• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.203-207
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• 2009

A homoisoflavanone, 7,4'-dihydroxyhomoisoflavanone (1) and a flavanone, (2S)-7,4'-dihydroxy-5-methoxyflavanone (2), were isolated from the rhizomes of Anemarrhena asphodeloides, together with 4,4'-dihydroxychalcon (3), 2'-O-methylphlorethin (4), 1,3-bis-di-p-hydroxyphenyl-4-penten-1-one (5), and 2,4'-dihydroxy-4-methoxybenzophenone (6) on the basis of spectroscopic and physicochemical analyses including 1Dand 2D- NMR techniques as well as by comparison of their data with the published values. Compounds 1 - 4 were isolated for the first time from this plant source. Among isolates, compound 2 exhibited moderate inhibitory effect on the differentiation of pre-adipocyte 3T3-L1 cells.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.48-54
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• 2014

Alzheimer's disease is progressive neurodegenerative disorder by the loss of memory and learning abilities. Codonopsis lanceolata (C. lanceolata) is traditional medicinal plant used for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. The aim of study was to evaluate the effect of steamed C. lanceolata on scopolamine-induced memory impairment in the Morris water maze test and passive avoidance test. In addition, this study investigated the neuroprotective effects of steamed C. lanceolata on glutamate-induced cell death in HT22 cells using MTT assay. The results showed that steamed C. lanceolata (500 mg/kg body weight, p.o.) reversed spatial memory impairment by scopolamine in Morris water maze test and passive avoidance test. Steamed C. lanceolata attenuated memory impairment by scopolamine compared with common C. lanceolata. In addition, administration of steamed C. lanceolata significantly also reduced cell death. We suggest that steaming process more improve cognitive enhancing and neuroprotective effect of C. lanceolata than common C. lanceolata.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.45 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2014

Protocatechuic acid is an active phenolic acid compound from Momordica charantia. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of protocatechuic acid against oxidative stress under cellular system using C6 glial cell. The oxidative stress was induced by hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$) and amyloid beta 25-35 ($A{\beta}_{25-35}$), and they caused the decrease of cell viability and overproduction of reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, the treatment of protocatechuic acid significantly elevated the decreased cell viability and inhibited the overproduction of ROS by $H_2O_2$. In addition, protocatechuic acid significantly recovered the cellular damage induced by $A{\beta}_{25-35}$. In particular, protocatechuic acid at the concentration $10{\mu}g/mL$ decreased the elevated ROS level to normal level. These results indicate that protocatechuic acid may have neuroprotective effect through attenuating oxidative stress.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.772-779
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• 2005

Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) were enriched by repeating fed-batch cultivations in an AOB-selective medium of activated sludges from a domestic wastewater treatment plant. Enriched culture showed strong capabilities of ammonia oxidation [0.810 mg $NH_4^+$-N/mg mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS)$\cdot$day] as well as $NO_x^-$-N production (0.617 mg $NO_x^-$-N/ mg MLSS$\cdot$day). Degree of enrichment was examined through fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analyses using an AOB-specific Cy3-labeled oligonucleotide probe (NSOl90) and terminal-restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) analyses. FISH analyses confirmed that the fraction of AOB among 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI)-stained cells increased from about less than $0.001\%$ to approximately $42\%$ after enrichment of AOB, and T-RFLP analyses showed that bacterial community became simpler as enrichment was continued. When the enriched culture of AOB was added (150 mg/l as dry suspended solid) to the normal activated sludge (3,000 mg/l as dry suspended solid), nitrification efficiencies were improved from 0.020 mg $NO_x^-$-N/mg MLSS$\cdot$day to 0.041 mg $NO_x^-$-N/mg MLSS$\cdot$day in a synthetic wastewater and also from 0.0007 mg $NO_x^-$-N/mg MLSS$\cdot$day to 0.0918 mg $NO_x^-$-N/mg MLSS$\cdot$day in a real domestic wastewater. Therefore, it is expected that this enrichment method could be used for improving efficiency of nitrification in wastewater treatment plants.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.12
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• pp.1862-1867
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• 2006

A moderately halophilic, Gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium was isolated from the roots of Blutaparon portulacoides, a plant found in sandy soil parallel to the beach line in Restinga de Jurubatiba, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The strain, designated $M9^T$, was motile and strictly aerobic with rod-shaped cells. It grew in the absence of NaCl and up to 20% NaCl, and was able to hydrolyze casein and starch. Strain $M9^T$ had a cell-wall peptidoglycan based on L-Orn-D-Asp, the predominant menaquinone present was menaquinone-7 (MK-7), diaminopimelic acid was not found, and anteiso-$C_{15:0}$ and iso-$C_{15:0}$ were the major fatty acids. A phylogenetic analysis based on 16S rRNA gene sequences showed that strain $M9^T$ belonged to the genus Halobacillus and exhibited 16S rRNA gene similarity levels of 97.8-99.4% with the type strains of the other nine Halobacillus species. The DNA-DNA relatedness of strain $M9^T$ with H. trueperi, the closest relative as regards 16S rRNA gene similarity, and H. locisalis was 21% and 18%, respectively. Therefore, on the basis of phenotypic, genotypic, and phylogenetic data, strain $M9^T$ (=ATCC BAA-$1217^T$, =CIP $108771^T$, =KCTC $3980^T$) should be placed in the genus Halobacillus as a member of a novel species, for which the name Halobacillus blutaparonensis sp. nov. is proposed.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.928-937
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• 2016

S-Nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) metabolizes S-nitrosoglutathione (GSNO) and has been shown to play important roles in regulating cellular signaling and formulating host defense by modulating intracellular nitric oxide levels. The enzyme has been found in bacterial, yeast, mushroom, plant, and mammalian cells. However, to date, there is still no evidence of its occurrence in filamentous fungi. In this study, we cloned and investigated a GSNOR-like enzyme from the filamentous fungus Aspergillus nidulans. The enzyme occurred in native form as a homodimer and exhibited low thermal stability. GSNO was an ideal substrate for the enzyme. The apparent K_m and k_cat values were 0.55 mM and 34,100 min^-1, respectively. Substrate binding sites and catalytic center amino acid residues based on those from known GSNORs were conserved in this enzyme, and the corresponding roles were verified using site-directed mutagenesis. Therefore, we demonstrated the presence of GSNOR in a filamentous fungus for the first time.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.6
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• pp.1101-1108
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• 2008

Geldanamycin and its analogs are important anticancer agents that inhibit the newly targeted heat-shock protein (Hsp) 90, which is a chaperone protein in eukaryotic cells. To resolve which geldanamycin biosynthetic genes are responsible for particular post-polyketide synthase (PKS) processing steps and in which order the reactions occur, we individually inactivated candidate genes in Streptomyces hygroscopicus subsp. duamyceticus JCM4427 and isolated and elucidated the structures of intermediates from each mutant. The results indicated that gel7 governs at least one of the benzoquinone ring oxidation steps. The gel16 was found to be involved in double-bond formation between C-4 and C-5 of 4,5-dihydrogeldanamycin, which confirmed our previous findings that this double bond is reduced during the post-PKS modification of the polyketide assembly. In addition, pro-geldanamycin, which does not possess a double bond at C-4/5, was purified from the gel7 and gel8 double-gene-inactivated mutant.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.61 no.1
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• pp.39-46
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• 2018

Column chromatographic separation of the MeOH extract from the roots of Dicentra spectabilis yielded fourteen compounds, menisdaurin (1), menisdaurilide (2), trans-N-p-coumaroyltyramine (3), trans-N-p-feruloyltyramine (4), 4-O-feruloylquinicacid (5), chlorogenic acid (6), 3-O-feruloylquinicacid (7), ferulic acid (8), protopine (9), Kaempferol 3,7-di-O-${\beta}-{\text\tiny{D}}$-glucopyranoside (10), kaempferol 3-O-${\beta}-{\text\tiny{D}}$-glucopyranosyl-7-O-${\alpha}-{\text\tiny{L}}$-rhamnopyranoside (11), ${\alpha}-rhamnoisorobin$ (12), astragalin (13), and nicotiflorin (14). Their structures were determined on the basis of NMR spectroscopic data. Among them, compound 1, 3-8, and 10-14 isolated from this plant were reported for the first time. The isolated compounds (1-14) were tested for nitric oxide (NO) inhibitory activity on lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Compound 3, 4 and 12 significantly inhibited NO production. Moreover, Compound 3 suppressed pro-inflammatory cytokines ($TNF-{\alpha}$, $IL-1{\beta}$ and IL-6) in a dose- dependent manner. These data suggest that compound 3 possess anti-inflammatory activity and might be useful natural materials for development of anti-inflammatory agent.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.728-733
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• 2007

Bamboo grass, Sasa quelpaertensis, is a native plant to Jeju Island, Korea. The leaves of Sasa plants are widely used in traditional Korean medicine to treat inflammation-related diseases. We investigated the effect of hot water extract from Sasa quelpaertensis leaves (HWE-SQ) on nitric oxide (NO) production and nuclear $factor-{\kappa}B\;(NF-{\kappa}B)$ activation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. HWE-SQ inhibited LPS-induced NO production and inducible NO synthase (iNOS) protein expression in a dose-dependent manner. Reporter gene assays indicated that HWE-SQ decreases LPS-induced $NF-{\kappa}B$ transcriptional activation. However, HWE-SQ did not affect the phosphorylation and degradation of inhibitory ${\kappa}B{\alpha}\;(1{\kappa}B{\alpha})$. HWE-SQ also directly inhibited iNOS enzyme activity in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that HWE-SQ suppresses NO synthesis in macrophages by attenuating $NF-{\kappa}B-mediated$ iNOS protein expression and inhibiting iNOS enzymatic activity, thereby implicating a mechanism by which HWE-SQ is able to ameliorate inflammation-related diseases by limiting excessive or prolonged NO production in pathological events.

• CELLMED
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.10.1-10.8
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• 2013

Cancer is one of the major dreaded diseases causing high mortality. Lung cancer is second in position of all cancer related deaths and mainly divided into two morphologic sub-types: small-cell lung cancer and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). NSCLC is an aggressive neoplasm which hardly responds to any conventional chemotherapy. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) belongs to the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinase that is mainly over-expressed in NSCLC. EGFR is mainly involved in the pathogenesis and progression of different carcinoma. In vivo and in vitro studies suggest that EGFR and EGF like peptides are often over-expressed in human NSCLC and these proteins are able to induce cell transformation. The conventional therapies mostly inhibit the EGFR activity and expression level in human NSCLC with the use of some EGFR-inhibitors like HKI-272, EKB569, CL-387785 etc. and some synthetic chemotherapeutic drugs like erlotinib, gefitinib, plumbagin, docetaxel, cisplatin etc., alone or in combination of two or more drugs. These therapies selectively act by competitive inhibition of the binding of adenosine triphosphate to the tyrosine kinase domain of the EGFR, resulting in inhibition of the EGFR signaling pathway. But these chemotherapeutic drugs have some cytotoxic activities to the normal cells and have some adverse side-effects. Recent studies on some traditional alternative therapies including some herbal and plant extracts, active ingredients like curcumin, different homeopathic drugs, etc. can target EGFR-signalling in NSCLC with less toxic side-effects are being currently developed.