• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.62 no.4
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• pp.433-439
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• 2019

Artemisia species are widely used as food ingredients and raw material in traditional medicine. However, to date, the secondary metabolites of Artemisia gmelinii Weber ex Stechm. have not been sufficiently investigated. The secondary metabolites of A. gmelinii, which was collected from representative regions in Chungbuk, Gangwon, and Gyeongbuk, were analyzed using ultra-performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-QTof MS) combined with an unsupervised principal component analysis (PCA) multivariate analysis. In the loading scatter plot of PCA, significant changes in metabolites were observed between the regions, ten metabolites (3: 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid, 4: 4-O-caffeoylquinic acid, 8: trans-melilotoside, 12: quercetin 3-O-hexoside, 15: 3,4-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 17: 3,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 18: 4,5-O-dicaffeoylquinic acid, 19: syringaldehyde, 20: caffeoylquinic acid derivative, and 23: icariside II) were evaluated as key markers among twenty-five identified metabolites. Interestingly, the contents of the identified marker significantly differed between the three groups. This is the first study to report the presence of marker metabolites and their correlating geographical cultivation in A. gmelinii.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.177-184
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• 2011

This study was performed to assess the antioxidant activities and whitening effects of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb on melanin synthesis. The whitening effects of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb water extracts were examined by in vitro mushroom tyrosinase assay and B16BL6 melanoma cells. We assessed inhibitory effect of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb water extract on expression of melanogenic enzyme proteins including tyrosinase, tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TRP-1) and tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP-2) in B16BL6 cells. Inhibitory effect of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb onto free radical generation was determined by measuring DPPH and hydroxyl radical scavenging activitie. Our results indicated that Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb water extract effectively inhibited free radical generation. In DPPH and hydroxy radical scavenging activity, Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb water extract had a potent anti-oxidant activity in a dose-dependent manner. They significantly inhibited tyrosinase activity in vitro and in B16BL6 melanoma cells. Also, Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb suppressed the expression of tyrosinase in B16BL6 melanoma cells. These results show that Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb inhibited melanin production on the melanogenesis. The underlying mechanism of Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb on whitening activity may be due to the inhibition of tyrosinase activity. We suggest that Agrimonia pilosa Ledeb may be useful as new natural active ingredients for antioxidant and whitening cosmetics.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.259-265
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• 2011

Through the process of fermentation with Lactobacillus strains this study has evaluated the functionality of the traditional Korean medicine Bangpungtongsungsan after the addition of four other medicinal ingredients. In order to facilitate the growth of the Lactobacillus strains brown sugar was added to the herbal substances used. For both DPPH radical scavenging activities and SOD-like activities the medicinal mixture, when fermented through heterogeneous co-cultures, scored higher (at 77% and 42%, respectively) than when not fermented (at 31.7% and 36.3%, respectively). The co-cultured Korean medicine inhibited the growth of Bacillus subtilis PCI 219, Pseudomonas aeruginosa KCTC 2004, Staphylococcus aureus subsp. aureus KCTC 1916 and Propionibacterium acnes KCTC 3314. The inhibiting effects on ${\beta}$-hexosaminidase released from RBL-2H3 cells caused by the mixture, with and without fermentation, was seen to be similar (57% and 60%, respectively).

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.14 no.9
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• pp.479-484
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• 2016

This study was designed to secure the basis for developing the health tea that may help promote healthy blood vessels by natural herbal ingredients formulated in accordance with the basic principles of oriental medicinal materials. We investigated the vessels contracted by concentrations and safety assessment carried out by the cell viability of Taraaci Herba, Cnidii Rhizoma, Citri Percarpium, and Ophiopoginis Radix composition and concentration. We found cell survival rate was higher than the control group, showing a beneficial trend in the growth of normal liver and kidney cells. As a result, this study will be the basis to develop the health tea differentiated in the future Chinese medicine resources. Medicinal resources will be health tea based on clinical trials utilizing herbal western and oriental medicine convergence principle and vascular relaxation mechanism. And this study tried to make health tea industrialization possible.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.287-299
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• 2011

Pharmacological effects of Panax ginseng have been demonstrated in cardiovascular system, endocrine secretion and immune system, together with antitumor, anti-stress and anti-oxidant activities. Modern scientific data show protective effect of ginseng against bone marrow cell death, increased survival rate of experimental animals, recovery of hematopoietic injury, immunopotentiation, reduction of damaged intestinal epithelial cells, inhibition of mutagenesis and effective protection against testicular damages, caused by radiation exposure. And also, ginseng acts in indirect fashion to protect radical processes by inhibition of initiation of free radical processes and thus reduces the radiation damages. The research has made much progress, but still insufficient to fully uncover the action mechanism of ginseng components on the molecule level. This review provides the usefulness of natural product, showing no toxic effects, as an radioprotective agent. Furthermore, the further clinical trials on radioprotection of ginseng need to be highly done to clarify its scientific application. The effective components of ginseng has been known as ginsenosides. Considering that each of these ginsenosides has pharmacological effect, it seems likely that non-saponin components might have radioprotective effects superior to those of ginsenosides, suggesting its active ingredients to be non-saponin series. These results also show that the combined effects of saponin and non-saponin components play an important role in the radioprotective effects of ginseng.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.369-375
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• 2008

In this study, quality in terms of the surface color and constituents of white ginseng prepared with different peeling time by using barker were investigated. The color of the white ginseng become better according to the increasing of peeling time. The components, such as contents of crude fat, crude protein, fatty acids, amino acids were slightly increased by the peeling, but carbohydrate and sugars were decreased. The contents of crude saponin and ginsenosides were markedly influenced. Compared with intact ginseng roots, peeling of ginseng roots resulted in a substantial decrease (approximately 20-30%) in total ginsenoside contents. The results suggest that peeling for white ginseng preparation leads to improve the surfacecolor formation of roots, while lose the contents of ginsenosides as the major active ingredients of ginseng.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.287-297
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• 2020

Background: Type II diabetes is considered as one of the common diseases. Bangpungtongseongsan (BPS) has been used as a traditional medicine for treating obesity and hypertension in Korea. According to previous reports, it has anti-obesity, anti-chronic asthma, anti-oxidant, and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the effects of BPS on type II diabetes have not yet been elucidated. Thus, in this sutudy, we evaluated the water extracts of BPS using type II diabetes animal models. Methods and Results: Each group was orally administered with BPS (170, 850 and 1,700 mg/kg) for approximately 13 weeks. A mixture of 150 mg/kg metformin and 10 mg/kg sitagliptin (MS) was used as a positive control. The glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and glucose levels, and hematological parameters including blood urine nitrogen, creatinine, low density lipoprotein and total cholesterol, were measured using blood samples. Treatment with 170 mg/kg BPS decreased the HbA1c and glucose levels in blood without affecting the weights of the animals. However, threatment with 1,700 mg/kg BPS reduced the weights and fatty liver, and increased the blood glucose level in type II diabetes animal models Conclusions: These results indicate that a low dose of BPS for 13 weeks, which reduces HbA1c and blood glucose levels, could be used for the treatment of type II diabetes. However, further studies are required to elucidate how active ingredients of BPS influence HbA1c and glucose levels in blood.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.86-95
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• 2019

Background: Depending on the processing method, the raw materials constituents change in various ways. In particular, a heat treatment process, such as steaming, changes the color and aroma of a raw material to increase its palatability and number of physiologically active ingredients. Methods and Results: In the present study, the effects of the steaming temperature and time on the yield, color, proximal composition, and total polyphenol and ginsenoside content of a 4-year-old ginseng root were analyzed. The yield tended to decrease with the increase of steaming time at each temperature and the total ginsenoside content increased with increasing of steaming temperature except at $80^{\circ}C$. Conclusions: These results suggest that steaming at $100^{\circ}C$ for 6 - 9 hours or at $110^{\circ}C$ for 3 - 6 hours is suitable for increasing total polyphenol and ginsenoside content with less yield reduction in a 4-year-old ginseng root.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.183-192
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• 2023

Viral infections are known as one of the major factors causing death. Ginseng is a medicinal plant that demonstrated a wide range of antiviral potential, and saponins are the major bioactive ingredients in the genus Panax with vast therapeutic potential. Studies focusing on the antiviral activity of the genus Panax plant-derived agents (extracts and saponins) and their mechanisms were identified and summarized, including contributions mainly from January 2016 until January 2022. P. ginseng, P. notoginseng, and P. quinquefolius were included in the review as valuable medicinal herbs against infections with 14 types of viruses. Reports from 9 extracts and 12 bioactive saponins were included, with 6 types of protopanaxadiol (PPD) ginsenosides and 6 types of protopanaxatriol (PPT) ginsenosides. The mechanisms mainly involved the inhibition of viral attachment and replication, the modulation of immune response by regulating signaling pathways, including the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) pathway, cystathionine γ-lyase (CSE)/hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) pathway, phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1)/ protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathway, c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK)/activator protein-1 (AP-1) pathway, and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB) pathway. This review includes detailed information about the mentioned antiviral effects of the genus Panax extracts and saponins in vitro and in vivo, and in human clinical trials, which provides a scientific basis for ginseng as an adjunctive therapeutic drug or nutraceutical.

• Mycobiology
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• v.50 no.4
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• pp.254-257
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• 2022

Wolfiporia cocos is a wood-decay brown rot fungus belonging to the family Polyporaceae. While the fungus grows, the sclerotium body of the strain, dubbed Bokryeong in Korean, is formed around the roots of conifer trees. The dried sclerotium has been widely used as a key component of many medicinal recipes in East Asia. Wolfiporia cocos strain KMCC03342 is the reference strain registered and maintained by the Korea Seed and Variety Service for commercial uses. Here, we present the first draft genome sequence of W. cocos KMCC03342 using a hybrid assembly technique combining both short- and long-read sequences. The genome has a total length of 55.5 Mb comprised of 343 contigs with N50 of 332 kb and 95.8% BUSCO completeness. The GC ratio was 52.2%. We predicted 14,296 protein-coding gene models based on ab initio gene prediction and evidence-based annotation procedure using RNAseq data. The annotated genome was predicted to have 19 terpene biosynthesis gene clusters, which was the same number as the previously sequenced W. cocos strain MD-104 genome but higher than Chinese W. cocos strains. The genome sequence and the predicted gene clusters allow us to study biosynthetic pathways for the active ingredients of W. cocos.