• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.46-61
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: An increasing life expectancy in society has burdened healthcare systems substantially because of the rising prevalence of age-related metabolic diseases. This study compared the effects of animal protein hydrolysate (APH) and casein on metabolic diseases using aged mice. MATERIALS/METHODS: Eight-week-old and 50-week-old C57BL/6J mice were used as the non-aged (YC group) and aged controls (NC group), respectively. The aged mice were divided randomly into 3 groups (NC, low-APH [LP], and high-APH [HP] and fed each experimental diet for 12 weeks. In the LP and HP groups, casein in the AIN-93G diet was substituted with 16 kcal% and 24 kcal% APH, respectively. The mice were sacrificed when they were 63-week-old, and plasma and hepatic lipid, white adipose tissue weight, hepatic glucose, lipid, and antioxidant enzyme activities, immunohistochemistry staining, and mRNA expression related to the glucose metabolism on liver and muscle were analyzed. RESULTS: Supplementation of APH in aging mice resulted in a significant decrease in visceral fat (epididymal, perirenal, retroperitoneal, and mesenteric fat) compared to the negative control (NC) group. The intraperitoneal glucose tolerance test and area under the curve analysis revealed insulin resistance in the NC group, which was alleviated by APH supplementation. APH supplementation reduced hepatic gluconeogenesis and increased glucose utilization in the liver and muscle. Furthermore, APH supplementation improved hepatic steatosis by reducing the hepatic fatty acid and phosphatidate phosphatase activity while increasing the hepatic carnitine palmitoyltransferase activity. Furthermore, in the APH supplementation groups, the red blood cell (RBC) thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and hepatic H₂O₂ levels decreased, and the RBC glutathione, hepatic catalase, and glutathione peroxidase activities increased. CONCLUSIONS: APH supplementation reduced visceral fat accumulation and alleviated obesity-related metabolic diseases, including insulin resistance and hepatic steatosis, in aged mice. Therefore, high-quality animal protein APH that reduces the molecular weight and enhances the protein digestibility-corrected amino acid score has potential as a dietary supplement for healthy aging.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.109-125
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• 2023

This study was conducted to select target fish species as baseline research for accumulation analysis of major hazardous chemicals entering the aquatic ecosystem in Korea and to analyze the impact on fish community. The test bed was selected from a sewage treatment plant, which could directly confirm the impact of the inflow of harmful chemicals, and the Geum River estuary where harmful chemicals introduced into the water system were concentrated. A multivariable metric model was developed to select target candidate fish species for hazardous chemical analysis. Details consisted of seven metrics: (1) commercially useful metric, (2) top-carnivorous species metric, (3) pollution fish indicator metric, (4) tolerance fish metric, (5) common abundant metric, (6) sampling availability (collectability) metric, and (7) widely distributed fish metric. Based on seven metric models for candidate fish species, eight species were selected as target candidates. The co-occurring dominant fish with target candidates was tolerant (50%), indicating that the highest abundance of tolerant species could be used as a water pollution indicator. A multi-metric fish-based model analysis for aquatic ecosystem health evaluation showed that the ecosystem health was diagnosed as "bad conditions". Physicochemical water quality variables also influenced fish feeding and tolerance guild in the testbed. Eight water quality parameters appeared high at the T1 site, indicating a large impact of discharging water from the sewage treatment plant. T2 site showed massive algal bloom, with chlorophyll concentration about 15 times higher compared to the reference site.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.129-136
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• 2010

This study was initiated to investigate thatch accumulation in several turfgrasses grown under two soil systems. The 45 centimeter deep USGA system was constructed with rootzone, intermediate and drainage layers. The mono-layer system, however, was made with only a 30cm rootzone layer. Turfgrasses used in the study were comprised of 3 varieties from Korean lawngrass of Warm-Season Grass(WSG) and 3 blends and 3 mixtures from Cool-Season Grass(CSG). A total of 9 turfgrass treatments were replicated three times in RCBD in both systems. Cultural practices for the research plot followed a typical maintenance program for highly managed turf. Treatment differences for thatch accumulation were observed among the turfgrasses in both soil systems. Thatch under the USGA system was 9% greater than under the mono-layer system due to its more favorable conditions for turf growth. Higher thatch depth was found with Korean lawngrass, 34~87% in the USGA system and 16~75% in the mono-layer system when compared with CSG. Among WSG, the Joongji variety was the highest in thatch layer under both the USGA and mono-layer systems. Kentucky bluegrass(KB) was the greatest among CSG, since it is a rhizomatous-type in growth habit, resulting in faster production of organic matter over bunch-type of tall fescue and perennial ryegrass. Proper depth in the thatch layer was known to be beneficial by enhancing the resiliency and wear tolerance of the turf in athletic fields. Thus, KB was considered to be a very excellent turfgrass in terms of turf quality, environmental performance, physical properties and soccer player safety. However, disadvantages such as poor water-holding properties, more inclined to injury from environmental stresses and severe diseases and insect injury were also expected where thatch was excessively accumulated. Therefore, these results demonstrate that more frequent measures for controlling thatch such as vertical mowing, topdressing or coring should be employed for soccer fields with Korean lawngrass and KB over other turfgrasses.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.73-80
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• 2014

Pretreatment of chinese cabbage leaves with $100{\mu}M$ sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a nitric oxide (NO) donor, effectively improved their tolerance to subsequent $2{\mu}M$ paraquat (PQ)-induced oxidative damage. The fresh weight, and chlorophyll and protein contents in primary leaves treated with PQ alone were noticeably reduced over 24 h light incubation. However, these leaf injury symptoms were significantly alleviated with $100{\mu}M$ SNP pretreatment for 3 h prior to PQ exposure. In additions, the increase of the contents of malondialdehyde (MDA) and $H_2O_2$ due to PQ exposure were significantly inhibited by SNP pretreatment. Together with the protective effects of SNP against PQ toxicity in leaves, the changes of ascorbate-glutathione cycle enzymes activities were examined. In the PQ alone treatment, the activities of APX, DHAR, and GR after 6 h incubation were rapidly reduced and showed 19%, 50% and 39% respectively, compared with those of the control. However, the decreases in these enzyme activities were significantly inhibited by SNP pretreatment. As a result, their activities were higher than those of PQ alone treatment by 5 times, 2 times, and 1.5 times, respectively, at 6 h incubation. Thereafter, these enzymes decrease their activities gradually showing high levels than those of PQ alone. Based on the above results, it can be assumed that the activation of ascorbate-glutathione cycle by SNP pretreatment in chinese cabbage leaves exposed to PQ can prevent $H_2O_2$ accumulation, thereby leading to protection against PQ-induced oxidative stress. Also, these results indicate that NO acts as an protectant against PQ stress in the leaves of chinese cabbage.

• Horticultural Science & Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.564-577
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• 2016

Salinity stress limits plant cultivation in many areas worldwide; however, persimmon (Diospyros spp.) has high tolerance to salt. Five accessions of Diospyros [three of Diospyros lotus (accession numbers 824, 846, and 847); one of Diospyros kaki var. sylvestris (869); and one of Diospyros virginiana (844)] were chosen for analysis of salinity stress. We compared the effects of salt stress on plant growth, relative water content (RWC), malondialdehyde (MDA), electrolyte leakage (EL), hydrogen peroxide content ($H_2O_2$), and antioxidative enzyme activities (superoxide dismutase, SOD; catalase, CAT; peroxidase, POD; and ascorbate peroxidase, APX) in leaves of healthy potted seedlings from each of the five accessions after salt treatment for 25 days. Salt stress affected the growth of plants in all five accessions, with all three D. lotus accessions showing the most severe effect. Salt stress increased membrane lipid peroxidation in all accessions, but a stronger increase was observed in the three D. lotus accessions. Moreover, accumulation of $H_2O_2$ was faster in salt-sensitive D. lotus compared to salt-tolerant D. virginiana 844. The activities of all antioxidant enzymes increased in D. virginiana 844 and in D. kaki var. sylvestris 869; the activities of SOD, CAT, and APX were at similar levels in D. virginiana 844 and D. kaki var. sylvestris 869, but POD activity was stimulated to a greater extent in D. virginiana 844. The activities of all antioxidant enzymes (except POD) decreased in D. lotus 824 and increased (except for SOD) in D.lotus 846. The activities of SOD and APX decreased in D. lotus 847, whereas POD and CAT activities both increased. Relative water content decreased significantly in D. lotus. No significant changes in lipid peroxidation or relevant antioxidant parameters were detected in any of the accessions in controls treated with 0.0% NaCl. D. virginiana 844 had higher antioxidant capacity in response to salinity compared to other persimmon rootstocks. These results indicate that changes of these key physiological variables are related to salinity resistance in different accessions of persimmon.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.726-732
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• 2018

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Bacillus polyfermenticus KJS-2 (B. polyfermenticus KJS-2) and Angelica gigas Nakai extracts (AGNE) on hyperlipidermia. The purity of the major decursin and decursinol angelate (D/DA) in the AGNE were analyzed at 78%. Increased concentrations of AGNE (0.1-20 mg/ml) showed a higher 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl (HMG)-CoA reductase inhibition activity. Endospore-forming B. polyfermenticus KJS-2 ($1{\times}10^9CFU/ml$) exhibited good bile tolerance (0.3 mm) on an agar plate. An animal study was carried out using different groups, including a normal control, positive control (atorvastatin), negative control (triton WR-1339), AGNE group, B. polyfermenticus KJS-2 group, AGNE + B. polyfermenticus KJS-2 group, and Atorvastatin + AGNE + B. polyfermenticus KJS-2 group to determine the effect of hyperlipidemia. There were no significant changes in body weight, kidney weight, or liver weight except for the liver weight of the triton WR-1339-treated group. Groups with AGNE and B. polyfermenticus KJS-2 had increased HDL-cholesterol and decreased total cholesterol and triglycerides. The liver histopathological results also showed that all AGNE and B. polyfermenticus KJS-2-treated groups contained lower fat accumulation in the liver tissues. The findings of this study verified that AGNE and Endospore-forming B. polyfermenticus KJS-2 combination materials have a hyperlipidemic effect.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.88-92
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• 2015

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is a useful root crop for food, animal feed and various industrial materials including biofuel. Despite of its importance as an industrial crop, the genetic engineering approaches to manipulate transgenic plant development in cassava are limited. In this study, to develop new cultivar with high level of carotenoids and enhanced tolerance to environmental stresses, sweetpotato IbOr gene involved in accumulation of carotenoids was introduced into an Indonesian IDB high-yielding cassava cultivar under the control of oxidative stress-inducible SWPA2 promoter through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of friable embryogenic calli. The 19 transgenic lines were successfully generated on the basis of gDNA-PCR and IbOr transcript levels for further characterization in terms of carotenoid contents and environmental stresses. Therefore, IbOr transgenic cassava plants may be developed for enhanced biomass production with high levels of carotenoids on marginal lands.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.48 no.11
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• pp.1239-1243
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• 2005

Purpose : Iron accumulation interferes with hepatic insulin extraction and affects insulin synthesis and secretion. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between serum ferritin and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods : We compared the serum ferritin level among 18 patients in an impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) group, 36 in a type 1 diabetes group, eight in a type 2 diabetes group and 29 in a healthy control group. The correlation between serum ferritin levels and sex, body mass indices(BMI), blood pressure(BP), serum fasting sugar level and serum fasting insulin level were also analyzed. Results : The mean log ferritin were $1.33{\pm}0.32$(healthy control group), $1.63{\pm}0.19$(IGT group) and $1.90{\pm}0.30$(type 2 diabetes group). In the IGT group, log ferritin was higher than in the healthy control group(P=0.001). The log ferritin of the type 2 diabetes group was higher than that of the healthy control group(P=0.001). Comparing log ferritin to other factors, log ferritin had a significant positive correlation with body mass indices(P<0.001), systolic blood pressure(P=0.001), and fasting glucose(P=0.001), fasting insulin(P=0.002). Conclusion : Compared to the normal healthy group, serum ferritin concentrations were significantly higher in the IGT group and the type 2 diabetes group. The elevation of serum ferritin concentration may be a risk factor of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.233-241
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• 2005

Plants have considerable advantages for the production of antigenic proteins because they provide an inexpensive source of protein and an easy administration of vaccine. Since a publication describing edible plant vaccine of HBsAg in 1992, a number of laboratories around the world have studied the use of plants as the bioreactor to produce antigenic proteins of human or animal pathogens. Over the last ten years, these works have been mainly focused on three major strategies for the production of antigenic proteins in plants: stable genetic transformation of either the nuclear or plastid genome, or transient expression in plants using viral vectors. As many antigenic proteins have been expressed in tobacco, also several laboratories have succeeded to express genes encoding antigenic proteins in other crop plants: potato, tomato, maize, carrot, soybean and spinach. At present many works for the production of edible plant vaccine against bacteria-mediated diseases have mostly performed the studies of enterotoxins and adhesion proteins. Also the development of new-type antigens (pili, flagella, surface protein, other enterotoxin and exotoxin etc.) is required for various targets and more efficacy to immunize against microorganism pathogens. Many works mostly studied in experimental animals had good results, and phase I clinical trial of LTB clearly indicated its immunogenic ability. On the other hand, edible plant vaccines have still problems remained to be solved. In addition to the accumulation of sufficient antigen in plants, human health, environment and agriculture regulation should be proven. Also oral tolerance, the physiological response to food antigens and commensal flora is the induction of a state of specific immunological unresponsiveness, needs to be addressed before plant-derived vaccine becomes a therapeutic option.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Agriculture
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.312-318
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• 1998

The potentials of some Korean wild plants as a phytoremediator for cleaning heavy metal pollution were measured. Several plant species, Ambrosia trifida, Brassica juncea, Rumex crispus, and Abutilon theophrasti screened previously for phytoremediator were treated with cadmium and copper solution. In order to know the growth response to heavy metal stress, the plants were cultivated in hydroponic system containing heavy metals with different concentration. To know the effects of heavy metals on emergence and seedling growth, seeds of 4 species were sown in the pot and watered with heavy metal solution adjusted pH to 6.5, 5.5, and 4.5. A proposed species as potential phytoremediator, A. trifida, showed tolerance to $20{\mu}mol/L$ Cd and $80{\mu}mol/L$ Cu in nutrient solution without apparent growth reduction, and up to $100{\mu}mol/L$ Cd and $400{\mu}mol/L$ Cu without critical visual injury. Up to 311mg/kg of Cd and 369mg/kg were accumulated in dried aerial part in A. trifida. In contrast, A. theophrasti showed injury at $400{\mu}mol/L$ Cu. Significant differences were shown in Cu accumulation among the four species. A. trifida had much higher concentrations of Cd in the shoot, whereas R, crispus accumulated higher concentrations of Cd in the shoot. Testing plant species showed reduced emergence rate with heavy metal treatment. When pH was lowered, the emergence and seedling growth were affected severely with heavy metal. We can suggested that A. trifida was the most proper species for phytoremediation in heavy metal-polluted regions.