• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.249-256
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The traditional Korean diet is plant-based and rich in antioxidants. Previous studies have investigated the potential health benefits of individual nutrients of Korean foods. However, the cumulative effects of a Korean diet on inflammation remain poorly understood. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of a plant-based Korean diet. MATERIALS/METHODS: Using data from the Fifth Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 75 individual plant food items were selected which represent over 1% of the total diet intake of the Korean diet. These items were classified into ten different food groups, and the vegetable (Veg) and fruit (Fruit) groups were studied based on their high antioxidant capacity. For comparison, a mixture of all ten groups (Mix) was prepared. To produce a model of inflammation with which to test these Veg, Fruit, and Mix plant-based Korean food extracts (PKE), RAW264.7 macrophages were treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). RESULTS: Levels of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$), as well as protein expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were found to be lower following PKE treatment. Furthermore, PKE treatment was found to suppress tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) via the nuclear transcription factor kappa-B ($NF-{\kappa}B$) signaling pathway. Overall, the Mix group exhibited the greatest anti-inflammatory effects compared with Veg and Fruit PKE group. CONCLUSIONS: Inhibition of LPS-induced pro-inflammatory mediators by the PKE tested was found to involve an inhibition of NF-kB activation. Moreover, PKE tested have the potential to ameliorate various inflammation-related diseases by limiting the excessive production of pro-inflammatory mediators.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.5
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• pp.721-729
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• 2013

To improve the quality and functionality of the low salt squid Jeot-gal, extracts from three types of medicinal and edible plants (bay leaf, green tea, pine needle) were added. The quality characteristics, bioactivities, and shelf-lives of these preparations were determined at three different fermentation temperatures. The pH decreased more rapidly at higher temperatures, while the amount of volatile basic nitrogen (VBN), total viable cells, and amino nitrogen ($NH_2$-N) increased. The shelf-lives of Jeot-gal with natural plant extracts at $10^{\circ}C$ were 34~35 days, similar to the control. The major free and compositional amino acids of Jeot-gal were glutamic acid, proline, and alanine, while the major nucleotides (and related compounds) were hypoxanthine and inosine. In bioactivity assays, samples supplemented with plant extracts showed higher bioactivities than the control. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of ethanol extracts from Jeot-gal were stronger than the water extracts; in contrast, the water extracts were stronger for hydrogen peroxide scavenging activity. However, superoxide dismutase (SOD)-like activity and ${\beta}$-glucuronidase inhibitory activity were moderately low at 20 mg/mL. Based on sensory evaluation results, the quality of low salt squid Jeot-gal with natural plant extracts is similar to the control. Therefore, low salt squid Jeot-gal with natural plant extracts can be commercialized as a functional fermented food.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.53-57
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• 2013

This study was performed to examine the possibility of water extracts for several medicinal plants, such as Amomum tsao-ko, Alpinia oxyphylla, and Citrus unshiu, as an active packaging ingredient for prevention of lipid oxidation. Chicken breast meats were packed with medicinal plant extracts incorporated carrageenan based films and their physico-chemical and microbial properties during storage at $5^{\circ}C$ were investigated. In chicken meat samples packed with A. tsao-ko (TF) or A. oxyphylla (OF) extract incorporated carrageenan based films, pH value, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and the population of total microbes were significantly lower than those of the negative control (film of no extract was incorporated, CF) after 5 d of storage (p<0.05). Especially, TBARS value of TF ($0.12{\pm}0.01$ mg malonaldehyde/kg meat) was significantly lower than chicken meat samples packed with positive control (ascorbic acid incorporated film, AF, $0.16{\pm}0.01$ mg malonaldehyde/kg meat) at 3 d of storage, and it means TF has enough antioxidative activity to prevent the lipid oxidation of chicken meat. However, there was no consistent effect on VBN values of chicken meats packed with medicinal plant extracts incorporated films during storage. Based on the obtained results, it is considered that A. tsao-ko extract has potential for being used as a natural antioxidant ingredient in active packaging areas.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.798-802
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• 2005

Crude extracts of thirty seaweeds collected in Korea were obtained using 50% ethanol, and total phenolic contents and antioxidant activities were compared. Two brown algae, Ecklonia cava (E. cava) and Sargassum siliquastrum (S. siliquastrum), showing high antioxidant activity based on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and superoxide anion radical scavenging activity were further investigated for their inhibitory effects on tyrosinase activity. The E. cava extract had the highest total phenolic content among the seaweeds extracts. Total phenolic contents were strongly correlated with antioxidant activity in the thirty seaweed extracts ($R^2\;=\;0.9169$). The E. cava and S. siliquastrum extracts exhibited higher inhibition to tyrosinase activity than butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).

• Journal of Radiation Industry
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.319-323
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• 2010

Recently, Korean traditional raw rice wines (RRW) have received attention because they are a nutritious food with health properties. But the rapid deterioration of fermented RRW is one of the serious problems for brewing and marketing in the world beyond Korea. The goal of this study was to develop a way to enhance the quality and to lengthen the period of circulation of the RRW. A lactic acid bacterium was isolated from RRW. It was identified as Lactobacillus fermentum (98%) based on its biochemical properties, and 16S rRNA sequence. Treatments of RRW with gamma radiation and green tea extracts reduced the bacterial population except for yeasts and Lactobacillus in the RRW. This result suggested that the natural plant extracts and catechin products can be used as an effective natural storage agent.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.90-99
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• 2020

This study aimed to screen for plants with antimicrobial potential among the evergreen woody species of South Korea that are used for horticulture and landscaping and to provide basic information about plants with proven antimicrobial activity to underpin future research. The plant materials were extracted under various conditions, and the antimicrobial activities of the extracts were evaluated by agar diffusion assay. The screening tests demonstrated that the crude extracts of 43 species had inhibitory effects against S. aureus. The inhibitory activities of four species (Elaeocarpus sylvestris, Camellia japonica, Cleyera japonica, and Quercus salicina) were relatively higher than that of the synthetic antimicrobial agents methylparaben and phenoxyethanol. The highest inhibitory activity was observed with the leaf extracts (extracted with methanol for 30 minutes) of E. sylvestris, based on induction of the largest inhibition zone of 23.3 mm in size. In addition, solvent fractions of E. sylvestris were evaluated. The largest inhibitory zone of 23.1 mm was observed for the n-butanol fraction, which is likely to contain effective compounds that exhibit inhibitory activity against S. aureus. In contrast, n-hexane and residual aqueous fractions showed no antimicrobial activity. Overall, our findings confirm that evergreen woody plants native to South Korea have potential antimicrobial activity.

• Journal of Animal Science and Technology
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• v.65 no.1
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• pp.225-243
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• 2023

Large amounts of additives are used during meat product processing to maintain product quality and shelf life. With the growing interest in healthy foods, natural plant-based additives are being used as alternatives to synthetic additives. In this study, six types of natural extracts with excellent antibacterial activity were selected, and their antibacterial and antioxidant activities against four types of pathogens were evaluated in various combinations. In addition, the pH, color, amount of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS), and growth of pathogenic microorganisms were analyzed during the storage of sausages treated with various combinations of these extracts. The natural extract mixtures exhibited different antibacterial activities, depending on the combination. Compared to grapefruit seed extract, a mixture of natural extracts extracted with ethanol (M4) reduced the Escherichia coli content by more than 99.9% after 8 days of storage and slowed the growth of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. by more than 80% after 14 days. Compared to untreated (NC) and grapefruit extract (PC)-treated sausages, sausages treated with the natural extract mixtures showed a significant decrease in CIE L^* and an increase in CIE a^* and CIE b^* (p < 0.05). The pH value was significantly lower in sausages containing natural extract mixtures than in the NC and PC sausages (p < 0.05). The natural plant extract mixtures significantly prevented lipid oxidation (p < 0.05). In summary, different types of natural extract mixtures have a synergistic effect when used together, suggesting that natural preservatives can generally inhibit the growth of microorganisms and oxidation of processed meat.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.35 no.1 s.136
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• pp.52-61
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• 2004

Inhibitory activities of 264 methanol extracts, which were prepared from different parts of 210 kinds of wild and medicinal plants, against human thrombin were evaluated. Based on the anti-coagulation activity determined by thrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin time, the 14 extracts were screened. The fibrinolytic activity, heat stability and inhibition of other proteolytic digestive enzymes, such as pepsin, papain, trypsin and chymotrypsin, of the 14 extracts were further determined, and Ginko biloba (herba), Ephedra sinica (radix), Reynoutria elliptica (herba), Amomum tsao-ko Crevost (fructus), and Magnolia officinalis Rehd. et Wils (bark) were finally selected as possible plant sources for anti-thrombosis agent. These results suggested that medicinal and wild plants could be the potential source of thrombin inhibitor.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.42-47
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• 2023

Carthamus tinctorius L. (known as safflower) is a valuable oil plant whose importance is increasing rapidly in the world due to its high adaptation to arid regions. The seeds of this unique plant are especially used in edible oil, soap, paint, varnish and lacquer production. Its flowers are used in vegetable dye production and medicinal purposes beside its features as a coloring and flavoring in food. After the oil is removed, the remaining pulp and plant parts are used as animal feed, and dry straw residues are used as fuel. Beside all these features, its usage as a herbal medicinal plants for various diseases has gained importance on recent years. In this study, it was designed a plant metabolomic approach which transfers all the recent data processing strategies of untargeted metabolomics in clinical applications to the present study. Q-TOF LC/MS-based analysis of the extracts (70% ethanol, hexane, and chloroform) for both seed and flowers was performed using a C18 column (Agilent Zorbax 1.8 µM, 100 × 2.1 mm). Differences were observed in seed and fruit extracts and these differences were visualized using principal component analysis (PCA) plots. The total number and intersections of the peaks in the extracts were visualized using peak count comparison graph. Based on the experimental results, the number of the detected peaks for seeds was higher than the ones for the flowers for all solvent systems to extract the samples.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2009

We examined the inhibitory effects of loquat methanol extract on the adhesion, migration, invasion and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activities of MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line. Cells were cultured with DMSO or with 10, 25, or 50 ${\mu}g/ml$ of loquat methanol extract. Both leaf and seed extracts significantly inhibited growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner, although leaf extract was more effective. Adhesion and migration were significantly inhibited by loquat extracts in a dose-dependent manner. Loquat extract also inhibited the invasion of breast cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner and leaf extract was more effective than seed extract. MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities were also inhibited by loquat extract. Our results indicate that methanol extracts of loquat inhibit the adhesion, migration and invasion of human breast cancer cells partially through the inhibition of MMP activity and leaf extract has more anti-metastatic effects in cell based assay than seed extract. Clinical application of loquat extract as a potent chemopreventive agent may be helpful in limiting breast cancer invasion and metastasis.