• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.55-60
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• 2012

In a previous report, we demonstrated that ginsenoside Rc, one of major ginsenosides from Panax ginseng, enhances ${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid (GABA) $receptor_A$ ($GABA_A$)-mediated ion channel currents. However, little is known about the effects of ginsenoside metabolites on $GABA_A$ receptor channel activity. The present study investigated the effects of ginsenoside metabolites on human recombinant $GABA_A$ receptor (${\alpha}_1{\beta}_1{\gamma}_{2s}$) channel activity expressed in Xenopus oocytes using a two-electrode voltage clamp technique. M4, a metabolite of protopanaxatriol ginsenosides, more potently inhibited the GABA-induced inward peak current ($I_{GABA}$) than protopanaxadiol (PPD), a metabolite of PPD ginsenosides. The effect of M4 and PPD on $I_{GABA}$ was both concentration-dependent and reversible. The half-inhibitory concentration ($IC_{50}$) values of M4 and PPD were 17.1${\pm}$2.2 and 23.1${\pm}$8.6 ${\mu}M$, respectively. The inhibition of $I_{GABA}$ by M4 and PPD was voltage-independent and non-competitive. This study implies that the regulation of $GABA_A$ receptor channel activity by ginsenoside metabolites differs from that of ginsenosides.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.296-303
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• 2007

Acer tegmentosum (Acereaceae) has been used a source of traditional medicines for the treatment of hepatic disorders in Korea. This research was conducted to determine biofunctional activities of A. tegmentosum stem extract and to identify its bioactive components. Methanolic extract from A. tegmentosum stem was partitioned by using organic solvents, including n-hexane, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, and water. Two compounds were isolated by using an ODS column chromatography from ethyl acetate soluble fraction shown to the strongest antioxidant activity ($RC_{50}=3.15\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$) among the fractions. The isolated compounds were analyzed by $^1H$ and $^{13}C$ NMR, IR, UV/VIS, MS spectrum data and identified as catechin, ${\rho}-Hydroxyphenethyl$ alcohol $1-O-{\beta}-_D-(6'-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside$. The compounds have shown strong antioxidant activity, with similar activity to BHA ($RC_{50}=2\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$). Especially, ${\rho}-Hydroxyphenethyl$ alcohol 1-O-{\beta}-_D-(6'-O-galloyl)-glucopyranoside$ was shown strong anti-lipid peroxidative activity. However, the compounds were not shown antimicrobial activities. In antimicrobial activity assays, ethyl acetate soluble fraction was effective to bacterial inhibition, such as Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumonia, with minimum inhibitory concentrations in $125\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$. Otherwise, antifungal activity against Candida albicans was shown in n-hexane soluble fraction exhibiting $63\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ of minimum inhibitory concentration. In anticomplementary activity assays, water soluble fraction was the most effective exhibiting 24% inhibitory activity.

• The Journal of the Society of Korean Medicine Diagnostics
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.91-100
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• 2015

Objectives The aim of this study is to develop a structured clinical protocol related with acquisition of radial pulse wave in the randomized, $2{\times}2$ cross-over design, and cold-heat intervention trial for a pilot and preliminary study. Methods The protocol was contrived based on wide ranging literature searches for cold-heat intervention experiments and radial pulse diagnoses. Results Sample size of 60 subjects was calculated based on an effect size derived from the previous study designed to detect the pre-post cold-heat differences in the radial pulse. Each subjects will be randomly assigned to the cold (first) to heat (last) group (n=30) or heat (first) to cold (last) group (n=30). All subjects will fill out a case report form and questionnaires related with pattern identification, dietary patterns, sleep quality, and physical activity will be surveyed and used as a secondary outcomes. Safety assessment will be reported at the final stage. Conclusions This protocol will provide an additional reference to future studies related with observation of radial pulse during any interventions and also expect to be used as a guideline for acquisition of reliable radial pulse wave data.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2017

Objectives : The aim of this study is to analyze the news contents of Korean style medicinal tea and investigate how it is portrayed in the consumer market. Methods : Total of 355 articles are selected by inputting "Korean style medicinal tea" and analyzed; 108 articles for 2013, 107 articles for 2014, 140 articles for 2015. Results : 175 different tea were found from Jan. $1^{st}$ 2013 to Dec. $31^{st}$ 2015, with ginger tea the most frequently covered for 68 times. Among 175 tea, 117 had one ingredient and 58 had more than one ingredient. The most frequently covered category was "Disease and Health Promotion" followed by "Commercial Ads", "Korean style medicinal tea Culture", and others. From 355 articles, 188 provided the information on the efficacy of Korean style medicinal tea, 88 presented the pharmacological activity, 84 addressed the recipe, 80 explained the taste, and 31 included ancient literature. The most frequently covered tea were ginger tea, omija tea, gugija tea, jujube tea, mogwa tea. Autumn and winter had 109 articles, spring had 89, and summer had 86. Conclusions : This study showed the potential of Korean style medicinal tea as a successful future content. Most of the articles about Korean style medicinal tea contained information about the efficacy but practical information such as the recipe and drinking method were not addressed much. Therefore, future study is needed to investigate additional information about Korean style medicinal tea.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.237-244
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• 2019

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Carthami flos on pacemaker potentials of small intestinal and colonic Interstitial Cells of Cajal (ICC). Methods : To dissociate the ICC, we used enzymatic digestions from the small intestine and colon in mice. In the ICC, the electrophysiological whole-cell patch-clamp configuration was used to record pacemaker potentials in the cultured ICC. Results : 1. The ICC generated pacemaker potentials in the murine small intestine and colon. 2. Pretreatment with a Ca²⁺ free solution and thapsigargin, a Ca²⁺-ATPase inhibitor in the endoplasmic reticulum, stopped the pacemaker potentials. In the case of Ca²⁺-free solutions, Carthami flos did not induce membrane depolarizations in the murine small intestine and colon. However, when thapsigargin in a bath solution was applied, Carthami flos induced membrane depolarizations only in the murine colon. 3. Pretreatment with 2-APB (transient receptor potential melastatin (TRPM) channel inhibitor) abolished the pacemaker potentials and suppressed Carthami flos-induced effects in the murine small intestine and colon. 4. However, pretreatment with T16Ainh-AO1 (Ca²⁺ activated Cl- channel; anoctamin 1 (ANO1) inhibitor) did not affect the pacemaker potentials and induced Carthami flos-induced effects only in the murine small intestine. Conclusions : These results suggest that Carthami flos can modulate the pacemaker activity of ICC and the mechanisms underlying pacemaking in ICC might be different in the small intestine and the colon.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 2020

We evaluated the effect of anti-obesitic activity of MYE (mulberry leaf + Yacon tuber) extracted from Morus alba as muberry leaf and Smallanthus sonchifolia as yacon. 1%, 3%, or 5% of MYE were treated to Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to a high-fat diet. MYE treated rats were suppressed weight during four weeks, and they lost weight significantly after six weeks. Common blood chemistry panels related to liver function revealed significant improvement in the MYE-treated groups. The expression of leptin as indicators for obesity was decreased in perirenal fat. Such results indicate that MYE could be a promising candidate for the improvement of obesity. In addition, MYE effected on deceased glucose metabolism, reducing the activities of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G-6-PDH) and glucokinase related to glycogen synthesis. The fatty liver was observed in high-fat diet-treated rats, resulting from increased number of adipose cells and Ito cells. However, this pathologic change was significantly improved by administration of MYE. MYE have significant effects on antioxdative function and glycometabolism against high fat diet. Thereby, it seems that MYE prevent fatty liver by high-fat diet. Thus it is suggested that MYE would be worth being developed as an biofunctional food to prevent undesirable effects caused by obesity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.46 no.5
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• pp.622-629
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• 2017

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of cold maceration and heat treatment prior to alcohol fermentation on the quality characteristics of wine made from Okrang grape cultivar. The results of this study show that alcohol contents of wines increased as fermentation period increased, whereas $^{\circ}Brix$ values decreased. The pH levels of wines ranged from 3.17 to 3.42 while the total acidities of wines ranged from 0.49~0.99%. The free sugar contents of wines tended to decrease as fermentation period increased. In particular, free sugar content of wine pre-treated at low temperature prior to alcohol fermentation slowly. Total polyphenol content of wine heat-treated prior to alcohol fermentation was higher than those of other wines and reached a maximum value after fermentation for 2 days. Campbell Early wine showed the strongest antioxidant effect, measured based on DPPH free radical scavenging activity, followed by Okrang wine pressing after fermentation. These results indicate that pre-treatment before wine fermentation greatly affects wine quality and biofunctional activities.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.61-68
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• 2012

Sikhae is a traditional Korean fermented seafood with a 7-10% salt concentration. Consumers have begun to look for low-salt food because excess salt is known to cause hypertension and gastric cancer. The quality characteristics of low-salt squid sikhae were investigated at different fermentation temperatures and periods, so as to determine its shelflife. The shelf-life of the low-salt (5%) squid sikhae at $-1^{\circ}C$ based on pH was 142 days. The functional activities of the ethanol extract of squid sikhae such as its antioxidant activity and inhibitions on ${\alpha}$-glucosidase, ${\beta}$-glucuronidase, and elastase were stronger than those of the water extract. Based on the results of sensory evaluation, the low-salted squid sikhae was very similar to fermented seafood. In conclusion, low-salt sikhae is commercially viable.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.144-150
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• 2010

This study was aimed to screen bacteria of high alginate-degrading activity, to select the nitrogen source and concentration of NaCl and sodium alginate for the production of alginate-degrading enzyme, and to determine reaction conditions of enzyme. A novel alginate-degrading bacterium was isolated from abalone (Haliotis discus hannai) and named Methylobacterium sp. HJM27 by 16S rDNA sequence analysis. The optimum culture conditions for the production of alginate-degrading enzyme were 1.0% sodium alginate, 0.5% peptone, 0.3% yeast extract, 1.5% NaCl, $25^{\circ}C$ and 48 hours incubation time. The raw enzyme showed the highest activity at $25^{\circ}C$ and pH 9, and produced 1.217 g - reducing sugar per liter in 0.8% (w/v) sodium alginate for 30 minutes. Methylobacterium sp. HJM27 and its alginate-degrading enzyme would be useful for the production of bioenergy and biofunctional oligosaccharides from seaweed.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.975-988
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• 2010

Two experiments were conducted to determine whether water extracts from Artemisia capillaries (A. capillaries) and Camellia sinensis (C. sinensis) could be used as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in broiler feed. The experiment 1 was verified their chemical composition, extracts yields, total phenolic compounds concentration, antioxidant activity, antimicrobial activity, and chicken splenocytes proliferation through in vitro test. The extract yields of A. capillaries and C. sinensis were 26.5 and 16.8%, respectively. Total phenolic compounds concentrations of them expressed as gallic acid equivalent were 15.28 and 26.74 mg/mL, respectively. Electron donating abilities of them expressed as $SC_{50}$ showing 50% DPPH radical scavenging were 0.30 and 0.06 mg, respectively. Bacterial inhibitory rates of them against Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella Typhimurium were ranged from 42.1 to 52.3% and from 21.6 to 33.7%, respectively. And, these extracts increased proliferation of chicken splenocytes. Especially, A. capillaris was more excellent than Echinacea and Concanavalin A known as T-cell stimulator. The experiment 2 was investigated their effects on growth performance, relative organ weight, cecal microflora, blood biochemical parameters, and splenic cytokines mRNA expression in broiler chicks. Four hundred eighty 1-day-old male broiler chicks (Ross 308) were divided in to 4 treatment groups with 4 replicates of 30 birds in each group: NC (control, no antibiotics), PC (avilamycin, 10 ppm; salinomycin, 60 ppm), AC (A. capillaries, 100 ppm), and CS (C. sinensis, 100 ppm); treatments were administered through water supplementation. Final body weight was significantly higher in all treated groups than in NC (p<0.05). Cecal Salmonella numbers were significantly or somewhat decreased in all treated groups than in NC (p<0.05). The relative weights and lengths of the small intestine were more significantly decreased in the PC and AC groups than in the other groups. Cecal Salmonella numbers were significantly or somewhat decreased in all treated groups than in the NC group (p<0.05). The contents of total cholesterol, aspatate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase in blood serum were more significantly decreased in all treated groups than in NC (p<0.05). In conclusion, these results suggested the possibility that these extracts could serve as alternatives for antibiotic growth promoters.