• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.39 no.1
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• pp.43-47
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• 2013

Objectives: We investigated the effects of Korean gastrodia and bee pollen on testosterone production in Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: This study measured the body weight, consumption of food and water, and serum testosterone concentration in SD rats fed for four weeks with gastrodia and bee pollen. Results: The average body weights after four weeks were $375{\pm}2g$ for the control group, $358{\pm}3g$ for gastrodia consumption, and $354{\pm}2g$ and $367{\pm}8g$ for acorn pollen and Siberian gooseberry pollen, respectively. The average food consumption in SD rats over the four weeks in the control was 23.6 g for gastrodia consumption, 24.3 g and 24.9 g for acorn pollen and Siberian gooseberry pollen, respectively. The average water consumption over the four weeks was 38.33 ml in the control group, 35.0 ml for gastrodia treatment, and 33.3 ml and 33.3 ml for acorn pollen and Siberian gooseberry pollen treatment, respectively. The testosterone secretion levels in the serum of male rats were increased by gastrodia, acorn pollen, and Siberian gooseberry pollen (2.68, 3.00, and 3.28 pg/ml, respectively) compared to the control group (2.23 pg/ml). Conclusions: These results suggest that gastrodia or bee pollen may be developed as a complementary medicine to improve sexual hormone production.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.87-93
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• 2007

This study investigated the antimicrobial effect of germinated acorn pollen solution on harmful food-borne microorganisms. The antimicrobial activity when 8% (w/v) acorn pollen in 10% (w/v) sugar solution was extracted at $30^{\circ}C$ for 4 days. The minimal inhibitory concentration of this germinated acorn pollen solution was $40\;{\mu}L/mL$ for Gram-positive bacteria and $30\;{\mu}L/mL$ for Gram-negative bacteria. Acetic and lactic acids were present at high levels in germinated acom pollen solution. As pollen germination releases heat, the antimicrobial activities are heat-stable. The activities are tolerant of low pH. In summary, acorn pollen germination solution showed active antibiosis and should be developed as a natural preservative material.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.119-122
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• 2013

Pollens have been known to possess various biological properties. Therefore, pollens have been extensively used in functional food, folk medicine, and beverage industry to improve human health. This study was conducted to establish the optimized protocol for cytoplasm isolation of bee pollen. Data of biochemical parameters and fatty acid profiles were obtained from pollens of Acorn and Darae(Actinidia arguta). Contents of crude protein and crude fat were 24.1% and 11.8% in Acorn pollen, and those of Darae pollen showed 35.8% and 8.7% in crude protein and crude fat respectively. Also after lyophilizing of Acorn pollen, content of crude protein was increased to 26.5%. Main fatty acids were palmitic acid(C16 : 0), oleic acid(C18 : 1), linoleic acid(C18 : 2) and linolenic acid(C18 : 3) in bee pollen. Linoleic acid(37.3%) was dominant fatty acid in Acorn pollen that is one of essential fatty acids. Linolenic acid(48.3%) was dominant fatty acid in Darae pollen that is a polyunsaturated fatty acid. The proportion of unsaturated fatty acids to total acid content was 73.2% in Acorn and 63.2% in Darae pollen, and especially that of polyunsaturated fatty acids was higher than 55%.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.7
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• pp.501-509
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• 2022

Pollen corrected from Quercus species is abundant in Korea and has been used to treat anemia and inflammation of the prostate gland. It is also used for hemostasis in oriental medicine. In this study, the ethanol extract of the acorn pollen and its subsequent organic solvent fractions using hexane, ethylacetate, butanol, and water residue were prepared, and their antioxidant, anti-thrombosis, and hemolysis activities were evaluated. The ethylacetate fraction of acorn pollen (EF-AP) showed the highest polyphenol content (225.0 mg/g) and strong antioxidant activity among the solvent fractions. The RC₅₀ of EF-AP against DPPH, ABTS, and nitrite radicals was 72.2, 27.7, and 62.6 ㎍/ml, respectively. The blood coagulation activities of the all-solvent fractions determined by thrombin time, prothrombin time, and activated partial thromboplastin time were negligible up to 5 mg/ml. Platelet aggregation inhibitory activities were observed in the EF-AP, butanol fraction, and water residue, whereas hexane fraction induced strong platelet aggregation. The EF-AP has no hemolysis activity against human RBC up to 1 mg/ml. UPLC/MS/MS analysis of the EF-AP revealed that rutin, isoquercitrin, and astragalin are major compounds for antioxidant and anti-thrombosis activities. Our results suggest that EF-AP could be developed as a noble antioxidant and anti-thrombosis agent.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1353-1358
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• 2004

This study was conducted to increase crude protein and reducing sugar contents in pollen extracts by proteases. Four commercial neutral proteases (Alcalase 2.4L, Protamex, Flavozyme and Protease A) and two alkaline proteases (Protease S and Protease P) were used to prepare acorn and Darae pollen extracts. Contents of moisture, ash, crude protein and crude fat of acorn pollen were 5.2%, 2.7%, 6.2% and 22.3%, respectively, while those of Darae pollen were 5.4%, 2.8%, 1.8% and 27.8%, respectively. Contents of crude protein and reducing sugar in pollen extracts were increased by proteases. Alcalase 2.4L was the most effective in increasing protein contents while Protease A in increasing reducing sugar contents. It is suggested the use of proteases is one of the potential methods for increasing the contents of crude protein and reducing sugar in preparation of pollen extracts.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.869-875
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• 1997

The chemical components of Korean pollens and pollen extracts were analysed to provide fundamental data for pollen processing and products development. The contents of crude protein, crude lipid, crude ash, crude fiber and carbohydrate of pollens were $14.0{\sim}22.3%,\;3.0{\sim}8.8%,\;2.2{\sim}3.3%,\;0{\sim}37.5%,\;and\;31.9{\sim}64.4%$ respectively, showing the specially high crude fiber content (37.5%) in Pine pollen. Almost all the carbohydrate, lipid, protein and ash components except fiber were extracted by water and n-hexane. Free sugars identified in water extracts $(10\;^{\circ}Bx)$ of pollens were fructose and glucose as major component and maltose as minor component. The proportions of three free sugars to total soluble solid content of Mixed, Acorn, and Pine water extracts were 73.6%, 85.4% and 47.7% respectively. Potassium and phosphorus content in pollens and pollen water extracts were high, but Ca, Na, Mg, Fe and Zn were not major mineral components. The essential amino acids such as leucine, phenylalanine, methionine, lysine, valine, isoleucine and threonine were contained richly in pollens and those were almost completely extracted by water. Vitamin $B_1$ and C were not detected, but only small amount of vitamin $B_2$ was detected in the pollens and pollen extracts tested. The essential fatty acids such as linoleic acid and linolenic acid were contained richly in pollens. The proportion of unsaturated fatty acids to total fatty acid content in Mixed, Acorn and Darae pollen except Pine was higher than 50%.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.165-169
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• 2014

In this study, we measured antioxidant activity as DPPH radical scavenging and the total polyphenol content of pulverized and lyophilized oak pollens inoculated with fungi to confirm the husk removal effect. The total polyphenol content of oak pollen was highest in lyophilized pollen medium inoculated with Armillaria mellea, and was lowest in pollen inoculated with Lentinula edodes. Total polyphenol content of the lyophilized pollen was higher than that of the refined pollen and the pulverized pollen in oak pollen germinated with A. mellea. The total polyphenol content of the lyophilized oak pollen germinated with A. mellea was 1.4-fold higher than that extracted with water. Measurement of antioxidant activity using the DPPH (2, 2 diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) free radical scavenging method showed that the lyophilized oak pollen germinated with A. mellea had the highest and that germinated with L. edodes was lowest in antioxidant activities. The lyophilized oak pollen germinated with A. mellea was 2 to 4 times higher than that extracted with water in the antioxidant activity of DPPH free radical scavenging. Many germinated cells were formed around pore of acorn pollen inoculated with L. edodes, while those were formed at the end of hyphae derived from oak pollen inoculated with A. mellea.

• Journal of Apiculture
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.261-268
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• 2017

We evaluated the nutritional composition including proximate, amino acid, vitamin, minerals, and the antioxidant activity of buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) pollen grains collected by Apis mellifera bees, to be used as a species of forage plant with Quercus acutissima (acorn) and Actinidia arguta pollen grains. The content of crude protein and fat were found 14.43% and 5.67%, respectively. Eighteen amino acids from buckwheat pollen were found, including 8 essential amino acids. The predominant amino acids were glutamic acid, aspartic acid and lysine, accounting for about 42.7% of total free amino acids. The concentration of vitamin C was the highest value of 13.7 mg/100g, followed by $B_3$ (niacin) and $B_1$ among the detected vitamins. The predominant minerals were potassium (1197.95mg/100g), followed by phosphorus (962.77mg/100g) and magnesium (535.42mg/100g), whereas copper, zinc and manganese were detected as minor elements. Antioxidant activity and total phenolic content accounted for 8.1% at $500{\mu}g/ml$ extract and $2.25{\mu}g/mg$, respectively.