• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.165-176
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• 2009

Korean ginseng, which contains ginsenosides and polysaccharides as its main constituents, is orally administered to humans. Ginsenosides and polysaccharides are not easily absorbed by the body through the intestines due to their hydrophilicity. Therefore, these constituents which include ginsenosides Rb1, Rb2, and Rc, inevitably come into contact with intestinal microflora in the alimentary tract and can be metabolized by intestinal microflora. Since most of the metabolites such as compound K and protopanaxatriol are nonpolar compared to the parental components, these metabolites are easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. The absorbed metabolites may express pharmacological actions, such as antitumor, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, and neuroprotective effects. However, the activities that metabolize these constituents to bioactive compounds differ significantly between individuals because all individuals possess characteristic indigenous strains of intestinal bacteria. Recently, ginseng has been fermented with enzymes or microbes to develop ginsengs that contain these metabolites. However, before using these enzymes and probiotics, their safety and biotransforming activity should be assessed. Intestinal microflora play an important role in the pharmacological action of orally administered ginseng.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.9
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• pp.1353-1362
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• 2005

The stressful physiological and environmental conditions around weaning often promote the proliferation of pathogens in the digestive tract of piglets resulting in diarrhoea and reduced daily weight gain. Typical dietary practices to maintain growth performance and health have led to an increased use of antimicrobial growth promoters. Due to the advanced ban of antibiotics in pig production, new concepts have been developed to secure animal health and growth performance, feed efficiency, and product quality as well. Several naturally occurring compounds seem to beneficially affect the composition and activity of the microflora in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) of pigs. These are, among others, organic acids, probiotics, prebiotics, and enzymes. Organic acids are already widely used, especially in pigs, due to their positive effects on GIT health and growth performance. Probiotics have been shown to be effective against diarrhoea though effects may be dependent on diet composition and environmental conditions. Prebiotics may influence composition and activity of the intestinal microflora. Additionally, pre- and probiotics may exert positive influences on immune response, whereas enzymes may enhance feed digestibility by breaking down anti-nutritional factors. In the following, the focus will be directed to the role of organic acids, probiotics, prebiotics, and feeding enzymes as potential modulators of GIT health.

• Journal of Dairy Science and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.55-58
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• 2011

Certain lactic acid bacteria have anti-tumor activity, especially colon cancer. The fermented milk products containing that kind of lactic acid bacteria have to be recommended for human health as excellent health functional foods. This paper have been classified by 5 regions on the functions of lactic acid bacteria related to prevention of colon cancer. 1) Enhancing of host's immune response; Production of cytokines. 2) Binding and degradation of potential carcinogens; Binding and degradation of mutagenicity. 3) The changes of intestinal microflora and production of antitumorigenic or antimutagenic compounds; Production of azoxymethane. 4) Alteration of the metabolic activity of intestinal microflora; Decrease of harmful enzymes in intestinal tract. 5) Alteration of physicochemical conditions in the colon; Decrease of pH and bile acids contents.

• Journal of fish pathology
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.143-150
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• 1998

Characteristics and distribution of the natural commensal flora in the surrounding environment and tissues of clam in Hadong area were studied under varying conditions of growth media and incubation temperatures. Total numbers of bacteria present in intestinal tract, gill, body fluid and surrounding mud were found to be not influenced by the used BHIA, STA and SNA media. Although the growth rate of bacteria at the condition of $15^{\circ}C$ incubation temperature was slower than that of $25^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$, it showed the highest number of total bacteria compared with other two different conditions of incubation temperature. Interestingly, the proportion of bacteria able to form colony on several selective media was higher in replica analysis from nutrient media to selective media than that in direct smearing from samples. The generic diversity of bacteria isolated from the tissues and analyzed by API 20E and API 20NE kit showed similar pattern with each other and distinct from that of environment. The distribution of bacteria in the surrounding mud or mantle fluid of clam indicated a high diversity comparable to that found for the gill or intestinal tract microflora, with Pseudomonas being the prevalent group. It implies that the tissues of clam may probide a selective habitat for a commensal microflora.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2012

The major commercial ginsengs are Panax ginseng Meyer (Korean ginseng), P. quinquifolium L. (American ginseng), and P. notoginseng (Burk.) FH Chen (Notoginseng). P. ginseng is the most commonly used as an adaptogenic agent and has been shown to enhance physical performance, promote vitality, increase resistance to stress and aging, and have immunomodulatory activity. These ginsengs contain saponins, which can be classified as dammarane-type, ocotillol-type and oleanane-type oligoglycosides, and polysaccharides as main constituents. Dammarane ginsenosides are transformed into compounds such as the ginsenosides $Rg_3$, $Rg_5$, and $Rk_1$ by steaming and heating and are metabolized into metabolites such as compound K, ginsenoside $Rh_1$, proto- and panaxatriol by intestinal microflora. These metabolites are nonpolar, pharmacologically active and easily absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. However, the activities metabolizing these constituents into bioactive compounds differ significantly among individuals because all individuals possess characteristic indigenous strains of intestinal bacteria. To overcome this difference, ginsengs fermented with enzymes or microbes have been developed.

• Hanyang Medical Reviews
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2013

Inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, are chronic inflammatory states of the intestinal tract. While the exact mechanisms inducing chronic inflammation are still unclear, it is hypothesized that the inflammation is caused in part by an inappropriate immune response to the intestinal microflora. Although inflammatory diseases are not directly linked to patient survival, symptoms of these diseases significantly decrease quality of life. The incidence rate is higher in western people than eastern people, but the incidence rate of IBD in eastern people, including Korean, is increasing. Recently, it has been reported that IL-17 is an important factor that appears to be involved in IBD induction and progression. This report reviews many recent papers reporting the relationship between IBD and IL-17, which may provide an understanding leading to new means of prevention and treatment for IBD.

• Korean Journal of Agricultural Science
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.67-76
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• 2017

Fermented Rhus verniciflua (FRV) as feed additives act as excellent anti-diarrheal drugs as they increase the intestinal absorption rate therefore being indirectly associated with enhancing growth performance and increasing digestibility in livestock. A total of 80 weaned pigs with an average initial body weight (BW) of $6.82{\pm}1.11kg$ were used to evaluate a diet supplemented with FRV meal in a 6 week feeding trial with two dietary treatments [CON - basal diet; TRT - CON + 0.2% FRV] on growth performance, apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD), blood profiles, fecal microflora, and fecal score. Our results showed that the dietary supplementation of FRV improved (p < 0.05) average daily gain and gain : feed (G : F) ratio during days 15 - 42 and the overall experiment period and also increased the ATTD of dry matter (p < 0.05) at days 14 and 42. On the contrary, there was no effect (p > 0.05) on average daily feed intake, ATTD of nitrogen and energy, and blood profiles during the entire experiment. Moreover, dietary inclusion of FRV significantly increased fecal Lactobacillus (p < 0.05) counts and reduced the diarrhea during days 22 - 42. Thus, the results suggest that FRV can be used as a potential additive to improve growth performance and dry matter and to reduce diarrhea while having beneficial effects on fecal microflora in weanling pigs.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.420-423
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• 2005

Effects of Dasom Valley and Bora Valley on fecal microflora, fecal moisture, and fecal pH of twelve healthy human volunteers were investigated. Numbers of Bifidobacterium, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, and Lactobacillus of control group were $9.24{\pm}0.63$, $4.44{\pm}1.21$, $7.75{\pm}0.38$, and $6.98{\pm}0.81$ (Log CFU/g wet feces), respectively. During administration of Dasom Valley, numbers of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus were $10.70{\pm}0.44$ and $8.84{\pm}0.77$, whereas those of C. perfringens and E. coli were $2.96{\pm}1.50$ and $6.69{\pm}0.29$, respectively. Administration of Dasom Valley significantly increased growth responses of beneficial bacteria, Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus, whereas those of harmful bacteria, C. perfringens and E. coli, significantly decreased. Moisture content of feces increased and fecal pH decreased with intake of Dasom Valley. Intake of Bora Valley slightly increased numbers of Bifidbacterium and Lactobacillus and slightly decreased those of C. perfringens and E. coli. Results indicate Dasom Valley has greater intestinal-modulating effect than Bora Valley and Atlantic. Daily intake of Dasom Valley may normalize disturbed physiological functions, resulting in improvement of growth and composition of microbial community within intestinal tract.

• Animal Bioscience
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• v.35 no.8
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• pp.1109-1120
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• 2022

Antibiotics used to be supplemented to animal feeds as growth promoter and as an effective strategy to reduce the burden of pathogenic bacteria present in the gastro-intestinal tract. However, in-feed antibiotics also kill bacteria that may be beneficial to the animal. Secondly, unrestricted use of antibiotics enhanced the antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria. To overcome above problems, scientists are taking a great deal of measures to develop alternatives of antibiotics. There is convincing evidence that probiotics could replace in-feed antibiotics in poultry production. Because they have beneficial effects on growth performance, meat quality, bone health and eggshell quality in poultry. Better immune responses, healthier intestinal microflora and morphology which help the birds to resist against disease attack were also identified with the supplementation of probiotics. Probiotics establish cross-feeding between different bacterial strains of gut ecosystem and reduce the blood cholesterol level via bile salt hydrolase activity. The action mode of probiotics was also updated according to recently published literatures, i.e antimicrobial substances generation or toxin reduction. This comprehensive review of probiotics is aimed to highlight the beneficial effects of probiotics as a potential alternative strategy to replace the antibiotics in poultry.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Applied Microbiology Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.155-157
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• 2001

Bifidobacterium spp. is nonpathogenic, gram-positive and anaerobic bacteria, which inhabit the intestinal tract of humans and animals. In breast-fed infants, bifidobacteria comprise morethan 90％ of the gut bacterial population. Bifidobacteria spp. are used in commericial fermented dairy products and have been suggested to exert health promoting effects on the host by maintaining intestinal microflora balances, improving lactose tolerance, reducing serum cholesterol levels, increasing synthesis of vitamins, and aiding the immune enchancement and anticarcinogenic activity for the host. These beneficial effects of Bifidobacterium are strain-related. Therefore continued efforts to improve strain characteristics are warranted. in these respect, development of vector system for Bifidobacterium is very important not only for the strain improvement but also because Bifidobacterium is most promising in serving as a delivery system for the useful gene products, such as vaccine or anticarcinogenic polypeptides, into human intestinal tract. For developing vector system, we have characterized several bifidobacterial plasmids at genetic level and developed several shuttle vectors between E. coli and Bifidobacterium using them. Also, we have cloned and sequenced several metabolic genes and food grade selection marker. Also we have obtained bifidobacterial surface protein, which will be used as the mediator for surface display of foreign genes. Recently we have succeeded in expressing amylase and GFP in Bifidobacterium using our own expression vector system. Now we are in a very exciting stage for the molecular breeding and safe delivery system using probiotic Bifidobacterium strains.