• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.167-174
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• 2008

Antimicrobial activity of Zanthoxylum piperitum was investigated against Streptococcus mutans that causes dental caries. Although the methylene chloride extract of seeds exhibited higher antimicrobial activity than other organic solvent extracts, including methanol, ethyl acetate, and hexane extracts of pericarps or seeds of Z. piperitum, essential oils prepared from both seeds and pericarps possessed more potent inhibitory activity than the methylene chloride extract of seeds. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of the essential oils of seeds and pericarps were 0.3 mg/ml and 4.0 mg/ml against S. mutans, respectively. When the seed essential oil was further separated into seven fractions (CS-SD-A${\sim}$CS-SD-G) by thin layer chromatography (TLC), all fractions exhibited lower antimicrobial activity than the essential oil. To understand the antimicrobial ingredients of Z. piperitum, seeds the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) data of the methylene chloride extract of seeds was compared with those of the seed essential oil (CS-SD). Whereas the methylene chloride extract of seeds contained carvacrol (0.24%), ${\beta}$-caryophyllene (1.72%), and ${\alpha}$-humulene (0.88%), which were previously known to inhibit growth of S. mutans, the seed essential oil contained sabinene (1.57%), linalool (1.55%), citronellal (13.67%), terpinene-4-ol (0.45%), citronellol (3.69%), geraniol (0.9%), linalyl acetate (1.35%), ${\beta}$-caryophyllene (1.35%), ${\alpha}$-humulene (0.78%), and ${\delta}$-cadinene (0.67%) in this regard. These results indicate that Z. piperitum seeds possess various inhibitory substances against S. mutans, and an effective method to isolate the active ingredients from the seeds is to prepare the essential oil. These results also suggest that the essential oil of Z. piperitium seeds may be applicable to preventing dental caries.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.186-201
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• 1995

In order to elucidate the fate of the residues of the pyrethroid acaricide-insecticide, acrinathrin in soil, maize plants were grown for one month on the specially-made pots filled with two different types of soils containing fresh and one-month-aged residues of [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin, respectively. The mineralization of [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin to $^{14}CO_2$ during the one-month period of aging and of maize cultivation amounted to $23{\sim}24%$ and $24{\sim}33%$, respectively, of the original $^{14}C$ activities. At harvest after one-month growing, the shoots and roots contained less than 0.1% and 1% of the originally applied $^{14}C$ activity, respectively, whereas the $^{14}C$ activity remaining in soil was $65{\sim}80%$ in both soils. Three degradation products with m/z 198(3-phenoxybenzaldehyde), m/z 214(3-phenoxybenzoic acid), and m/z 228(methyl 3-phenoxybenzoate) besides an unknown were identified from acetone extracts of both soils without and with maize plants after treatment of [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin, by autoradiography and GC-MS, and those with m/z 225(3-phenoxybenzaldehyde cyanohydrin) and m/z 198 (3-phenoxybenzaldehyde) from acetone extract of the Soil A treated with 50 ppm acrinathrin and grown with maize plants for 30 days were identified by mass spectrometry. These results suggested that the hydrolytic cleavage of the ester linkage adjacent to the $^{14}C$ with a cyano group, forming 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde cyanohydrin. The removal of hydrogen cyanide therefrom leads to the formation of 3-phenoxybenzaldehyde as one of the major products. The subsequent oxidation of the aldehyde to 3-phenoxybenzoic acid, followed by decarboxylation would evolve $^{14}CO_2$. Solvent extractability of the soils where maize plants were grown for 1 month and/or [$^{14}C$]acrinathrin was aged for 1 month was less than 31% of the original $^{14}C$ activity and over 95% of the total $^{14}C$ activity in soil extracts was distributed in the organic phase. Accordingly, acrinathrin turned out to be degraded rapidly in both soils and be bound to soil constituents as well, not being available to crops.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.11
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• pp.1499-1506
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• 2008

To examine antitumor activity of the edible plant Zanthoxylum schinifolium, the cytotoxic effect of various organic solvent extracts of its stems on human acute leukemia Jurkat T cells was investigated. Among these extracts such as methanol extract (SS-7), methylene chloride extract (SS-8), ethyl acetate extract (SS-9), n-butanol extract (SS-10), and residual fraction (SL-11), SS-8 exhibited the most cytotoxic activity against Jurkat T cells. The methylene chloride extract (SS-8) possessed the apoptogenic activity capable of inducing sub-G1 peak along with apoptotic DNA fragmentation in Jurkat T cells. Western blot analysis revealed that SS-8 induced apoptosis via mitochondrial cytochrome c release into cytoplasm, subsequent activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and cleavage of PARP, which could be blocked by overexpression of Bcl-xL. Jurkat T cell clone I2.1 $FADD^{-/-}$) and Jurkat T cell clone I9.2 (caspase-$8^{-/-}$ were as sensitive as was the wild-type Jurkat T cell clone A3 to the cytotoxic effect of SS-8, suggesting no contribution of Fas/FasL system to the SS-8-mediated apoptosis. The GC-MS analysis of SS-8 showed that it was composed of 16 ingredients including 9,12-octadecanoic acid (18.62%), 2,4-dihydro-5-methyl-4- (1-methylethylidene)- 2-(4-nitrophenyl)-3H- pyrazol-3-one (14.97%), hexadecanoic acid (14.23%), (z,z)-6,9-pentadecadien- 1-ol (13.73%), 5,6-dimethoxy-2-methyl benzofuran (10.95%), and 4-methoxy-2-methylcinnamic acid (5.38%). These results demonstrate that the methylene chloride extract of the stems of Z. schinifolium can induce apoptotic cell death in Jurkat T cells via intrinsic mitochondria-dependent caspase cascade regulated by Bcl-xL without involvement of the Fas/FasL system.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.34 no.1
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• pp.7-14
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• 2006

Entomopathogenic fungus Cordyceps militaris is famous for its medicinal efficacies. It has been reported to have various pharmacological activities such as anti-tumour, insecticidal, antibacterial, immunomodulatory and antioxidant. In this study, we investigated the effect of the extract of C. militaris (MPUN8501), which was identified by the analysis of the nucleotide sequences of 5.8S ribosomal RNA, on the function of liver. C. militaris powder was extracted using hot water extracts method as time, volume and temperature and using method as differential polarity of organic solvent. Each fraction was tested for the improvement of hepatic enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) activity. The BuOH extracts (CME) had highest activity which was used for the test of toxicity and efficacy of C. militaris. The enhancing effect of CME on the activity of ADH and ALDH was much more than medicine, drink, natural tea etc. Thus CME promoted the resolution of alcohol and acetaldehyde in rats, inducing recovery to normal condition rapidly. Furthermore, oral administration of CME effectively protected the carbon tetrachloride-induced acute hepatic injury as revealed by the hematological parameters (levels of sGOT and sGPT) and histological observation. CME was ascertained to be safe by regulatory toxicity studies of single dose toxicity and genotoxicity. These results suggest that CME would be useful for the maintaining normal hepatic activity as a functional health food.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.395-402
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• 2014

BACKGROUND: Azadirachta indica Extract(AIE) containing azadirachtin as active ingredient have been used worldwide as environment-friendly organic material having pest control properties. However, the extracts prepared with different solvent and from different plant site is very diverse and have different toxicity. METHODS AND RESULTS: In this study, the four week repeated oral dose toxicity test of aqueous AIE in Sprague-Dawley rats was carried out to investigate the toxic effect of liver, main toxicity target organ of AIE. The male and female rats were divided into 4 groups, respectively; control(0 g/Kg bw), low-dose group(0.5 g/Kg bw), middle-dose(1.0 g/Kg bw) and high-dose group(2.0 g/Kg bw). As a results, relative liver weight increased with dose-dependent of AIE(p<0.05). Serum LDH in all AIE-treated groups were significantly lower than the control in male rats(p<0.05). However, serum GOT and GPT were significantly increased in all male AIE-treated groups in male rats(p<0.05) and, in particular, increase of serum GPT in dose-dependent manner raise the possibility of liver damage. Even through serum GLU was increased significantly in high-dose group in male rats compared to control, there were no significant differences of urinary GLU among all groups(p<0.05). In addition, histopathological examination of the liver did not reveal any lesions in all AIE-treated groups. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, 4 weeks of the repeated oral administration of AIE 2.0 g/Kg to rats has resulted no toxic response in liver. Therefore, AIE was no indicated to have any toxic effect in the SD rats, when it was orally administrated below the dosage 2.0 g/Kg/day for 4weeks.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.505-514
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• 2014

To examine the anti-obese activity of miscellaneous cereal grains, 80% ethanol extracts from eight selected miscellaneous cereal grains were compared for their cytotoxic effects on 3T3-L1 murine preadipocytes. The ethanol extract of proso millet exhibited the highest cytotoxicity. Further fractionation of the ethanol extract with methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol showed that the cytotoxicity of the ethanol extract was mainly partitioned into the butanol fraction. As compared with differentiated mature adipocytes, 3T3-L1 preadipocytes were more susceptible to the cyctotoxicity of the butanol fraction. When each organic solvent fraction (25 ${\mu}g/ml$) was added during the differentiation period for 6 days, the cell viability was not affected significantly except for the butanol fraction, but the intracellular lipid accumulation declined to a level of 81.5%~50.3% of the control. The Oil Red O staining data also demonstrated that the ethanol extract as well as the butanol fraction could inhibit the differentiation of 3T3-L1 preadipocytes into mature adipocytes. The presence of the butanol extract during the induced adipocytic differentiation also resulted in a significant reduction in the expression levels of critical adipogenesis mediators $(C/EBP{\alpha}$, $PPAR{\gamma}$, aP2, and LPL) to a barely detectable or undetectable level and the cells retained the fibroblast-like morphology of 3T3-L1. In 3T3-L1 cells, the cytotoxicity of the butanol fraction (50-100 ${\mu}g/ml$) was accompanied by mitochondrial membrane potential (${\Delta}{\psi}m$) loss, caspase-3 activation, and PARP degradation. Taken together, these results indicate that proso millet grains possess pro-apoptotic and anti-adipocytic activities toward adipocytes, which can be applicable to prevention of obesity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.260-267
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• 2001

The biochemical composition and antioxidative activity of marine microalgae were investigated for the effective utilization of marine resources. Two species of marine microalgae, Nannochloris oculata (N. oculata) of Chlorophyceae and Phaeodactylum tricornutum (P. tricornutum) of Bacillariophyceae, were selected. Because these species showed the high growth rate and easy to continuous culture. The contents of crude protein, lipid, and carbohydrate were $54.91\%,\;11.29\%,\;and\;10.15\%$, for N. oculata and $38.07\%,\;13.19\%,\;and\;7.13\%$, for P. tricornutum, respectively. Glutamic acid was the highest concentration for both species. Galactose (3,712.02 mg/100g), fucose (1,966.03 mg/100g), and glucose (1,814.35 mg/100g) were the major carbohydrates for N. oculatae, and glucose (5,295.45 mg/100g) and mannose (841.34 mg/100g) were for P. tricornutum. K (12,906.86 mg/100g), Mg (1,039.15 mg/100g), Ca (882.57 mg/100g) and Fe (747.20 mg/100g) were the major minerals for N. oculata, and K (11,718.65 mg/100g), Ca (2,003.32 mg/100g), Mg (1,570.84 mg/100g) and Fe (552.58 mg/100g) were for P. tricornutum. In the composition of nucleotides, ADP ($4.77{\mu}mol/g$) was the highest in N. oculata and hypoxanthine (11.74{\mu}mol/g) in P. tricornutum. Large amount of linoleic acid (18: 2, $\omega-6$) was contained in N. oculata. In contrast 16: 1 ($\omega-7$) and 20: 5 ($\omega-3$) were major fatty acid in P. tricornutum. The antioxidative activities of organic solvent extracts of two microalgae were measured by the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay method. The chloroform extract obtained from P. tricornutum was identified to be the most effective in DPPH radical scavenging activity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.1460-1470
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• 2013

To examine whether miscellaneous cereal grains have an antithrombotic effect, we investigated the anticoagulant activity of 80% ethanol extracts from eleven selected miscellaneous cereal grains. The 80% ethanol extract of hwanggeumchal sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) showed the highest anticoagulant activity, followed by that of green foxtail millet grains, in terms of thrombin time (TT). When the ethanol extract of hwanggeumchal sorghum was sequentially fractionated with n-hexane, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, and n-butanol, the majority of the TT-inhibitory activity was detected in the hexane and methylene chloride fractions. Whereas aspirin (final conc. 480 ${\mu}g/ml$) prolonged TT by 2-fold, the ethanol extract, hexane fraction, and methylene chloride fraction in the same dose prolonged TT by 2.2-fold, 2.9-fold, and 2.5-fold, respectively. The ethanol extract of hwanggeumchal sorghum could delay activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT) as well as prothrombin time (PT). Although the APTT-inhibitory activity of the ethanol extract was mainly partitioned into the hexane and methylene chloride fractions, the PT-inhibitory activity of the ethanol extract was solely partitioned into the hexane fraction. The APTT- and PT-inhibitory activities of these organic solvent fractions were more potent than those of the control warfarin (final conc. 3.13 mg/ml). The TT-inhibitory activity of the ethanol extract was heat-stable and acid-stable. The ethanol extract, hexane fraction, and methylene chloride fraction of hwanggeumchal sorghum appeared to possess a direct fibrinolytic activity toward fibrin clotting. These results show that hwanggeumchal sorghum can exert anticoagulant and fibrinolytic effects and, thus, have the potential to be applicable as antithrombotic dietary sources.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2014

In the course of study for a use for non-edible parts of broccoli (Brassica oleracea L), and the development of processed food utilizing these parts, edible floret and non-edible stalk were extracted with ethanol and different organic solvent fractions were prepared. With 10 different extracts and fractions, their useful components and various biological activities, such as antioxidant, antimicrobial and anti-proliferation activity, were investigated. The stalk has more abundant water soluble carbohydrate when compared with the floret, and floret has higher hexane-soluble pigments. Analysis of total flavonoid and total polyphenol contents showed that the floret has 1.5~1.99 times higher concentrations than the stalk. Among the fractions, ethylacetate (EA) fractions have the highest amount of total flavonoid and total polyphenol. The stalk and floret possessed 9.45 and 42.01 mg-total flavonoid/g, respectively. In the antioxidation activity assay, the EA fraction of floret showed strong radical scavenging activity and reducing power, while the n-hexane fraction of the stalk exhibited nitrite scavenging activity. In the antimicrobial activity assay, the EA fraction of floret showed a strong and broad-range of antibacterial activity, irrespective of gram positive or gram negative bacteria. In a while, the hexane and EA fractions revealed anti-proliferative effects against the human colorectal cancer cell HCT-116. Strong anti-proliferative activities were found in the hexane fraction of stalk (18.4% of cell viability), and the n-butanol fraction of floret (6.9% of cell viability). Our results suggest that the further study of the characterization of active fractions and the identification of active components from different parts of broccoli are needed to develop functional foods or novel plant-derived medicines.