• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.36 no.1 s.140
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• pp.56-59
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• 2005

Urease plays an important role in the urea metabolism and the effect of urease activity on human and environment is enormous. For instance, urease acts as a virulence factor of the urinary and gastrointestinal tracts infections in human and animal, being involved in kidney stone formation, catheter encrusatation, pyelonephritis, ammonia encephalopathy, hepatic coma, and urinary tract infections. Widespread urease activity in soil induces a plant damage due to ammonia toxicity and pH increase. Therefore, urease activity regulation through urease inhibitors would lead to an enhanced efficiency of urea nitrogen uptake in plants and to the improved therapeutic strategies for ureolytic bacterial infections. To search for new inhibitory compounds on urease activity from herbs, MeOH extracts of herbs were screened. Among of them, the MeOH extracts of Areca catechu exhibited an excellent inhibitory effect on urease activity. Two compounds were isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction by the activity guided fractionation. Their chemical structures were identified as (+)-catechin(compound I) and allantoin(compound II) by spectroscopic evidence, respectively. Compound I showed a stronger inhibitory effect on urease activity than compound II.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.52-57
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• 2004

Sclerotinia sp. (isolate BWC98-105) causes stem blight and root rot in Leghum sp., and is presently being evaluated as a potential mycoherbicide for the control of Trifoliorium repens. Bioassays have shown that Sclerotinia sp. produces phytotoxic substance which is biologically active against T. repens. Two biologically active compounds, designated as compoundsI and II, were produced in vitro from the culture filtrate of BWC98-105 isolate Sclerotium sp. Compounds I and II were purified by means of liquid-liquid extraction and $C_{18}$ open column chromatography (300 ${\times}$ 30 mm, i.d). To determine the purity, the purified compounds were analyzed by RP-HPLC. The analytical RP-HPLC column was a TOSOH ODS-120T (150 ${\times}$ 4.6 mm i.d, Japan), of which the flow rate was set at 0.7 mL/min using the linear gradient solvent system initiated with 15 % methanol to 85 % methanol for 50 min with monitoring at 254 nm. Under these RP-HPLC conditions, compounds I and II eluted at 3.49 and 4.13 min, respectively. Compound II was found to be most potent and host specific. However, compound I had a unique antibiotic activity against phytopathogenic bacteria like bacterial leaf blight (Xanthomonas oryzae) on rice, where it played a less important role in producing toxicity on T. repens. No toxin activity was detected in the water fraction after partitioning with several organic solvents. However, toxin activity was detected in the ethyl acetate and butanol fractions. In the leaf bioassay using compound II, the disease first appeared within 4-5 h as water soaked rot, which subsequently developed into well-defined blight affecting the whole plant.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.113-118
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• 2014

Ribes fasciculatum which belongs to Saxifragaceae has been widely used as a traditional medicine for the treatment of symptoms associated with lacquer poison. However, pharmacological studies on the R. fasciculatum are extremely limited until now. Thus, in this study, we evaluated the possible anti-inflammatory effects of ethyl acetate fraction of R. fasciculatum (ERF) using IFN-${\gamma}$/LPS-stimulated peritoneal macrophage model. We investigated the change in nitrite level in the absence or presence of ERF after LPS stimulation, and we found that ERF effectively attenuates the NO production in a dose dependent manner without notable toxicity. To determine the mechanism of the inhibitory action of ERF on NO production, we performed iNOS enzyme activity assay and Western blotting. Here we showed that both of iNOS enzyme activities and iNOS expressions were significantly down-regulated by ERF, indicating that these dual activities of ERF are responsible for ERF-mediated NO suppression. In addition, ERF inhibitied the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), an another key enzyme in inflammation through suppression of NF-${\kappa}B$ activation. We also tested anti-inflammatory properties of ERF not only in vitro, but in vivo using trypsin-induced paw edema model in mice. Our results revealed that the increased paw volume in response to trypsin injection was recovered by ERF supplement dose dependently.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.60 no.3
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• pp.213-218
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• 2017

The objective was to examine the antifungal activity of Pinus densiflora extract for the control of turfgrass fungal diseases. Antifungal activities of the various fractions of n-hexane, methylene chloride (Ch), ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and n-butanol from P. densiflora were evaluated against Rhizoctonia solani AG1-1B, R. solani AG2-2IV, Sclerotinia homoeocarpa, R. cerealis, Pythium spp., and Colletotrichum graminicola. The Ch and EtOAc fractions showed antifungal activity against Pythium sp. and C. graminicola in paper disc assay. The effective concentration to produce 50% mycelial inhibition ($EC_{50}$) using five discriminatory concentrations of pinosylvin (1) from the Ch fraction of P. densiflora was evaluated on R. solani AG1-1B, R. solani AG2-2IV, R. cerealis, and S. homoeocarpa. S. homoeocarpa showed the highest sensitivity with the lowest mean $EC_{50}$ value ($8.426{\mu}g/mL$) among the four pathogens. Among the three Rhizoctonia pathogens, R. cerealis had the highest mean $EC_{50}$ value ($99.832{\mu}g/mL$) and R. solani AG2-2IV, with the lowest sensitivity, had the lowest $EC_{50}$ value ($39.696{\mu}g/mL$). These results suggested that pinosylvin (1) from P. densiflora could be a valuable lead compound in the improvement of a novel antifungal agent.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.48 no.4
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• pp.298-303
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• 2017

To know the anti-oxidative effect of Epimedii Herba (Berberidaceae), the methanol extract of this plant was investigated by using a Caenorhabditis elegans model system. The methanol extract of this plant showed relatively significant DPPH radical scavenging and superoxide quenching activities. The ethyl acetate soluble fraction of Epimedii Herba (EHE), which showed the most potent DPPH radical scavenging and superoxide quenching activities, was tested on its effects on superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase, intracellular ROS, and oxidative stress tolerance in Caenorhabditis elegans. Furthermore, in order to verify that regulation of stress-response genes is responsible for the increased stress tolerance of the EHE treated C. elegans, we checked SOD-3 expression using a transgenic strain. As a result, the EHE increased SOD and catalase activities of C. elegans, and reduced intracellular ROS accumulation in a dose-dependent manner. Besides, EHE-treated CF1553 worms showed higher SOD-3::GFP intensity than that of non-treated controls.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.58-63
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• 2005

Ethyl acetate-soluble neutral fraction of hot water extracts from the aerial parts of Angelica keiskei showed a 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical-scavenging activity. Six antioxidative compounds were purified and isolated by various chromatographic procedures. Based on the analyses of FAB-MS and NMR, the isolated compounds were structurally elucidated as luteolin 7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside (1), quercetin 3-O-${\beta}$-D-galactopyranoside (2), quercetin 3-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside (3), quercetin 3-O-${\alpha}$-D-arabinopyranoside (4), kaempferol 3-O-${\alpha}$-D-arabinopyranoside (5), and luteolin 7-O-rutinoside (6). The glycosides of flavonols and luteolin showed DPPH radical-scavenging activity. One molecule of 2, 3, 4, 6, 1, and 5 scavenged 4.2, 4.2, 4.1, 2.5, 2.2, and 1.4 molecules of DPPH radical, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.48 no.3
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• pp.301-307
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• 2015

Phlorotannins and marine algal polyphenols, including dieckol, 6,6-bieckol, phloroglucinol, phlorofucofuroeckol-A, and eckol, were isolated from brown seaweeds. These compounds have beneficial bioactivities, and Ecklonia cava has become widely used for the extraction and isolation of phlorotannins. Eckol, in particular, has been to shown to have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anticoagulatory, and photoprotective properties. However, due to its low abundance in weaweed, the isolation and purification of eckol are difficult. Its limited availability renders the isolation and purification of eckol labor-intensive processes. Centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) is an efficient technique for the isolation and purification of eckol. In this study, eckol was isolated from the ethyl acetate fraction of the 70% ethanol extract of E. cava using CPC with a two-phase solvent system of a n-hexane:EtOAc:methanol:water (2:8:3:7, v/v) solution. The purity and anti-inflammatory activity of the isolated eckol were verified by high-performance liquid chromatography and by assaying lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses in an immortalized murine BV2 microglial cell line, respectively. In conclusion, CPC is a useful technique for simple and efficient isolation of eckol from E. cava.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.12
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• pp.1226-1232
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• 2004

Extracts from seventeen seaweeds were determined for tyrosinase inhibitory activity using mushroom tyrosinase with L-tyrosine as a substrate. Only one of them, Ecklonia stolonifera OKAMURA (Laminariaceae) belonging to brown algae, showed high tyrosinase inhibitory activity. Bioassay-guided fractionation of the active ethyl acetate (EtOAc) soluble fraction from the methanolic extract of E. stolonifera, led us to the isolation of phloroglucinol derivatives [phloroglucinol (1), eckstolonol (2), eckol (3), phlorofucofuroeckol A (4), and dieckol (5)]. Compounds 1~5 were found to inhibit the oxidation of L-tyrosine catalyzed by mushroom tyrosinase with $IC_{50}$ values of 92.8, 126, 33.2, 177, and 2.16 ${\mu}g$ /mL, respectively. It was compared with those of kojic acid and arbutin, well-known tyrosinase inhibitors, with $IC_{50}$ values of 6.32 and 112 ${\mu}g$ / mL, respectively. The inhibitory kinetics analyzed from Lineweaver-Burk plots, showed compounds 1 and 2 to be competitive inhibitors with $K_i$ of $2.3{\times}10^{-4}\;and\;3.1{times}10^{-4}$ M, and compounds 3~5 to be noncompetitive inhibitors with $K_i$ of $1.9{\times}10^{-5},\;1.4{\times}10^{-3}\;and\;1.5{\times}10^{-5}$ M, respectively. This work showed that phloroglucinol derivatives, natural compounds found in brown algae, could be involved in the control of pigmentation in plants and other organisms through inhibition of tyrosinase activity using L-tyrosine as a substrate.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.63 no.3
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• pp.283-290
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• 2020

Oxidative stress is one of the contributors of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease. According to previous studies, Aster yomena (Kitam.) Honda (AY) possesses variable pharmacological activities including anti-coagulant and anti-obesity effect. In this study, we aimed to determine the neuroprotective effect of ethyl acetate fraction from Aster yomena (Kitam.) Honda (EFAY) against oxidative stress. Therefore, we carried out 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,3-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), and 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate assays in SH-SY5Y neuronal cells treated with hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂). H₂O₂-treated control cells exhibited reduced viability of cells, and increased LDH release and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production compared to normal cells. However, treatment with EFAY restored the cell viability and inhibited LDH release and ROS production. To investigate the underlying mechanisms by which EFAY attenuated neuronal oxidative damage, we measured protein expressions using Western blot analysis. Consequently, it was observed that EFAY down-regulated cyclooxygenase-2 and interleukin-1β protein expressions in H₂O₂-treated SH-SY5Y cells that mediated inflammatory reaction. In addition, apoptosis-related proteins including B-cell lymphoma-2-associated X protein/B-cell lymphoma-2 ratio, cleaved caspase-9, and cleaved-poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase protein expressions were suppressed when H₂O₂-treated cells were exposed to EFAY. Our results indicate that EFAY ameliorated H₂O₂-induced neuronal damage by regulating inflammation and apoptosis. Altogether, AY could be potential therapeutic agent for neurodegenerative diseases.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.8
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• pp.1284-1288
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• 2005

The methanol extract of Houttuynia cordata repressed the expression of tyrosinase gene of Bl6 mouse melanoma cell containing tyrosinase promoter. The extract repressed expression of tyrosinase gene by about 13$\%$ and 45$\%$ at 10$\mu$g/mL and 100 $\mu$g/mL, respectively. In the MTT assay, the same extract exhibited very low cytotoxicity at 1$\mu$g/mL, 10$\mu$g/mL, and 100 $\mu$g/mL, respectively. The fractions of ethyl acetate, butyl alcohol, and water did not showed the repressive effect on the expression of tyrosinase gone, but methylene chloride fraction layer repressed highly at 10$\mu$g/mL and 100$\mu$g/mL.