• Journal of Korean Medicine for Obesity Research
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2009

Complex microbial communities play an important role in the human health and co-evolved with human in the form of symbiosis. Many literatures provide new evidences that the increased prevalence of obesity cannot be attributed solely to changes in the human genome, nutritional habits, or reduction of physical activity in our daily lives. The intestinal flora was recently proposed as an environmental factor responsible for the control of body weight and energy metabolism. A number of studies suggest that the modulation of gut microbiota affects host metabolism and has an impact on energy storage and demonstrated a role for the gut microbiota in weight gain, fat increase, and insulin resistance. Variations in microbiota composition are found in obese humans and mice and the microbiota from an obese mouse confers an obese phenotype when transferred to an axenic mouse. As well, the gut microbial flora plays a role in converting nutrients into calories. Specific strategies for modifying gut microbiota may be a useful means to treat or prevent obesity. Dietary modulations of gut microbiota with a view to increasing bifidobacteria have demonstrated to reduce endotoxemia and improve metabolic diseases such as obesity. The fermentation of medicinal herbs is intended to exert a favorable influence on digestability, bioavailability and pharmacological activity of herbal extract. Therefore we also expect that the fermented herbal extracts may open up a new area to treat obesity through modulating gut microbiota.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.3 no.3
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• pp.151-162
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• 1971

Three kinds of Korean food (Ramyon, bread and dried Injulmi, a kind of rice bread) and basal diet were fed to ten groups of rat with consideration of their basal metabolism and some physiological changes were checked for four months. And obtained results were as follows: 1. In the rate of growth (body weight), rats fed on combined basal diet with Ramyon (20% or 33%) were slightly superior to those of simple basal diet (control case), and rats fed simply on Ramyon, bread or Injulmi were all inferior to the control. 2. Throughout the experiment, no considerable changes in intestinal bacterial flora, liver function and kidney function were observed in all cases, as compared with the control. 3. Liver tissues and kidney tissues in all cases were identified as normal and same as those of the control.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.6
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• pp.820-825
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• 2010

The functional food components from various Basidiomycota were investigated to improve human intestinal microflora, especially associated with obesity. EtOH extract from Gyrophora esculenta fruit body and Coriolus versicolor judae mycelia showed antimicrobial activities on Eubacterium limosum, Clostridium perfrigens, Clostridium paraputrificum, Clostridium difficile and Clostridium ramosum, and on Bacteroides fragilis, respectively. Although the 80% EtOH extract from G. esculenta fruit body and hot-water extract from C. versicolor judae mycelia did not reduce weight of the rats in the high fat diet, these extracts showed stability at high temperatures and at wide pH ranges. In the rat group of feeding 80% EtOH extract from G. esculanta fruit body, Bifidobacterium spp. were increased and Clostridium spp. and Eubacterium spp. were decreased compared to the high fat feeding group. Also sensory evaluation was carried out for the development of prototype drink product. These results demonstrated the possibilities of C. versicolor judae and G. esculenta as a functional food components to control intestinal microbial flora.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.199-205
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• 1998

In human intestine, more than 100 species of bacteria reside and dietary factors may alter the bacterial flora which produce bacterial enzymatic activities. Especially ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and tryptophanase activities in colon are closely associated with occurrence of colon cancer. Therefore, the inhibitory effect of traditional herbal food extracts on these intestinal bacterial enzymes are measured. The results of this study showed that Zizyphi fructus and Glycyrrhiziae radix decreased not only ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and tryptophanase productions of human intestinal bacteria but also inhibited potently ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and tryptophanase. Among solvent-extracted fraction of tested herbal foods, ether fraction of Glycyrrhiziae radix and ethylacetate fraction of Zizyphi fructus inhibited potently ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and tryptophanse. Thus, ethylacetate fraction of Zizyphi fructus separated six components by silica gel column chromatography. The component having Rf=0.34 and Rf=0.43 $(developing\;solvent,\;CHCl_3/MeOH\;(3:1))$ shwed the highest inhibitory effect of ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ and tryptophanase among them.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.133-143
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• 2014

The development of the gut is controlled and modulated by different interacting mechanisms, such as genetic endowment, intrinsic biological regulatory functions, environment influences and last but no least, the diet influence. In this work, we compared the fecal microbiota of breast-fed (BF), formula-fed (FF), and mixed-fed (MF) infants from Hebei Province, China. By using high-throughput 16S rDNA sequencing analyses, we found some differences in gut microbiota in the three groups. Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the dominant bacteria at the phylum level in the three groups, where FF infants showed a significant depletion in Bacteroidetes (p < 0.001) and Actinobacteria (p < 0.05). Enterobacteriaceae was the dominant bacteria at the family level in the three groups, but FF infants showed higher Enterobacteriaceae enrichment than BF and MF infants (p < 0.05); the abundance of the Bifidobacteriaceae was only 8.16% in the feces of BF infants, but higher than in MF and FF infants (p < 0.05). The number of genera detected (abundance >0.01%) in BF, MF, and FF infants was only 15, 16, and 13, respectively. This study could provide more accurate and scientific data for the future study of infant intestinal flora.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.149-153
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• 2005

Lactic acid bacteria had been widely utilized in fermented foods such as fermented dairy products, traditional sauces, kimchi, fermented sausages, medicines or probiotic feed additives for a long time. LAB are also widely distributed in the mammalian gastrointestinal tracts, oral cavity, vagina, and various foods or soils. The most familiar examples of using LAB would be the fermented milk products, and those had become one of the favorite foods in Korea f3r more than 34 years of history. The main benefits of the fermented milk products were originally the improvement of the balance of intestinal flora to control diarrhea and congestion disorders, and gradually, they were chosen by the consumer preference of the taste. The very beginning of the fermented milk products in Korea was the Yakult type products in 1971, and it was the commencement of the solid foundation of the dairy industry and the understanding beneficial effect of probiotic yogurt. After middle of 80's, stirred type fermented milk products had been firstly produced, and it was the time that the domestic dairy industry took root in Korea. From 90's, functional fermented milk products were produced, and drink type yogurt sales a mount increased drastically, and these products began to be chosen not only with the values of nutrition but also with physiological functions. The health claims are classified into intestinal health, gastric health and hepatic health. The prospects for the Korean market are as follows; The majority of leading products would be the premium functional yogurt products as it was last year. It is because the sales of lower cost products shows slow-down, and industries tend to increase the commercial advertisements of premium functional yogurt products through mass media. These tendencies would make the market situation become more competitive.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.1640-1650
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• 2020

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the leading cause of common malignant neoplasm worldwide. Many studies have analyzed compositions of gut microbiota associated with various diseases such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and colon cancer. One of the most representative bacteria involved in CRC is enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF), a species belonging to phylum Bacteroidetes. We used ETBF colonized mice with azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) and zerumbone, a compound with anti-bacterial effect, to determine whether zerumbone could restore intestinal microbiota composition. Four experimental groups of mice were used: sham, ETBF colonized AOM/DSS group, ETBF colonized AOM/DSS group zerumbone 60 mg kg-1 (ETBF/AOM/DSS + Z (60)), and only zerumbone (60 mg kg^-1)-treated group. We performed reversible dye terminators-based analysis of 16S rRNA gene region V3-V4 for group comparison. Microbiota compositions of ETBF/AOM/DSS + Z (60) group and ETBF colonized AOM/DSS group not given zerumbone were significantly different. There were more Bacteroides in ETBF/AOM/DSS + Z (60) group than those in ETBF colonized AOM/DSS group, suggesting that B. fragilis could be a normal flora activated by zerumbone. In addition, based on linear discriminant analysis of effect size (LEfSe) analysis, microbial diversity decreased significantly in the ETBF colonized AOM/DSS group. However, after given zerumbone, the taxonomic relative abundance was increased. These findings suggest that zerumbone not only influenced the microbial diversity and richness, but also could be helpful for enhancing the balance of gut microbial composition. In this work, we demonstrate that zerumbone could restore the composition of intestinal microbiota.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 1996

As the production of chonma became increased by the farmer's cultivation, developments of the processed food such as tea using chonma have been actively pursued. In the present study, the components of chonma and its beneficial effects on health using SD (Sprague-Dawley) rat model were analyzed. The contents of moisture, protein, ash, fat and fiber in dried-chonma were 11.8, 7.6, 3.2, 0.5, and 3.9%(w/w), respectively. The contents of calcium, sodium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and potassium were 121, 83, 6.2, 170, 69 and 1,278 mg%. When chow diets containing 0, 0.15, 1.5 or 5.0% chonma powder were fed to SD rats for 4 weeks, no significant differences were observed in the composition of the large-intestinal flora, ${\beta}-glucuronidase$ level of the large-intestinal contents and the weight gains of rats. The level of ${\beta}-glucosidase$ was higher and the serum cholesterol level was lower in 5.0% chonma group compared with control group. The highest sedative effect was shown in 0.15% chonma group.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.46-55
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• 2022

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a significant cause of hospital-acquired and antibiotic-mediated intestinal diseases and is a growing global public health concern. Overuse of antibiotics and their effect on normal intestinal flora has increased the incidence and severity of infections. Thus, the development of new, effective, and safe treatment options is a high priority. Here, we report a new probiotic strain, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BA PMC-80), and its in vitro/in vivo anti-C. difficile effect as a prospective novel candidate for replacing conventional antibiotics. BA PMC-80 showed a significant anti-C. difficile effect in coculture assay, and its cell-free supernatant (CFS) also exhibited a considerable anti-C. difficile effect with an 89.06 ㎍/ml 50% minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) in broth microdilution assay. The CFS was stable and equally functional under different pHs, heat, and proteinase treatments. It also exhibited a high sensitivity against current antibiotics and no toxicity in subchronic toxicity testing in hamsters. Finally, BA PMC-80 showed a moderate effect in a hamster CDI model with reduced infection severity and delayed death. However, further studies are required to optimize the treatment condition of the hamster CDI model for better efficacy and identify the antimicrobial compound produced by BA PMC-80.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.89-98
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• 2023

We evaluated the effects of prebiotic (mannan oligosaccharides, Mos) and probiotic diet supplements on growth performance, innate immunity, antioxidant activity, and intestinal changes in the microbial flora of red seabream Pagrus major. A basal diet (Con) was formulated to meet the nutrient requirement of red seabream. The dietary starch in Con was replaced with 0.6% Mos, Lactobacillus plantarum, Bacillus subtilis, B. licheniformis and probiotic mixture (labeled as Mos, Pro-LP, Pro-BS, Pro-BL and Pro-Mix, respectively). We stocked 450 fish in 18 polypropylene tanks (400 L) in triplicate groups per dietary treatment. The fish were fed one of the diets twice (08:30, 18:30 h) a day for 63 days. Lysozyme activity was significantly higher in all the supplemented groups than that of the Con group. The immunoglobulin level of Pro-Mix, anti-protease activity of Pro-BL, and glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase activity of Pro-BS, Pro-BL and Pro-Mix groups were significantly higher than those of the Con group. The ratio of total Vibrio/heterotrophic marine bacteria counts was significantly lower in Pro-LP, Pro-BL and Pro-Mix groups than that of the Con group. Therefore, dietary supplementation of Mos and probiotics to improves immune response and antioxidant enzyme activity and inhibits Vibrio bacteria in the intestine.