• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.447-453
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• 2008

Zinc is an essential trace element in Human Being. Highly zinc containing yeast strain isolated from the tropical fruit, rambutan and the zinc concentration in this yeast strain was 306 ppm (30.6 mg%)per dry matter basis. This strain was found to be a rounded type, normal size, and multi-polar budding. Phylogenetic analysis using the ITS1-5.85 rDNA sequences from isolated strain is most similar to yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae at the level of nucleotide sequence identity at 99%. This strain was produced alcohol by about 12% using fully colonized koji-rice with Aspergillus oryzae. In conclusion, the isolated strain was found to be closely related to the S. cerevisiae based on its morphological and physiological properties, and alcohol fermentation. The phylogenetic analysis of strain FF-10 using ITS 5.8S rDNA sequence data also supported the closely related to the S. cerevisiae. Accordingly, the isolated yeast was named as S. cerevisiae FF-10. Further studies on the best culture conditions for zinc production from zinc-enriched S. cerevisiae FF-10 are under investigation.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.322-326
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• 2009

Glutathione is a well-known chemotherapeutic agent and a popular nutritional supplement for liver disease and oxidative stress. Our previous studies reported the suppressive effects of the glutathione-enriched Saccharomyces cerevisiae FF-8 (FF-8) strain on carbon tetrachloride- and alcohol-induced oxidative stress in rats. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effect of the FF-8 strain on lipid peroxidation in tissues of rats with orotic acid (OA)-induced fatty liver. OA treatment showed a significant decrease in body weight gain compared to the normal diet, and simultaneous addition of FF-8 and OA had the same effect. OA treatment produced an increase in liver weight, however, this also increased with simultaneous addition of FF-8 and OA. Liver lipid peroxidation was significantly increased by OA, but was significantly decreased by FF-8 strain treatment. This same tendency was found in the kidney and heart. Concentration levels of hepatic glutathione and zinc are known to be closely associated with the antioxidant system, and OA treatment led to reductions in liver glutathione and zinc concentrations, whereas these were significantly increased by FF-8 strain treatment in OA feeding rats. These results suggest that the glutathione-enriched S. cerevisiae FF-8 strain may positively mediate orotic acid-induced oxidative stress by enhancing glutathione and zinc levels in rat livers.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.1207-1213
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• 2008

The possible protective effects of highly zinc-containing yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, FF-10 strain, isolated from tropical fruit rambutan on acute alcoholic liver injury in rats were evaluated. Zinc concentration in this strain was 30.6mg%. The activities of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and $\gamma$-glutamyl transpeptidase ($\gamma$-GTP) were highly increased when alcohol was treated, relative to the normal rats. Also, a highly significant increase in the blood alcohol and acetaldehyde levels by alcohol treatment was observed. Administration of FF-10 strain markedly prevented alcohol-induced elevation of the activities of serum ALT, AST, and $\gamma$-GTP, and the levels of blood alcohol and acetaldehyde, and these reduced levels reached to that of normal rats. As compared with alcohol treated control rats, the FF-10 strain supplementation showed highly decreased the triglyceride concentration in serum. Alcohol treatment induced the marked accumulation of small lipid droplets, hepatocytes necrosis, and inflammation, but FF-10 strain administration attenuated to alcohol-induced accumulation of small lipid droplets and hepatocyte necrosis in the liver. Therefore, the current finding suggests that zinc-enriched yeast FF-10 strain isolated from tropical fruit rambutan may have protective effect against alcohol-induced hepatotoxicity.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1053-1058
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• 2008

Glutathione is a well known chemotherapeutic agent for liver disease and is a popular nutritional supplement in the United States. Previous our studies reported the suppressive effects of glutathione-enriched Saccharomyces cerevisiae FF-8 strain (FF-8GY) on carbon tetrachloride- and alcohol-induced hepatotoxicity. The primary objective of this study was to investigate the comparative effects of FF-8GY and commercially available glutathione-enriched yeast extract (GYE) against the oxidative stress in alcohol-induced fatty liver of rats. The lipid peroxidative index (thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances, TBARS) and antioxidant status (reduced glutathione level) were used to monitor those protective roles of FF-8GY or GYE treatment. When the rat was treated alcohol, the TBARS levels in the whole liver and the subfractions of microsomal and mitochondria were significantly increased but these were significantly decreased by FF-8GY treatment and tended to be lowered by GYE treatment. The concentration of hepatic glutathione is known to be closely associated with antioxidant system and this was slightly deplete in the alcohol-induced rats, but this was recovered by treating with FF-8GY. However, the glutathione concentration was more significantly decreased in the GYE supplementation in alcohol feeding rats. Alcohol treatment also negatively affected the serum total protein and albumin, but these were significantly increased near normal levels in FF-8GY coadministered rats. These results suggest that glutathione-enriched Saccharomyces cerevisiae FF-8 strain may have positively mediate the alcohol-induced oxidative stress, and this effect was more pronounced in FF-8GY compared to GYE.