• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.178-182
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• 1973

Omija (Schizandra chinmensis Baillon) grown widely in Korea has been used as a traditional drink and as an ingredient in herbal medicine. A determination of the proximate composition, organic acids and major anthocyanins in Omija was made. 1. The proximate composition of Omija showed water to be 84.2%, protein to be 1.1%, fats to be 0.9%, reducing sugars to be 10.9% and total anthocyanins to be 0.2% in terms of weight percent of fresh, ripe Omija 2. Gas chromatography showed citric acid(3.5%), malic acid(1.4%) and succinic acid(0.2%) to be the major organic acids of the fruit. 3. The anthocyanins, the major pigments present in Omija were separated and isolated into 3 fractions using column chromatograph on insoluble polyvinylpyrrolidone. The main anthocyanin was tentatively identified as peonodin 3-glucoside on the basis of its absorptive properties before and after treatments with acid and $AlCl_3$ in the UV and visible ranges.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.471-476
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• 2005

Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) has been used as a food supplement and a traditional herbal medicine for a men's sexual enhancement. In this study, we prepared a flavonoid fraction (RWE) from a hot water extract of RVS and its influence on sexual behavior was studied in male rats which were orally administered varying doses of RWE for 2 weeks. All doses of RWE stimulated sexual behavior in male rats such as reducing mounting latency and enhancing mount frequencies. However, intermission numbers were not changed and none of group can observe the ejaculation during behavioral testing time 5 min. Testosterone levels were Increased about 0$\∼$53$\%$ and 92$\∼$164$\%$ by the treatment of RWE for 1 and 2 weeks, respectively. However, estrogen levels in male rats tended to decrease in a dose dependent manner of RWE. At the dose of RWE 200 mg/kg, estrogen level was reduced to 77.5$\%$ and 70.3$\%$ of control after 1 and 2 weeks treatment. These findings suggest that the Rhus flavonoid fraction can stimulate the androgen-dependent male sexual behavior and it can be applied to the material of functional food for enhancing the sexual function.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.3
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• pp.397-402
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• 2010

Pork is an excellent source of essential nutrients such as protein. However, pork can trigger hypersensitivity and serum albumin of pork is known as major allergen. In this study, to evaluate the effect of gamma irradiation on the allergenicity of porcine serum albumin (PSA), PSA solution was irradiated at 3, 5, 7, 10, 15, and 20 kGy. The changes in the ability of PSA to bind IgG and patient's serum caused by gamma irradiation were observed by ci-ELISA and immunoblotting. SDS-PAGE was used for measuring the conformational change of gamma-irradiated PSA. The ability of 3-kGy-irradiated PSA to bind p-IgG and patient's serum was decreased to 30% and 15%, respectively. The binding ability showed no significant differences among all irradiated samples. SDS-PAGE showed that the irradiated PSA bands were degraded and aggregated. Immunoblotting of irradiated PSA revealed that IgG and patient's serum were rarely recognized at 3 kGy. Therefore, gamma irradiation could be applied to less-allergenic pork products.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.30 no.12
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• pp.1885-1895
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• 2020

Rumex japonicus Houtt (RJH) is a valuable plant used in traditional medicine to treat several diseases, such as scabies and jaundice. In this study, Jurkat cell growth inhibitory extracts of R. japonicus roots were subjected to bioassay-guided fractionation, resulting in the isolation of three naphthalene derivatives (3-5) along with one anthraquinone (6) and two phenolic compounds (1 and 2). Among these compounds, 2-methoxystypandrone (5) exhibited potent anti-proliferative effects on Jurkat cells. Analysis by flow cytometry confirmed that 2-methoxystypandrone (5) could significantly reduce mitochondrial membrane potential and promote increased levels of mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS), suggesting a strong mitochondrial depolarization effect. Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis was also performed, and the results revealed that the accumulation of ROS was caused by reduced mRNA expression levels of heme oxygenase (HO-1), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and superoxide dismutase (SOD). In addition, 2-methoxystypandrone (5) triggered strong apoptosis that was mediated by the arrest of the G0/G1 phase of the cell cycle. Furthermore, 2-methoxystypandrone (5) downregulated p-IκB-α, p-NF-κB p65, Bcl2, and Bcl-xl and upregulated BAX proteins. Taken together, these findings revealed that 2-methoxystypandrone (5) isolated from RJH could potentially serve as an early lead compound for leukemia treatment involving intracellular signaling by increasing mitochondrial ROS and exerting anti-proliferative effects.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2020.08a
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• pp.78-78
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• 2020

This study aimed to discover functional materials derived from resources, which can improve the troublesome symptoms of a bronchus by improving bronchial hyperresponsiveness as air pollution in Korea caused by fine dust and yellow dust is getting worse. Of natural resources grown naturally in Korea, Chrysanthemum morifolium(CM), and Scutellaria baicalensis(SB) have been used as a safe raw material for drinking or medicine for a long time, and it has been found that a combination of CS73 can improve bronchial health function in experimental animal models. Analysis of serum of animal models with asthma induced by ovalbumin (chicken egg albumin) and analysis of cytokine production in BALF (Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid) showed that inflammatory indices IL-1β, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-10, IL-13, IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-17E were significantly reduced and that respective production of IL-2 and IFN-γ was significantly increased in the group taking extracts from CS73 when compared with the control group. These results suggested that the combination of CS73 could be used as a natural treatment for asthma. In addition, in the animal models that the combination of CS73 significantly decreased the respective production of IgE, histamine and TSLP when compared with the control group. In experimental models, the ratio of Chrysanthemum morifolium to Scutellaria baicalensis of 7 : 3 had more excellent effect than other combined experimental groups, which suggests that the above combination can be developed as a natural treatment for asthma and is valuable as a pharmaceutical composition with an effect of improving bronchial health, capable of contributing to the public health threatened by fine dust.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.95-106
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• 2024

Taraxacum coreanum, known as the native Korean white dandelion, has been historically used in traditional medicine due to its various therapeutic properties. However, the specific benefits and mechanisms of white dandelion in alleviating particular symptoms or diseases remain uncertain due to the complexity of its phytochemical profile. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the phytochemical profiles of methanolic extracts of different parts of the white dandelion (flower, leaf, stem, and root) using hybrid ion-mobility Q-TOF MS. Using the trapped ion mobility-based PASEF technique, 3715 and 2114 molecular features with MS2 fragments were obtained in positive and negative ion modes, respectively, and then a total of 360 and 156 phytochemical compounds were annotated by matching with a reference spectral library in positive and negative ion modes, respectively. Subsequent feature-based molecular networking analysis revealed the phytochemical differences across the four different parts of the white dandelion. Our findings indicated that the methanolic extracts contained various bioactive compounds, including lipids, flavonoids, phenolic acids, and sesquiterpenes. In particular, lipids such as linoleic acids, lysophosphatidylcholines, and sesquiterpenoids were predominantly present in the leaf, while flavonoid glycosides and lysophosphoethanolamines were notably enriched in the flower. An assessment of the total phenolic content (TPC) and total flavonoid content (TFC) of the methanolic extracts revealed that the majority of phytochemicals were concentrated in the flower. Interestingly, despite the root extract displaying the lowest TPC and TFC values, it exhibited the highest radical scavenging rate when normalized to TPC and TFC, suggesting a potent antioxidant effect. These findings and further investigations into the biological activities and medicinal potential of the identified compounds, particularly those exclusive to specific plant parts, may contribute to the development of novel therapeutic agents derived from white dandelion.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1207-1214
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• 2017

Schisandrae Fructus (SF), the fruit of Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill., is widely used in traditional medicine for the treatment of a number of chronic diseases. SF extracts have been recently reported to attenuate the inflammatory responses in SW1353 human chondrocyte cells in in vitro and monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced cartilage degradation in in vivo osteoarthritis (OA) models. However, their protective and therapeutic potentials against OA in primary culture chondrocytes and animal models remain unclear. Therefore, we investigated the effects of the ethanol extract of SF on the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), biomarkers for diagnosis of OA, on interleukin $(IL)-1{\beta}-induced$ primary cultured rat cartilage chondrocytes and MIA-induced osteoarthritis in a rat model. Our data indicated that SF treatment significantly reduced the mRNA expression and enzyme activity of MMP-1, -3 and -13 in $IL-1{\beta}-induced$ primary cultured rat cartilage chondrocytes. The chondro-protective effects of SF were then analyzed in a rat OA model using a single intra-articular injection of MIA in the right knee joint. According to our results, the elevated levels of MMP-1 and -3 were markedly ameliorated by SF administration. Collectively, these findings indicate that SF could be a candidate for the treatment of OA.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.473-480
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• 1999

Background: Early diagnosis of tuberculosis is critical, especially in Korea, an area where tuberculosis is endemic. Because antibody responses to some membrane proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis are not comparable, and the policy of BCG vaccination and the prevalence of tuberculosis are different from country to country, the usefulness of the serological diagnostic tests is questionable in Korea, even though they have been confirmed to be useful in other countries. In the specific context of Korea, we tried to evaluate the validity of the ICT Tuberculosis Test (ICT), a membrane-based antibody kit that purports to detect the 5 M. tuberculosis complex-specific antigens including 38-kDa protein. Method: 68 patients with tuberculosis were tested : 37 had no history of previous tuberculosis, and 31 were reactivated cases. The control group comprised 77 subjects : 25 healthy adults, 35 hospital workers with frequent contact with tuberculosis patients, and 17 in-patients with non-tuberculous respiratory diseases. Results: The diagnostic sensitivities of the ICT were 87% and 73% in patients with versus without previous history of tuberculosis, respectively. The sensitivities of smear-positive and smear-negative patient groups were 81% and 73%, respectively. Both of the two patients with extrapulmonary tuberculosis tested positive through the ICT. The specificities of the ICT were 88%, 94%, and 94% in healthy adults, hospital workers, and non-tuberculous patients, respectively, with an overall specificity of 92%. Conclusion: It is suggested that when combined with traditional techniques, the ICT is an useful tool for the diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis. The procedure is simple, easy to perform, rapid, and needs no equipment. It shows 73% sensitivity and 92% specificity for the diagnosis of tuberculosis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.26 no.10
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• pp.1207-1213
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• 2016

Schisandrae fructus (SF) and Mori folium (MF) have been used as traditional medicines for thousands of years in parts of Asia, including Korea, China, and Japan. Recent researches on SF and MF have documented a wide spectrum of therapeutic properties, including anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, immunomodulatory and anti-angiogenesis effects. However, the toxicity and safety of SF and MF, and their mixture (medicinal herber mixture, MHMIX) were not confirmed. Therefore, this study was performed to evaluate the acute toxicity and safety of SF, MF and MHMIX. SF, MF and MHMIX were orally administered at a dose of 5,000 mg/kg in ICR mice. Animals were monitored for the mortality and changes in the body weight, clinical signs and gross observation during the 14 days after dosing, upon necropsy. We also measured parameters of organ weight, clinical chemistry, and hematology. No dead and no clinical signs were found during the experiment period after administration of a single oral dose of SF, MF and MHMIX. There were no adverse effects on clinical signs, body weight, or organ weight and no gross pathological findings in any treatment group. Therefore, LD50 value of SF, MF and MHMIX may be over 5,000 mg/kg and it may have no side toxic effect to ICR mice. The results on the single-dose toxicity of SF, MF and MHMIX indicate that it is not possible to reach oral dose levels related to death or dose levels with any harmful side effects.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics and Information Engineers
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.185-194
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• 2014

One in every 10 persons suffer from chronic gastritis in Korea. Endoscopy is most commonly used to diagnose the chronic gastritis. Endoscopic diagnosis is precise but it is accompanied with pain and high cost. According to pulse diagnosis in Traditional East Asian Medicine, health problems in stomach can be diagnosed with radial pulse signals in 'Guan' location in the right wrist, which are non-invasive and cost-effective. In this study, we developed a classification model of chronic gastritis using pulse signals in right 'Guan' location. We used both linear discrimination method and logistic regression model with respect to pulse features obtained with a peak-valley detection algorithm and a Gaussian model. As a result, we obtained sensitivity ranged between 77%~89% and specificity ranged between 72%~83% depending on classification models and feature extraction methods, and the average classification rates were approximately 80%, irrespective of the models. Specifically, the Gaussian model were featured by superior sensitivities (89.1% and 87.5%) while the peak-valley detection method showed superior specificities (82.8% and 81.3%), and the average classification rate (sensitivity + specificity) of the Gaussian model was 80.9% which was 1.2% ahead of the peak-valley method. In conclusion, we obtained a reliable classification model for the chronic gastritis based on the radial pulse feature extraction algorithms, where the Gaussian model was featured by outperformed sensitivity and the peak-valley method was featured by outperformed specificity.