• Journal of Life Science
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.783-789
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• 2017

Malus melliana (Hand.-Mazz.) Rehder (M. melliana) is a Chinese plant that belongs to the Rosaceae family. There have been no previous reports regarding its bioactivity. In this study, the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of M. melliana ethanol extract (MMEE) were evaluated using a 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity assay, reactive oxygen species (ROS) scavenging activity assay, nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activity assay, and the analysis of related protein expressions through Western blot hybridization. MMEE showed potent scavenging activity against DPPH, similar to ascorbic acid, a well-known anti-oxidative agent, which was used as a positive control. MMEE also inhibited hydrogen peroxide-induced ROS in RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, MMEE induced the expression of an anti-oxidative enzyme, heme oxygenase 1, and its upstream transcription factor, nuclear factor E2-related factor-2, in a dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, MMEE was associated with a reduction in NO production, which was induced by the lipopolysaccharide treatment of RAW 264.7 cells. The expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase, which is the upstream regulator of NO production, was also inhibited. Taken together, these results suggest that MMEE has anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory properties, thus appearing to be a potential anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory agent. The further identification of active compounds that confer the biological activities of MMEE may be necessary.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.7
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• pp.651-659
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• 2020

Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death across the world, and gold-standard treatments such as percutaneous coronary intervention and artery bypass grafting have various limitations including myocardial damage and subsequent maladaptive cardiac remodeling. To overcome this, stem-cell therapies are emerging as a promising strategy for cardiovascular regeneration. Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have high potential to proliferate and differentiate into endothelial cells for vascularization and tissue regeneration, and several clinical trials have explored EPC function in tissue repair in relation to clinical safety and improving cardiac function. Consequently, EPC has been suggested as a feasible stem-cell therapy. However, autologous EPC transplantation in cardiovascular disease patients is restricted by risk factors such as age, smoking status, and hypertension that lead to reduced bioactivity in the EPCs. New approaches for improving EPC function and stem-cell efficacy have therefore been suggested, including cell priming, organoid culture systems, and enhancing transplantation efficiency through 3D bioprinting methods. In this review, we provide a comprehensive understanding of EPC characteristics, therapeutic approaches, and the current state of clinical research into EPCs as stem-cell therapy for cardiovascular disease.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.615-619
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• 2008

Eight triterpenoids, six lanostanes 1-6, one lupenane 7, and one oleanane 8, were isolated by bioactivity-guided fractionation of the ethylacetate extract from roots of Glycine max (L.) Merr. All isolated compounds were examined for their inhibitory activities against human ACAT-1 (hACAT-1) and human ACAT-2 (hACAT-2). Among them, three triterpenoids showed potent hACAT inhibitory activities, (24R)-ethylcholest-5-ene-3,7-diol (1) and 3b -hydroxylup-20(29)-en-28-oic acid (7) exhibited more potent inhibitory activity against hACAT-1 (1: IC50 = 25.0 1.2 and 7: IC50 = 11.5 0.4 m M) than hACAT-2 (1: IC50 = 102.0 5.4 and 7: IC50 = 33.9 3.7 m M), respectively. Interestingly, 5a ,8a -epidioxy-24(R)-methylcholesta-6,22-diene-3b -ol (4) has proven to be a specific inhibitor against hACAT-1 (IC50 = 38.7 0.8 m M) compared to hACAT-2 (IC50 >200). In conclusion, this is the first study to demonstrate that triterpenoids of G. max have potent inhibitory activities against hACAT-1 and hACAT-2.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.193-199
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• 2012

This study was carried out to evaluate the agronomic characteristics and biological activities of $Sorghum$ $bicolor$ germplasms introduced from USA. Plant height, stem diameter, tiller number, leaf length, leaf width, leaf vein color, ear type, ear length and ear width have different from the cultivated accessions. Sweet-N-Sterile (#4) showed the tallest height, widest ear-width and stem diameter. Most of $Sorghum$ $bicolor$ plants may be available to use for bio-energy from these results showing big biomass. Antioxidant activities of 11 cultivars collected from USA were examined by DPPH assay and reducing power. Among the cultivars, Premium stock (#1), Early Sumac (#7), SS Silage (#9) and WGF Grain Sorghum (#11) showed a significantly higher antioxidant activity in comparison to others. Early Sumac (#7) and SS silage (#9) showed more strong reducing power activities than ${\alpha}$-tocopherol, a positive control. Premium stock (#1), Sweet-N-Sterile (#4), Early Sumac (#7) and SS Silage (#9) were also showed high antioxidant activities by DPPH assay and reducing power experiment. BMR Gold I (#3) displayed strong antimicrobial activity against $Escherichia$ $coli$ at minimum inhibitory concentrations (125 ${\mu}g$/ml).

• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.13-25
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• 2007

The water treatment plants in Seoul Metropolitan Area, which are under Korea Water Resources Corporation(KOWACO)'s management, take water from Paldang Reservoir in Han River System for drinking water supply. There are taste and odor (T&O) problems in the finished water because the conventional treatment processes do not effectively remove the T&O compounds. As part of countermeasures for taste and odor control, KOWACO is planning to introduce advanced water treatment process such as ozone and GAC in near future. This study evaluated the removal characteristics of T&O and dissolved organic matter (DOM) to find design and operation parameters of advanced water treatment processes in a pilot-scale treatment plant. The GAC adsorption capacity for DOC in the two GAC system (GAC and $O_3$-GAC) at an EBCT of 14min was mostly exhausted after 9months. The differency of the removal efficiency of DOC between $O_3$-GAC and GAC increased with increasing operation time because the bioactivity in $O_3$-GAC process was enhanced by post-ozone process. Removal by conventional treatment was unable to reach the target TON(threshold odor number) of 3 but GAC systems at an EBCT(empty bed contact time) of 14 min were able to archive the target with few exception. During the high T&O episodes, PAC as a pretreatment together with GAC could be useful option for T&O control. However, substantial TON removal continued for more than two year (> 90,000 bed volumes). At the spiking of less concentration 26 to 61 ng/L in the influent of GAC systems, GAC absorber and $O_3$-GAC processes could meet the treatment target. The better spike control after 12 and 19 months of operation compared to that after 7 months of operation is a strong indication of biological control. The results presented in this study had shown that $O_3$-GAC process was found to be more effective for T&O control than GAC process. And the main removal mechanism in GAC systems were adsorption capacity and biodegradation.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.628-634
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• 2015

The ground red pepper puree was treated with cellulase (C treatment), pectinase (P treatment), amylase (A treatment) and/or enzyme complex (CP, CA, PA and CPA treatment) for 2~8 hours to improve the yield and bioactivity of extracts. And physicochemical and sensory properties of red pepper extracts were evaluated. The extraction yield of the control was 38.84%, which was lower than those of the enzyme treatments. And extraction yields of enzyme complex treatments were higher than that of single enzyme treatments. Especially, extraction yield was increased to 74.37% by cellulase + pectinase + amylase complex treatment (CPA treatment). The soluble solid and reducing sugar contents were higher in the extracts treated with enzymes compared with the control. CA and CPA treatment showed the highest soluble solid and reducing sugar contents. No significant changes in lightness, redness and yellowness of the control and the samples by enzyme treatments were observed during 2~8 hours experiments. The sensory evaluation results revealed that panelists preferred the extracts with enzyme treatments to the control. Therefore, enzyme treatment for red pepper extracts is a good method to improve the yield and sensory properties.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.59 no.4
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• pp.323-330
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• 2016

Pinellia ternata Breitenbach, the natural medicinal plant of the Araceae family, is a perennial plant originated from the East Asia, but also widely distributed in Europe and North America. Its tuber is used as traditional medicine for treatment of various diseases such as vomiting, inflammation, and traumatic injury. Pharmacological studies revealed that P. ternata possesses anticonvulsant, anti-tumor, insecticidal, and cytotoxic activities. Despite being well-known as the useful medicinal plant, there is no reliable, standardized method for origin discrimination. Ultra performance liquid chromatography-photodiode array detector and quadrupole time of flight-mass spectrometry based metabolite-profiling was applied to explore significant metabolite for origin discrimination between Korean and Chinese P. ternata. One compound was isolated from Korean P. ternata using repeated ODS column chromatography by bioactivity guided fractionation, and determined as [6]-gingerol according to the results of spectroscopic data including nuclear magnetic resonance and MS. This compound was selected as cosmeceutical biomarker by fingerprints, and it was associated to melanin inhibitory effect determining its origin authenticity. Furthermore, the calibration curve of biomarker was prepared using validated method for the comparison of content between Korean and Chinese P. ternata. This is the report to address the selection and successful validation of the discriminant metabolite for confirmation of Korean P. ternata.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.258-266
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• 2014

Sweet potato soju (SPS), a form of traditional distilled alcoholic liquor in Korea, is manufactured by the distillation of fermented broth under normal pressure, thus providing it for a uniquely smooth taste infused with the flavor of sweet potato. After distillation, the lees of SPS is produced as by-product and discarded. In this study, the ethanol and hot water extracts of lees of SPS, and their subsequent organic solvent fractions using hexane, ethylacetate (EA), butanol, and water residue were prepared in an effort at the efficient re-use of the lees of SPS. The ethanol extraction yield was 1.36-fold higher than that of the hot water extraction, and the EA fraction revealed the highest total polyphenol content among the solvent fractions. The various extracts and solvent fractions did not demonstrate hemolytic activity at up to 0.5 mg/ml concentrations against human red blood cells. In the bioactivity assay, only the EA fraction displayed a broad spectrum of anti-microbial activity against different pathogenic and food spoilage bacteria, and demonstrated significant anti-coagulation activity by inhibitions of thrombin, prothrombin and blood coagulation factors. Furthermore, only the EA fraction from the hot water extract of the lees of SPS showed anti-platelet aggregation activity, which is comparable to aspirin (a commercially available drug). Our results suggest that the EA fraction of the hot water extract prepared from the lees of SPS has a high potential as a novel resource for anti-microbial and anti-thrombosis agents.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.1881-1890
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• 2016

Manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) is a vital enzyme that protects cells from free radicals through eliminating superoxide radicals ($O^{2-}$). Hirudin, a kind of small active peptide molecule, is one of the strongest anticoagulants that can effectively cure thrombus diseases. In this study, we fused Hirudin to the C terminus of human MnSOD with the GGGGS linker to generate a novel dual-feature fusion protein, denoted as hMnSOD-Hirudin. The hMnSOD-Hirudin gene fragment was cloned into the pET15b (SmaI, CIAP) vector, forming a recombinant pET15b-hMnSOD-Hirudin plasmid, and then was transferred into Escherichia coli strain Rosetta-gami for expression. SDS-PAGE was used to detect the fusion protein, which was expected to be about 30 kDa upon IPTG induction. Furthermore, the hMnSOD-Hirudin protein was heavily detected as a soluble form in the supernatant. The purification rate observed after Ni NTA affinity chromatography was above 95%. The hMnSOD-Hirudin protein yield reached 67.25 mg per liter of bacterial culture. The identity of the purified protein was confirmed by western blotting. The hMnSOD-Hirudin protein activity assay evinced that the antioxidation activity of the hMnSOD-Hirudin protein obtained was $2,444.0{\pm}96.0U/mg$, and the anticoagulant activity of the hMnSOD-Hirudin protein was $599.0{\pm}35.0ATU/mg$. In addition, in vitro bioactivity assay showed that the hMnSOD-Hirudin protein had no or little cytotoxicity in H9c2, HK-2, and H9 (human $CD_4{^+}$, T cell) cell lines. Transwell migration assay and invasion assay showed that the hMnSOD-Hirudin protein could suppress human lung cancer 95-D cell metastasis and invasion in vitro.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.7
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• pp.1249-1256
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• 2017

In our search for new sources of bioactive secondary metabolites from Streptomyces sp., the ethyl acetate extracts from endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 afforded five active diketopiperazine (DKP) compounds. The aim of this study was to characterize the bioactive compounds isolated from endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 and evaluate their bioactivity against multiple drug resistance (MDR) bacteria such as Enterococcus raffinosus, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumanii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter spp., and their cytotoxic activities against the human hepatoma (HepaRG) cell line. The production of secondary metabolites by this strain was optimized through Thornton's medium. Isolation, purification, and identification of the bioactive compounds were carried out using high-performance liquid chromatography, high-resolution mass liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and nuclear magnetic resonance, and cryopreserved HepaRG cells were selected to test the cytotoxicity. The results showed that endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 produces four active DKP compounds and an acetamide derivative, which were elucidated as $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Val-{\text\tiny{L}}-Pro)$, $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Leu-{\text\tiny{L}}-Pro)$, $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Phe-{\text\tiny{L}}-Pro)$, $cyclo-({\text\tiny{L}}-Val-{\text\tiny{L}}-Phe)$, and N-(7-hydroxy-6-methyl-octyl)-acetamide. These active compounds exhibited activity against methicillin-resistant S. aureus ATCC 43300 and Enterococcus raffinosus, with low toxicity against human hepatoma HepaRG cells. Endophytic Streptomyces SUK 25 has the ability to produce DKP derivatives biologically active against some MDR bacteria with relatively low toxicity against HepaRG cells line.