• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.68-72
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• 1983

The $pK_{a}$ of $-NH_{3}^{+}$ group of chitosan in water was 6.2, while that of D-glucosamine-HCl, monomer of chitosan, was found to be 7.8. The difference of $pK_{a}$ values between chitosan and D-glucosamine was attributed to the strong electrostatic interaction between $-NH_{3}^{+}$ groups in chitosan. The apparent binding constant of $Cu^{2+}$ to D-glucosamine was estimated to be $1{\times}10^{4}$. For chitosan, no significant binding of $Cu^{2+}$ to the polymer was observed when pH < 5, but strong cooperative binding was observed near pH 5.1. The mechanism of such cooperativity was proposcd. Chitosan in solution exhibited typical polyelectrolytic behaviors: viscosity increases with increased amount of charged group, and decreases with addition of salt. The concentration dependence of viscosity was measured, and the Huggins parameters and intrinsic viscosity were calculated at various ionic strength. The results were interpreted in terms of molecular properties of the chitosan molecule.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.34 no.4 s.135
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• pp.327-334
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• 2003

We evaluated the anti-arthritic effect of a new diet-supplement product containing red ginseng, glucosamine, shark cartilage, ascorbic acid and manganese chloride for the relieving arthritic symptoms. Anti-inflammatory activities of the aqueous extract of red ginseng (250 and 500 mg/kg), glucosamine (240 mg/kg) and shark cartilage (240 mg/kg) were tested individually on vascular permeability and carrageenan-induced paw edema. Glucosamine and shark cartilage showed the inhibition of vascular permeability by 29.6 and 32.9%, respectively. Red ginseng (500 mg/kg) and shark cartilage showed the inhibition of carrageenan-induced paw edema at 0.5, 1, 2 and 3 hr. The supplement (red ginseng mixture: RGM) composed of red ginseng (43.5%), glucosamine (25.0%), shark cartilage (25.0%), ascorbic acid (5.0%) and manganese chloride (1.5%) was prepared and its inhibitory activities including vascular permeability and carrageenan-induced paw edema were comparable to anti-inflammatory drugs such as diclofenac and ibuprofen. It was also tested on adjuvant-induced arthritis in rats as one of chronic arthritic tests and Randall-Selitto assay as an analgesic test. RGM showed the inhibition against the swelling of rat paws induced by Mycobacterium tuberculosis at a dose of 1,500 mg/kg. Determination of cytokines of the sera sampled from arthritis-induced animals indicated that RGM increased the levels of $interferon-{\gamma}$ and interleukin-6, representing the immunostimulatory effect by red ginseng. RGM treatment moderately reduced the production of NO in RAW 264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner. Taken together, these results support that RGM can be applicable for the improvement of arthritic as a new diet-supplement.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.293-299
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• 2014

Although the functional ingredient has been evaluated based on scientific evidence by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS), the levels of scientific evidence and consistency of the results might vary according to the emerging data. Therefore, a periodic re-evaluation may be needed in some functional ingredients. In this study, we re-evaluated the scientific evidence for the joint health of glucosamine as a functional ingredient in health functional food. Literature searches were conducted using Pubmed, Cochrane, KISS, and IBIDS databases with the search term of glucosamine in combination with osteoarthritis. The search was limited to human studies published in English, Korean and Japanese. Using the MFDS's evidence based evaluation system for scientific evaluation of health claims, 34 human studies were identified and reviewed in order to evaluate the strength of the evidence supporting the relation between glucosamine and joint health. Among the 34 studies, significant effects for joint health were reported in 28 studies, and their daily intake amount was 1.5 to 2 g. Eleven out of 34 studies were identified, excluding severe radiographic osteoarthritis, and ten from those eleven studies reported significant effects for joint health. Based on this systematic review, we concluded that there was possible evidence to support a relation between glucosamine intake and joint health.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.100-105
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• 2002

N-acetyl-D-glucosamine oligosaccharides [(GlcNAc)n] whose degree of polymer-ization is from one to ten (n=1-10) were fractionated by column chromatography on CM-Sephadex. Electro dialysis from a partially deacetylated chitosan hydrolysate prepared crudely with the N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase(chitinase) and exo-N, N'-diacetylchito-biohydrolase(chitobiase) of Serratia marcescens QM B1466. Reducing sugar compositions and sequences of the N-acetyl-glucosamine oligosaccharides were identified by N-acetylation, randomly cleavage with chitinase and ego-splitting with chitobiase. N-acetyl-glucosamine heterochitooligosaccharides with glucosamine oligosaccharides, (GlcN)n at the reducing end residues together with $(GlcN)_1\sim(GlcN)_4$ were detected. Separation was accomplished by prefractionation with election by 0 to 1.0 M NaCl gradient solution. $(GlcNAc)_1 =4.25%,\; (GlcNAc)_2=4.49%,; (GlcNAc)_3=11.1%,\; (GlcNAc)_4=2.5%,$$ $(GlcNAc)_{5}$=0.64%, $(GlcNAc)_{6}$=2.12% and $(GlcNAc)_{7}$=1.21%, respectively, were crystallized after electrodialysis and lyophilization Each N-acetyl-D-glucosamine oligosaccharides content were detected by HPLC.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.45-52
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• 2014

Objectives : The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of HT008 on pain relief and functional improvement in participants with mild knee osteoarthritis (OA) in comparison with that of glucosamine sulfate. Methods : This randomized double-blind trial was conducted at Kyung Hee University Medical Center in Seoul where participants with knee pain for more than 6 months and degenerative osteoarthritis were enrolled. The 100 participants were received either HT008 or glucosamine sulfate 750 mg twice daily for 8 weeks and evaluated at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks after the treatment. We primarily evaluated the differences between two groups with respect to changes in the visual analogue score (VAS) for pain, Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) pain score from baseline to week 8. Secondarily the difference between and within two groups with respect to changes in WOMAC stiffness and physical function score, and Lequesne Functional Severity Index (LFI) were also evaluated. Results : At week 8, treatment with HT008 resulted in a significant reduction of the VAS for pain and WOMAC pain scores compared to the glucosamine sulfate (both p=0.003). Patients receiving HT008 experienced statistically significantly greater improvements in WOMAC physical function scores and LFI (p = 0.014 and p=0.016, respectively) than glucosamine sulfate-treated group. The within-group change in WOMAC physical function and stiffness, and LFI during the 8-week intervention revealed significant improvements in HT008-treated group. Conclusions : HT008 treatment allows significant pain reduction and functional improvement compared with glucosamine sulfate. These data confirm HT008 as an effective and safe symptomatic drug for knee OA.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.358-361
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• 2009

The purified endochitosanase(Mw 41 kDa) from bacterium Bacillus cereus D-11 hydrolyzed chitooligomers $(GlcN)_{5-7}$ into chitobiose, chitotriose, and chitotetraose as the final products. The minimal size of the oligosaccharides for enzymatic hydrolysis was a pentamer. To further investigate the cleavage pattern of this enzyme, chitooligosaccharide alcohols were prepared as substrates and the end products of hydrolysis were analyzed by TLC and HPLC. The chitosanase split $(GlcN)_4GlcNOH$ into $(GlcN)_3+(GlcN)_1GlcNOH$, and $(GlcN)_5GIcNOH$ into $(GlcN)_4+(GlcN)_1GlcNOH$ and $(GlcN)_3+(GlcN)_2GlcNOH$. The heptamer $(GlcN)_6GlcNOH$ was split into $(GlcN)_5$ [thereafter hydrolyzed again into $(GlcN_3+(GlcN)2]+(GlcN)_1GlcNOH$, $(GlcN)_4+(GlcN)_2GlcNOH$, and $(GlcN)_3+(GlcN)_3GlcNOH$, whereas $(GlcN)_{1-3}GlcNOH$ was not hydrolyzed. The monomers GlcN and GIcNOH were never detected from the enzyme reaction. These results suggest that D-11 chitosanase recognizes three glucosamine residues in the minus position and simultaneously two residues in the plus position from the cleavage point.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2005

Chitin deacetylase (CDA; EC 3.5.1.41) catalyzes the hydrolysis of N-acetamide bonds of chitin, converting it to chitosan. Chitosan has several applications in areas such as biomedicine, food ingredients, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and agriculture. In this paper, occurrence, assay and purification protocols, enzymatic characteristics, substrate specificity, and mode of action of microbial CDAs have been described. Several lines of evidence have substantiated the biological roles involved in cell wall formation and plant-pathogen interactions for fungal CDAs. The gene structure of CDAs has been compared with other family 4 carbohydrate esterases which deacetylate a wide variety of acetylated poly/oligo-saccharides. The use of CDAs for the conversion of chitin to chitosan, in contrast to the presently used chemical procedure, offers the possibility of a controlled, non-degradable process, resulting in the production of well-defined chitosan oligomers and polymers. Insect pathogen that can secrete high levels of chitin-metab­olizing enzymes including CDA can be a possible alternative for new pest management tools.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.165-170
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• 2006

The antifungal activity of crude methanolic extract and fractions from Yucca smalliana Fern. leaves, roots and flowers were investigated in vitro against a panel of plant pathogenic fungi. The minimal inhibitory concentration(MIC) was determined by an agar dilution method. Preliminary liquid culture and agar plate assays showed that the growth of Fu sarium oxysporum, Phytophthora capsici, Rhizoctonia solani and Botrytis cinerea were inhibited by Y. smalliana extracts. The extracts from flowers and leaves showed antifungal activity of 64.0% and 34.0% against F. oxysporum, 66.0% and 62.0% against P. capsici, and 27.0% and 41.0% against B. cinerea, respectively. The methanolic extract from Y. smallina leaves in distilled water was fractionated using solvents of increasing polarity: hexane, ethyl acetate and butanol. These fractions had a broad spectrum of antifungal activity, found to reside entirely in the butanol and aqueous fraction. The aqueous fraction showed inhibition rate of 60.0, 67.8, 84.6 and 58.3% against F. oxysporum, R. solani, C. gloeosporioides, and B. cinerea, respectively, and the butganol fracgtion showed 36.0, 46.0, 66.1 and 58.3%, respectively. Phenolics(e.g. flavonoids, steroids and terpenoids) were observed in the thin layer profile of the different fractions. Leave extract showed a prominent antioxidant activity totally scavenging the free radical of DPPH at a concentration of 1 mg/ml.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.11
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• pp.1850-1858
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• 2018

Glucosamine (GlcN) is widely used in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries. Currently, GlcN is mainly produced by traditional multistep chemical synthesis and acid hydrolysis, which can cause severe environmental pollution, require a long prodution period but a lower yield. The aim of this work was to develop a whole-cell biocatalytic process for the environment-friendly synthesis of glucosamine (GlcN) from N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc). We constructed a recombinant Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis strains as efficient whole-cell biocatalysts via expression of diacetylchitobiose deacetylase ($Dac_{ph}$) from Pyrococcus furiosus. Although both strains were biocatalytically active, the performance of B. subtilis was better. To enhance GlcN production, optimal reaction conditions were found: B. subtilis whole-cell biocatalyst 18.6 g/l, temperature $40^{\circ}C$, pH 7.5, GlcNAc concentration 50 g/l and reaction time 3 h. Under the above conditions, the maximal titer of GlcN was 35.3 g/l, the molar conversion ratio was 86.8% in 3-L bioreactor. This paper shows an efficient biotransformation process for the biotechnological production of GlcN in B. subtilis that is more environmentally friendly than the traditional multistep chemical synthesis approach. The biocatalytic process described here has the advantage of less environmental pollution and thus has great potential for large-scale production of GlcN in an environment-friendly manner.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.30 no.4 s.48
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• pp.457-462
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• 2004

Anti-wrinkle effect of N-Acetyl-D-glucosamine (NAG) was evaluated by collagen synthesis and proliferation of normal human fibroblast. NAG was obtained by purifying deacetylated chitin which can be derived from chitin-rich crab shell. We studied in in-vitro cultures of human normal fibroblast, whether synthesis of collagens and fibroblast growth activation in these cells can be enhanced in the presence of NAG. It 야d not show any adverse effects in human shin irritation patch test. In in-vivo mouse test, it showed anti-wrinkle effect in hairless mouse (6W/F). From the HPLC analysis, the stability of NAG in the cosmetics product could be maintained for a long time. These results demonstrated that NAS can be useful anti-wrinkle cosmetic ingredient.