• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.12-24
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• 2010

Plant metabolomics is a research field for identifying all of the metabolites found in a certain plant cell, tissue, organ, or whole plant in a given time and conditions and for studying changes in metabolic profiling as time goes or conditions change. Metabolomics is one of the most recently developed omics for holistic approach to biology and is a kind of systems biology. Metabolomics or metabolite fingerprinting techniques usually involves collecting spectra of crude solvent extracts without purification and separation of pure compounds or not in standardized conditions. Therefore, that requires a high degree of reproducibility, which can be achieved by using a standardized method for sample preparation and data acquisition and analysis. In plant biology, metabolomics is applied for various research fields including rapid discrimination between plant species, cultivar and GM plants, metabolic evaluation of commercial food stocks and medicinal herbs, understanding various physiological, stress responses, and determination of gene functions. Recently, plant metabolomics is applied for characterization of gene function often in combination with transcriptomics by analyzing tagged mutants of the model plants of Arabidopsis and rice. The use of plant metabolomics combined by transcriptomics in functional genomics will be the challenge for the coming year. This review paper attempted to introduce current status and prospects of plant metabolomics research.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.9
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• pp.1166-1172
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• 2012

To investigate potential medicinal or functional uses of Eriobotrya japonica, this study focused on the isolation and identification of antioxidant compounds from Eriobotrya japonica leaves. Various solvents were extracted from the leaves, and their scavenging effect on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals was measured, in addition to their superoxide dismutase-like activity, polyphenol compounds, and flavonoid content. Ethyl acetate extract exhibited the strongest scavenging effect in a 0.2 mM solution of DPPH ($63.24{\pm}2.20%$, $81.83{\pm}2.10%$, and $93.15{\pm}2.31%$ in 0.3, 0.7, and 1.0 mg/ml sample concentrations, respectively). The antioxidant effect of the ethyl acetate extract and methanol extract were generally stronger than that of n-hexane extract. The extracts were further purified by repeated silica gel column chromatography. The antioxidant compounds were identified as phytol, ${\beta}$-sitosterol, and (-)-loliolide using GC/MS.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.231-238
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• 2019

This study evaluated the antioxidant activity of the extract and fractions of Alnus firma. Alnus firma had the highest total phenolic content ($452.80{\pm}7.01{\mu}g$ gallic acid equivalents/mg) in a methanol (MeOH) fraction and the highest total flavonoid content ($112.29{\pm}11.14{\mu}g$ rutin equivalents/mg) and antioxidant capacity ($936.23{\pm}0.07{\mu}g$ ${\alpha}$-tocopherol equivalents/mg) in an ethylacetate (EA) fraction. The antioxidant activities of various solvent extract fractions of Alnus firma were evaluated using various antioxidant assays, including ${\beta}$-carotene-linoleate assay, reducing power assay, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging assay, metal chelating activity assay, superoxide anion radical scavenging assay, and lipid peroxidation inhibition assay using the ferric thiocyanate method. These activities were compared with those of ascorbic acid, butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), gallic acid (GA), butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol. First, at a $250{\mu}g/ml$ concentration, the EA and MeOH fractions of A. firma showed 92.43% and 89.20% DPPH radical scavenging activity, respectively. Second, $50{\mu}g/ml$ of the EA fraction exhibited 72.49% superoxide anion radical scavenging activity, a little greater than the same dose of GA (60.88%). Finally, 0.5 and 1 mg/ml of the EA fraction showed 73.45% and 73.29% inhibition of peroxidation in the ${\beta}$-carotene-linoleic acid system, respectively. The decreasing order of reducing power was EA fraction > n-butanol (BuOH) fraction > dichloromethane (DCM) fraction > n-hexane (HX) fraction. The results obtained in the present study indicated that Alnus firma can be used as an easily accessible potential source of natural antioxidants.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.393-398
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• 2024

The purpose of this study was to verify the antifungal properties of various herbal medicines belonging to the Ranunculaceae family and to find an extraction method effective in inhibiting fungal growth. When antifungal activity was measured in a liquid medium with extracts obtained by either hot water extraction or organic solvent extraction of the herbal medicines Clematis apiifolia, Coptis chinensis, and Pusatilla chinensis, effective results were obtained from the chloroform extract. In addition, fungal growth inhibition experiments were performed on unicellular fungi, Candida albicans, Candida tropicalis, and Candida lusitaniae, and on filamentous fungi, such as Pythium ultimum, Aspergillus fumigatus, and Fusarium oxysporum, using disk diffusion experiments on solid media. It was confirmed that P. chinensis extract has excellent antifungal properties against Candida spp. and C. apiifolia extract against filamentous mold. Finally, GC-MS analysis was performed to explore the useful antifungal substances present in the extract. As a result of the study, thurbergenone from C. apiifolia and 16-hydroxycleroda-3, 13(14)-dien-15, 16-olide (16-HCDO) from C. chinensis were confirmed as antifungal candidates. In conclusion, it was confirmed that C. apiifolia, C. chinensis, and P. chinensis have antifungal activity against various fungi, and in GC-MS analysis, all herbal medicines were confirmed to have different antifungal candidates. These results indicate that the Ranunculaceae family has evolved in several directions for fungal resistance traits.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.2
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• pp.200-207
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• 2015

Various natural products or their derivatives, mostly originating from plants, fungi, and bacteria, have been exploited as therapeutic drugs to treat various human diseases. In addition to previously explored organisms, research on natural compounds has now expanded into unexamined living organisms in order to identify novel bioactive substances. Here, we determined whether or not the larval form of the mealworm beetle Tenebrio molitor, a species of darkling beetle, contains cytotoxic substances that exclusively affect cancer cell viability. Ethanol extract and its solvent partitioned fractions, hexane and ethyl acetate fractions, showed anticancer effects against various human cancer cells derived from the prostate (PC3 and 22Rv1), cervix (HeLa), liver (PLC/PRF5, HepG2, Hep3B, and SK-HEP-1), colon (HCT116), lung (NCI-H460), breast (MDA-MB231), and ovary (SKOV3). Cell death induced by the fractions was a mix of apoptosis, necrosis, and autophagy. The hexane fraction was administered intraperitoneally to nude mice bearing a hepatocellular carcinoma SK-HEP-1 and showed inhibition of tumor growth in vivo. Therefore, we concluded that worm extracts contain cytotoxic substances, which can be enriched by proper fractionation protocols, and further separation and purification could lead to the identification of novel molecules to treat human cancers.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.16 no.3 s.76
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• pp.546-554
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• 2006

To understand antitumor activity of Zanthoxylum schinfolium, which has been used as an aromatic and medicinal plant in Korea, the cytotoxic effect of various organic solvent extracts of its leaves on human tumor cells were investigated. Among these extracts such as methanol extract (SL-13), methylene chloride extract (SL-14), ethyl acetate extract (SL-15), n-butanol extract (SL-16), and residual fraction (SL-17), SL-14 appeared to contain the most cytotoxic activity against leukemia and breast cancer cells tested. The methylene chloride extra.1 (SL-14) possessed an apoptogenic activity causing apoptotic DNA fragmentation of human acute leukemia Jurkat T cells via mitochondrial cytochrome c release into cytoplasm, subsequent activation of caspase-9 and caspase-3, and cleavage of PARP, which could be negatively regulated by antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL. The GC-MS analysis of SL-14 revealed that the twenty-two ingredients of SL-14 were 9,19-cyclolanost-24-en-3-ol (15.1%), 2-a-methyl-17, b-hop-21-ene (15.1%), 15-methyl-2,3-dihydro-1H benzazepin (11.95%), phytol (10.38%), lupeol (9.92%), 12-methylbenzofuran (8.23%), hexadecanoic acid (5.96%), cis,cis,cis-9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid-methyl-ester (5.49%), 9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid-methylester (3.59%), 15-methyl-4-(1-methylethylidene)-2-(4-nitrophenyl) (3.36%), hexadecanoic acid methyl ester (1.93%), vitamine E (1.88%), beta-amyrin (0.96%), and auraptene (0.89%). These results demonstrate that the cytotoxicity of the methylene chloride extract of the leaves of Z. schinifolium toward Jurkat T cells is mainly attributable to apoptosis mediated by mitochondria-dependent caspase cascade regulated by Bcl-xL, and provide an insight into the mechanism underlying antitumor activity of the edible plant Z. schinifolium.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.24 no.9
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• pp.935-945
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• 2014

Persimmon leaves were commonly consumed as beverages, but were also used as popular folk medicine in Asia. The purpose of this work was to assess the biological activities of Diospyros Lotus L. extracts (DLLE). Various solvent extracts, including n-Hexnae, $CHCl_3$, EtOAc, and n-BuOH fractions, were obtained from the methanol extract of Diospyros Lotus L. leaves. The increasing interest in the powerful biological activity of plant phenolics and flavonoids outlined the necessity for determining their content in medicinal herbs. In this study, the total polyphenol and flavonoid contents (TPC and TFC) in the EA fraction were higher than those of other fractions. The biological activities of DLLE were tested using the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) diammonium salt (ABTS) radical scavenging activity assay, as well as superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity as an anti-oxidant effect and ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibitory activity as an anti-diabetic effect. The EA fraction with high TPC and TFC values showed the highest anti-oxidant effect and high ${\alpha}$-glucosidase inhibition. The EA fractions were further purified into eight fractions using open column chromatography. Higher anti-oxidant and anti-${\alpha}$-glucosidase activity were observed in polar fractions. The content of the flavonoids, including quercein-3-O-rutinoside, kaempferol-3-O-glucoside, myricetin, luteolin, and kaempferol, were analyzed in effective fractions using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The results suggest that DLLE have anti-oxidative and anti-diabetic effects and thus, have the potential as anti-diabetic materials and as a source for natural health products.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.34 no.6
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• pp.755-758
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• 2005

Wild grape is a traditional medicine plant in north-eastern part of Asia and has been known to have healing properties for various illnesses. This study was to determine the optimum extraction condition and antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of wild grape (V. coignetiae) seed. Also, organic solvent fractions of hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol were obtained from the ethanol extract of wild grape seed at different temperatures. Total ethanol extraction yield of wild grape seed ranged from $4\%\;to\;12\%$ depending on the ethanol concentration, extraction temperature and time condition. The highest extraction yield of $11.9\%$ was obtained at $90\%$ ethanol condition for 12 hour at $70^{\circ}C$. However, the strongest free radical scavenging effect $(RC_{50})$ with $20.93\mu g/mL$ was observed in $70\%$ ethanol extract of wild grape seed extracted for 6 hour at $70^{\circ}C,\;while\;RC_{50}\;with\;40.42$\mu g/mL$ was observed in $90\%$ ethanol extract for 12 hour at $70^{\circ}C$. Antioxidant activity of ethanol extracts of wild grape seed increased as total phenol contents increased. Among each fraction obtained from organic solvents, ethyl acetate fraction was found to have the strongest $RC_{50}\;(8.6\mu g/mL)$ and 636.77 mg GAE/g phenol contents .

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.9
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• pp.1068-1075
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• 2018

Kaempferia parviflora, an herbaceous plant in the family Zingiberaceae, is popular in many tropical regions. It is called as black ginger or krachaidum in Thailand and Laos, and its raw or dried root have been used as spices and teas. The rhizomes also have been traditionally used to treat gastrointestinal disorders, ulcers, gout, dysentery, allergies and to improve physical work capacity. Recently, its anti-obesity, anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and blood clot-lysis activities were reported. In this study, the anti-thrombosis activity of black ginger was investigated, since improvement in blood fluidity leads to the prevention of various lifestyle-related diseases. The hot water and ethanol extract and their subsequent solvent fractions (hexane, ethylacetate, butanol fractions and water residue) were prepared, and their anti-coagulation and platelet aggregation inhibitory activities were determined, respectively. Among the black ginger extracts and their fractions, the ethylacetate fraction (EAF) of ethanol extract only showed significant extensions of blood coagulation time determined by thrombin time (TT), prothrombin time (PT), and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). At 5 mg/ml concentration, TT, PT and aPTT were extended to 1.22, 1.49 and >15-folds compared to non-treatment. The EAFs of ethanol and hot water extract showed strong inhibitions against collagen-induced platelet aggregations, which are comparable to inhibitions of aspirin. Also the EAFs from black ginger did not show any hemolysis activity against human RBC up to 0.5 mg/ml. Our results suggest that the EAF of black ginger has a potential as novel anti-coagulation and ant-platelet aggregation agent. This report provides the first evidence of anti-coagulation activity of black ginger.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.738-744
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• 2018

Sasa quelpaertensis Nakai is a native Korean plant that grows only on Mt. Halla of Jeju Island. Its leaf is used for a popular bamboo tea due to its various health-promoting properties, and it has been increasingly used as food and cosmetic ingredients. To utilize the S. quelpaertensis leaf efficiently, the preparation method for phytochemical-rich extract (PRE) using the leaf's residue was previously reported, which was produced after hot water extraction. This study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory potential of PRE and its solvent fractions. The ethyl acetate fraction of PRE (EPRE) showed higher DPPH, ABTS, and superoxide radical scavenging activities, and it effectively inhibited intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) production in lipopolysaccharides (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. EPRE also induced the expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) by increasing the level of nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) in a nuclear fraction. The inhibiting effect of EPRE on LPS-induced NO production was partially reversed by the HO-1 inhibitor (zinc protoporphyrin, ZPP), suggesting that HO-1 is involved in suppressing NO production. Taken together, the results suggest that EPRE has potential as a promising anti- oxidant and anti-inflammatory agent.