-134
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• 2003

One hundred sixty species among Korean medicinal plants were tested on their antioxidative potentials. Antioxidants are useful materials which could be expected into development as food preservatives, health foods, cosmetics and drugs. Korean peninsula have many potential in antioxidant source which includes various medicinal herbs. It grounded on the fact that Korean medicinal plants have been used as folk therapy for long time and still do in oriental medicine. From the study, effective free radical scavengers compared with ${\alpha}-tocopherol\;of\;13.5{\mu}g/ml\;in\;RC_{50}$ were Geranium sibiricum, Geum japonicum, Geranium nepalense subsp. thunbergii and Paulownia coreana which showed $19.3{\mu}g/ml,\;22.5{\mu}g/ml,\;23.9{\mu}g/ml,\;and\;27.2{\mu}g/ml$, respectively, Acer mono and 38 plants showed strong potential in inhibition rate on linoleic acid oxidation (above 90%). In conclusion, we expect that the selected medicinal plants must be more studied as antioxidant and then developed as many industrial materials.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Integrative Medicine
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.103-111
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• 2022

Purpose : In recent years, essential oils have been produced using natural extracts for various uses. Their functionality is currently being tested not only for cosmetics and perfumes but also for other categories of products. Therefore, this study verified their antibacterial effects on S. mutans, P. gingivalis, and L. gasseri which are the representative strains that cause oral diseases. Methods : Eighteen types of natural essential oils were made at a concentration of 50 % (v/v) using Tween 20, and their antibacterial effects were verified by applying S. mutans, P. gingivalis, and L. gasseri. The antibacterial effects were measured with the disc diffusion method. All the experiments were repeated three times, and the mean value of three measurement values for each variable was used for data analysis. A one-way analysis of variance was conducted using these mean values. Results : Of the eighteen types of essential oils tested, sixteen types showed antibacterial effects on S. mutans, and sixteen and fifteen types exhibited antibacterial effects on P. gingivalis and L. gasseri respectively. The types of essential oils with high-level antibacterial activities were geranium, may chang, and bergamot for S. mutans, lemongrass, bergamot, and eucalyptus for P. gingivalis, and lemongrass, machan, and geranium for L. gasseri in order of antibacterial effect. This result was statistically significant (p<.001). In addition, in the case of mandarin oil, it was found that there was no antibacterial activity in all three strains. Conclusion : This study proved the antibacterial activities of essential oils, which are used for various purposes in daily life, against dental caries and periodontal diseases. The study results will likely be applied to different prevention programs for oral health and broadly used to develop products such as oral care items and dentifrices.