• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.798-802
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• 2005

Crude extracts of thirty seaweeds collected in Korea were obtained using 50% ethanol, and total phenolic contents and antioxidant activities were compared. Two brown algae, Ecklonia cava (E. cava) and Sargassum siliquastrum (S. siliquastrum), showing high antioxidant activity based on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and superoxide anion radical scavenging activity were further investigated for their inhibitory effects on tyrosinase activity. The E. cava extract had the highest total phenolic content among the seaweeds extracts. Total phenolic contents were strongly correlated with antioxidant activity in the thirty seaweed extracts ($R^2\;=\;0.9169$). The E. cava and S. siliquastrum extracts exhibited higher inhibition to tyrosinase activity than butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.90-99
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• 2020

This study aimed to screen for plants with antimicrobial potential among the evergreen woody species of South Korea that are used for horticulture and landscaping and to provide basic information about plants with proven antimicrobial activity to underpin future research. The plant materials were extracted under various conditions, and the antimicrobial activities of the extracts were evaluated by agar diffusion assay. The screening tests demonstrated that the crude extracts of 43 species had inhibitory effects against S. aureus. The inhibitory activities of four species (Elaeocarpus sylvestris, Camellia japonica, Cleyera japonica, and Quercus salicina) were relatively higher than that of the synthetic antimicrobial agents methylparaben and phenoxyethanol. The highest inhibitory activity was observed with the leaf extracts (extracted with methanol for 30 minutes) of E. sylvestris, based on induction of the largest inhibition zone of 23.3 mm in size. In addition, solvent fractions of E. sylvestris were evaluated. The largest inhibitory zone of 23.1 mm was observed for the n-butanol fraction, which is likely to contain effective compounds that exhibit inhibitory activity against S. aureus. In contrast, n-hexane and residual aqueous fractions showed no antimicrobial activity. Overall, our findings confirm that evergreen woody plants native to South Korea have potential antimicrobial activity.

• 한국생물공학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.11a
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• pp.489-492
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• 2001

There were many reports on the natural antioxidants, but only tocopherol has been widely used despite of its high market price because of its recognized safety. On the other hands, antimicrobial effects of various plant extracts also have been extensively studied. There exist many substances showing antimicrobial activity in plants and their activities have been studied.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.103-110
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• 2010

The seed powder of Abrus precatorius L. has traditionally been used as oral contraceptive agent by the women in some rural areas in Bangladesh. The present study aimed to examine the antifertility activity of A. precatorius seed extracts in experimental female rats. Finely ground seeds were extracted with aqueous acetone followed by successive partitioning with n-hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), methanol (MeOH) and water. Water suspended crude seed powder, organic fractions of acetone extract and a standard contraceptive drug ($Nordette^{(R)}28$) were separately administered orally to the female rats for 30 days. n-Hexane, EtOAc and MeOH solubles at the doses of 2, 4 and 6 mg/rat/day, respectively and crude seed powder at 100 mg/rat/day exhibited 100% antifertility activity with lowest levels of serum luteinizing hormone (LH), follicle stimulating hormone (FSH) and $17{\beta}$-estradiol. Histological study of ovary and uterus of these rats exhibited reduced number of developing follicles and increased number of atretic follicles in the ovary, and fewer uterine glands with shrunken morphology, reduced endometrial height, poor vascularity and compact stroma in uterus. However, the activities of serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase and the body weight of the rats remained almost unaffected in all the seed extract treated rats compared to control. These results suggest that A. precatorius seed extracts reduced the levels of serum FSH, LH and $17{\beta}$-estradiol probably by affecting hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis. The reduced levels of these hormones might have affected the oestrous cycle, follicular development, and subsequently the establishment of pregnancy in treated rats.

• CELLMED
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.32.1-32.6
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• 2013

Plectranthus amboinicus Benth (Lamiaceae) is a medicinal plant native to India, and its leaves are widely used in several traditional medicinal preparations. The purpose of this study was to detect and quantify phenolics present in ethyl acetate and acetone extracts of P. amboinicus leaves, and evaluate their antioxidant, antibacterial, antimutagenic and anticancer activities. The HPLC chromatograms of crude leaf extracts indicated the presence of phenolics like caffeic acid, coumaric acid, rutin, quercetin and gallic acid, which were present in the range of 0.01 - 1.41 mg/g in ethyl acetate and 0.03 - 1.93 mg/g in the acetone extract. The acetone extract showed statistically (p < 0.05) higher antioxidant activity ($IC_{50}$, 99.59 ${\mu}g/ml$) than ethyl acetate extract ($IC_{50}$, 149.96 ${\mu}g/ml$). Statistically (p < 0.05) higher antimutagenicity was shown by acetone extract (46.16%) as compare to ethyl acetate extract (12.16%) at 500 ${\mu}g/plate$ concentration. The acetone extract showed higher antibacterial activity than ethyl acetate extract, and both the extracts showed highest activity against B. cereus (375 and 625 ${\mu}g/ml$, respectively) and lowest activity against Y. enterocolitica (1000 and 1125 ${\mu}g/ml$, respectively). Both the extracts also showed inhibitory effect on cancer cell lines HCT-15 and MCF-7. These results suggest that the leaves of P. amboinicus possess various biological activities, and validate the traditional use of the leaves of P. amboinicus against cold, infection and ulceration.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.191-194
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• 2017

Ocimum gratissimum is a common plant in the tropics and has been used in food and medicine. Its usage in food and medicine could be attributed to its phtyochemical and antimicrobial properties. In this study we investigated the proximate, phytochemical, and antimicrobial attributes of air dried leaves of O. gratissimum. The aqueous extract was found to contain phtyochemicals with alkaloid and saponin present in appreciable amounts. The proximate analysis (crude protein and crude fibre content were 15.075% and 17.365%, respectively) showed that the leaf could be a good source of protein and fibre. The aqueous ethanolic extract of the leaf exhibited activity against a wider range of organisms when compared to the aqueous extract at the investigated concentrations. Aqueous ethanolic extracts of O. gratissimum leaf was active against Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Bacillus cereus and the aqueous extract of the leaf was active against P. aeruginosa.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.330-341
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• 2018

This study was performed to investigate and measure the antimicrobial activity of evergreen woody species extracts on Trichophyton mentagrophytes. To do this, leaves and stems were collected from Wando and Jeju islands, and were used for the extraction with different solvents (i.e., distilled water, 80% ethanol, and 100% methanol), and at different ultrasonic extracting times (i.e., 15, 30, and 45 minutes). The experiment was conducted by using the agar diffusion method. The clear zone was measured after incubating the paper disc containing the plant extract in a bacterial culture medium. The controls were synthetic antimicrobials, methylparaben and phenoxyethanol, at concentrations of 0.4, 1, 2, and 4 mg/disc. Altogether, extracts of 56 out of 64 species used in this study had inhibitory activity, which confirmed their antimicrobial activity against Athlete's foot. Among them, the crude ethanolic extract of Elaeocarpus sylvestris in 45 min showed a zone of inhibition < 20.2 mm, while the clear zone of Actinodaphne lancifolia ethanolic extraction for 30 min was 23.5 mm. Also, Quercus acuta, Dendropanax morbiferus and Daphne odora showed clear zones of 28.0 mm (45 minutes ethanolic extraction), 20.5 mm (45 minutes crude methanolic extraction) and 19.7 mm (45 minutes methanolic extraction), respectively. Thus, these results confirm that the extracts of evergreen woody species have therapeutic potential against Athlete's foot, and suggest that in order to extract adequate amounts of antimicrobial substance from the plant sources, ideal extraction condition has to be considered.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.147-150
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• 2000

The extracts of Carica papaya (flower), Barringtonia macrostachya (leaves), Coleus tuberosus (tuber), Mangifera indica (fruit skin) and Eugenia polyantha (leaves) showed strong in vitro anti-tumor promoting activity when assayed using Raji cells (Mooi et al., 1999). The antitumor promoting activity of the crude extracts was further analyzed by immunoblotting analysis of Raji cells carving Epstein-Barr virus genome. The expression of early antigens diffuse (EA-D) and early antigens restricted (EA-R) was determined by performing western blotting of treated Raji cells with human sera of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. All the plant extracts were shown to be able to suppress both EA-D and EA-R.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.51 no.5
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• pp.537-544
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• 2013

The present study was performed to observe histopathological changes in tissues of Bithynia siamensis goniomphalos (Gastropoda, Bithyniidae) incubated in crude extract solutions of camellia (Camellia oleifera) seed and mangosteen (Garcinia mangostana) pericarp, and furthermore to estimate the molluscicidal effects of 2 plant substances. Substantial numbers of bithyniid snails were incubated in various concentrations of 2 plant solution for 24 hr. As the positive control, snails incubated in various concentrations of niclosamide, a chemical molluscicide, were used. The histopathological findings were observed in sectioned snail specimens of each experimental and control groups. The results showed that both camellia and mangosteen extracts had molluscicidal effects at 24 hr with 50% lethal concentration ($LC_{50}$) at concentrations of 0.003 and 0.002 g/ml, respectively, while niclosamide had $LC_{50}$ at concentrations 0.599 ppm. B. siamensis goniomphalos snail tissues (foot, gill, and digestive system) showed disruption of columnar muscle fibers of the foot, reduction of the length and number of gill cilia, numerous mucous vacuoles, and irregularly shaped of epithelial cells. Irregular apical and calciferous cells, dilatation of the digestive gland tubule, and large hemolymphatic spaces, and irregular apical surfaces, detachment of cilia, and enlargement of lysosomal vacuoles of epidermis were also shown in all groups. By the present study, it is confirmed that 2 plants, camellia and mangosteen, are keeping some substance having molluscicidal effects, and histopathological findings obtained in this study will provide some clues in further studies on their action mechanisms to use them as natural molluscicides.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.267-274
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• 1995

Based upon the nucleotide sequence of As strain of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV-As0 RNA4, coat protein (CP) gene was selected for the design of oligonucleotide primers of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection and identification of the virus. Reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was performed with a set of 18-mer CMV CP-specific primers to amplify a 671 bp fragment from crude nucleic acid extracts of virus-infected leaf tissues as well as purified viral RNAs. The minimum concentrations of template viral RNA and crude nucleic acids from infected tobacco tissue required to detect the virus were 1.0 fg and 1:65,536 (w/v), respectively. No PCR product was obtained when potato virus Y-VN RNA or extracts of healthy plants were used as templates in RT-PCR using the same primers. The RT-PCR detected CMV-Y strain as well as CMV-As strain. Restriction analysis of the two individual PCR amplified DNA fragments from CMV-As and CMV-Y strains showed distinct polymorphic patterns. PCR product from CMV-As has a single recognition site for EcoRI and EcoRV, respectively, and the product from CMV-Y has no site for EcoRI or EcoRV but only one site for HindIII. The RT-PCR was able to detect the virus in the tissues of infected pepper, tomato and Chinese cabbage plants.