• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.89-93
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• 2020

Vibrio vulnificus, an opportunistic pathogen, causes septicaemia when raw shellfish and fish are eaten by patients with hepatic diseases or reduced immunity. In this study, we evaluated inhibitory effects of some natural products on V. vulnificus growth using 96-well microplate assay. We found that Phyllanthus emblica L., Rosa chinensis Jacq., Rosa rugose Thub., and Chukrasia tabularis A. Juss. significantly inhibited V. vulnificus growth in Luria-Bertani (LB) broth. Among these four extracts, the inhibition diameter of Chukrasia tabularis was 16.00 ± 0.58 mm in disc diffusion assay on V. vulnificus growth. In addition, these four natural products protected HeLa cells from V. vulnificus-induced cytotoxicity. A cocktail containing these four products showed an inhibitory effect on V. vulnificus growth in seawater and shellfish by reducing its growth by 75.7% and 97%, respectively. These results suggest that these four natural products are safe and effective natural antimicrobial candidates to prevent V. vulnificus infection.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.952-959
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• 2011

A new bacteriocin-producing lactic acid bacteria (LAB) which has been isolated from kimchi was identified as Pediococcus damnosus by use of API kit and 16S rDNA sequencing, and designated as P. damnosus JNU 534. The bacteriocin produced by P. damnosus JNU 534 markedly inhibited the growth of some of LAB and Listeria monocytogenes, whereas other pathogens including Gram negative bacteria were not susceptible. The production of bacteriocin started at the beginning of exponential phase and reached maximum activity at the early stationary phase. The bacteriocin was stable on the wide pH range of 2-9 and heat treatment up to $100^{\circ}C$ for 15 min. The antimicrobial compound was inactivated by treatments of proteolytic enzymes indicating its proteinaceous in nature. The bacteriocin was purified by 30% ammonium sulfate precipitation followed by hydrophobic interaction column and $C_{18}$ column chromatography. The estimated molecular weight of the bacteriocin using tricine SDS-PAGE was approximately 3.4 kDa and the identified N-terminal amino acid sequence was $NH_2$-ILLEELNV.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.561-567
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• 2012

Objectives: Parabens are widely used as antimicrobial agents in pharmaceuticals and cosmetics as well as by the food industry. Parabens have been reported to show weak estrogenic activity and be related to health effects such as allergic reactions and skin and breast cancer. We evaluated an online solid phase extraction (SPE) method coupled with LC-MS/MS technique using free and conjugated parent parabens in human urine for assessing human exposure to parabens. Methods: We employed LC/MS/MS through online solid phase extraction and column-switching techniques and analyzed free and conjugated parabens as biomarkers of human exposure. Four major parabens, methyl-paraben (MP), ethyl-paraben (EP), propyl-paraben (PP) and butyl-paraben (BP), were analyzed. Method validation was performed by sensitivity, accuracy, precision and comparison of the results of online SPE with offline SPE. Results: The limits of detection (LOD) were in the range of 0.2-2 ng/mL, and actual limits of quantification (LOQ) were in the range of 0.7-6 ng/mL urine, depending upon the compound. Accuracy was in the range of 98.3-106.4%, and precision was in the range of 1.3-8.7% (CV) depending upon the compound. We found a good correlation between the results of analysis by online SPE method and that by off-line SPE method. Conclusions: The online SPE method showed proper LOD and validated accuracy, precision and good correlation with the offline method for analyzing parabens in urine.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 2014

Autophagy is one of the lysosomal degradation pathways to maintain cellular homeostasis. The damaged proteins or organelles are uptaken through extra- and intra-cellular stress, starvation and infected pathogens, subsequently, autophagosomes are fused with lysosomes to break down the molecules. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium), intracellular bacteria, cause acute gastroenteritis and food poisoning. Given that autophagy induced by S. Typhimurium plays an important role in the cells to control the infection, we identify whether the induction of autophagy with rapamycin, chemical inducer of autophagy, before infection regulates S. Typhimurium infection. After treatment of rapamycin or 3-methyladenine (3-MA), autophagy inhibitor, RAW264.7 cells were infected with S. Typhimurium. Pretretment of rapamycin decreased the growth rate of S. Typhimurium in the cells; otherwise, pretreatment of 3-MA increased the growth rate of S. Typhimurium. The expression of autophagy-related genes was significantly increased in the S. Typhimurium-infected cells pretreated with rapamycin. To examine whether induced autophagy by rapamycin control the infection with increase the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO), antibacterial radical substrates were measured in infected cells followed by the treatment with either rapamycin or 3-MA. NO production increased in RAW264.7 cells; otherwise, ROS production remained unchanged during the infection. These findings suggest that inducing autophagy with rapamycin reveals antimicrobial activity as producing NO against S. Typhimurium infection in mouse macrophages.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.20 no.12
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• pp.110-116
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• 2019

To investigate the antagonistic inhibitory effects in a mixed culture between probiotics and various pathogenic microorganisms, 140 probiotics were identified using a 16 rRNA sequencing phylogenetic analysis method, and various probiotics strains were isolated from Korean kimchi from January to December 2016. The antagonistic inhibition test of a mixed culture of four probiotics (Enterococcus faecalis, Lactobacillus plantarum, Lactobacillus rhamnosus, and Lactobacillus reuteri) with excellent antimicrobial activity and six pathogenic microorganisms (Candida albicans, Salmonella Enteritidis, E. coli O157:H7, Shigella flexneri, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa)showed that the growth of most probiotics strains increased normally after culture, but growth was inhibited almost completely in most pathogenic microorganisms, except for S. Enteritidis. This antagonistic inhibitory effect in vitro was attributed to the low pH of the lactic acid and organic acid produced during fermentation. As a result, four probiotics strains isolated from Korean Kimchi are very likely to be developed as therapeutic agents for female yeast infections and colon and skin care. In the future, these therapeutic agents will help improve public health related to probiotics.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.12
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• pp.503-511
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• 2017

This study was conducted to evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity and clinical efficacy of a sample (A.C.C. extracts) obtained by distillation extraction of 14 herbal medicines including Phellodendron bark. To confirm this, the amount of nitric oxide (NO) produced by the cells in RAW 264.7 cells stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the changes in the production of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$, interleukin(IL)-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 were determined. The results showed that A.C.C. extracts strongly inhibited the production of NO and inflammatory cytokines increased by LPS without cytotoxicity. In addition, A.C.C. extracts showed strong bacterial reduction rates of 99.9% in Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), Candida albicans and Streptococcus mutans. These findings indicate that A.C.C. extracts are effective ingredients with a strong antimicrobial effect together with an anti-inflammatory effect. In addition, when A.C.C. extracts were applied to infants and toddlers who were suffering from diaper rash, itching, and perspiration symptoms, symptoms of rash, atopy, rash, itching, and heat rash were improved. After the lapse of time, it was visually confirmed that it was considerably relaxed. These findings confirm that A.C.C. extracts comprise a clinically effective anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial agent that alleviates symptoms such as diaper rash and fever and may therefore be an effective alternative to inflammatory diseases.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.243-257
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• 2016

Objectives : Illicium verum Hook. f. has been known to possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, insecticidal, analgesic, sedative, convulsive activities, it has been rarely conducted to evaluate the immuno-biological activity. The present study was examined to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of the Illicium verum Hook. f. water extracts (IVE) in vivo and in vitro. Methods : Cell viability was measured by MTT assay. The relative levels of NO were measured with Griess reagent. iNOS, COX-2, $NF-{\kappa}B$ and target proteins were detected by immunoblot analysis, and levels of cytokines were analyzed by ELISA kit. Anti-edema effect was determined in the carrageenan (CA)-induced paw edema model in rats. Results : All dosages of IVE used in MTT assay had no significant cytotoxicity. The increases of NO production and iNOS expression were detected in LPS-treated cells compared with control. However, these increases were attenuated by treatment with IVE. Also, IVE reduced the elevated production of $TNF-{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$ and IL-6 by LPS. IVE inhibited the $p-I{\kappa}B$ and translocation of $NF-{\kappa}B$ to nuclear. Furthermore, IVE significantly inhibited the increases of hind paw swelling, skin thicknesses and inflammatory cell infiltrations induced by CA injection. Therefore, IVE will be favorably inhibited the acute edematous inflammations. Conclusion : These results provide evidences that anti-inflammatory effect of IVE is partly due to the reduction of some inflammatory mediators by suppression of $NF-{\kappa}B$ pathway.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.9
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• pp.1443-1449
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• 2005

Quality characteristics and functional properties of Korean wheat noodle with brassica oleracea L. powder were investigated to develop health promoting and high quality product. Brassica oleracea L. powder was extracted with water and $70\%$ ethanol, and the extracts were tested its electron donating ability (EDA) and nitrite scavenging ability (NSA). Quality characteristics of the noodle were evaluated by its color, flavor, moisture, softness, texture and taste evaluation. Microbiological Quality was also tested counting total viable cells. EDA was highest at 1000 ppm of both water extract ($64\%$ of EDA) and ethanol extract ($76\%$ of EDA). NSA was highest pH 1.2 of both water extract ($42\%$ of NSA) and ethanol extract ($46\%$ of NSA). In antimicrobial activity test, Korean wheat noodle with $3\%$ pine pollen powder displayed $0.5{\~}1$ log cycle of total viable cell counts lower than that of control at 5 days of storage. Sensory evaluation of Korean wheat dried and cooked noodles with $3\%$ Brassica oleracea L. powder showed significantly higher scores in overall.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.196-203
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• 2006

Three slime-forming lactic acid bacteria were isolated from Kimchi and shown to produce viscous exopolysaccharides (EPS) in sucrose media. The isolated strains, GJ2, C3 and C11, were identified as Leuconostoc kimchii, Leuconostoc citreum and Leuconostoc mesenteroides, respectively, by examining their metabolic characteristics and determining their 16S rDNA sequences. Leu. kimchii GJ2, Leu. citreum C3 and Leu. mesenteroides C11 exhibited high viability (maintained initial viable cell count of $10^8$ CFU/ml) in 0.05 M sodium phosphate buffer (pH 3.0) for 2 h, in artificial gastric juice for 2 h and in 0.3% oxgall for 24 h. When tested, Leu. kimchii GJ2, in particular, displayed antimicrobial activity against pathogenic microorganisms. Leu. kimchii GJ2, Leu. citreum C3 and Leu. mesenteroides C11 produced 21.49 g/l, 16.46 g/l and 22.98 g/l EPS, respectively, in sucrose (5%) medium. The amount of purified EPS extracted from Leu. kimchii GJ2, Leu. citreum C3 and Leu. mesenteroides C11 was 14.61 g/l, 7.73 g/l and 4.77 g/l, respectively. Although the EPS produced by Leu. kimchii GJ2, Leu. citreum C3 and Leu. mesenteroides C11 differed in viscosity, TLC and HPLC analysis revealed that each contained only one type of monosaccharide, glucose. The average molecular mass of EPS produced by Leu. kimchii GJ2 was 306,606 Da.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.75-83
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• 2015

Curcuma longa L. (CL), a traditional medicinal plant, is well known as a functional food ingredient. The major component of CL is a curcumin of anthocyanin family that has multi-functions such as antimicrobial, anticancer, and antioxidant activity. In this study, fermented milk containing CL was prepared using a mixed strain culture (Bifidobacterium bifidus, Streptococcus thermophilus, Lactobacillus acidophilus), and its physicochemical properties were characterized. In addition, inflammatory cytokine-modulating effects of the fermented milk were also investigated. As regards the properties of fermented milk, the growth rate of lactic acid bacteria in fermented milk containing CL was found to be remarkably more rapid than control. During fermentation, caseins and whey proteins were observed to be partially hydrolyzed, and lactic acid and acetic acid were produced in larger amounts than in the control. The sensory score of fermented milk containing CL was lower than control, owing to its bitter taste and strong flavor. RAW 264.7 cells treated with CL fermented milk supernatant showed no cytotoxicity. Inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-${\alpha}$) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were significantly produced by fermented milk with CL, compared to control. The secretion of nitric oxide (NO) from RAW 264.7 cells significantly increased relative to the control. Results from the present study suggested that CL could be used as a natural immunomodulating ingredient for making yogurts, beverages, and other products.