• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• 제44권1호
• /
• pp.69-73
• /
• 2008

Fermented soybeans contain microorganisms, diverse enzymes, and bioactive compounds. Few studies on cellulase in Chungkookjang exist. Oligosaccharides play diverse roles of bioactivity. Through Congo red test and activity staining, it was confirmed that the enzyme solution contained cellulase. Optimal pH and temperature of the cellulase produced by Bacillus licheniformis B1 were 10 and $40^{\circ}C$, respectively. Through TLC analysis, it was demonstrated that the enzyme solution degraded carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), whose main products contained dimer and trimer oligosaccharides. Cellulase activity of barley-Chungkookjnag fermented by the strain increased, compared with that of Chungkookjang. The cellulase was found to be a ${\beta}$-1,4-glucanase through the analysis of the cloned gene, showing polymorphism at 32 amino acid sites in the coding range of amino acid 10 and 460.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
• /
• 제39권3호
• /
• pp.187-194
• /
• 2014

Objectives: The effects of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and enamel matrix derivative (EMD) respectively with mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) on hard tissue regeneration have been investigated in previous studies. This study aimed to compare the osteogenic effects of MTA/BMP-2 and MTA/EMD treatment in MC3T3-E1 cells. Materials and Methods: MC3T3-E1 cells were treated with MTA (ProRoot, Dentsply), BMP-2 (R&D Systems), EMD (Emdogain, Straumann) separately and MTA/BMP-2 or MTA/EMD combination. Mineralization was evaluated by staining the calcium deposits with alkaline phosphatase (ALP, Sigma-Aldrich) and Alizarin red (Sigma-Aldrich). The effects on the osteoblast differentiation were evaluated by the expressions of osteogenic markers, including ALP, bone sialoprotein (BSP), osteocalcin (OCN), osteopontin (OPN) and osteonectin (OSN), as determined by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction analysis (RT-PCR, AccuPower PCR, Bioneer). Results: Mineralization increased in the BMP-2 and MTA/BMP-2 groups and increased to a lesser extent in the MTA/EMD group but appeared to decrease in the MTA-only group based on Alizarin red staining. ALP expression largely decreased in the EMD and MTA/EMD groups based on ALP staining. In the MTA/BMP-2 group, mRNA expression of OPN on day 3 and BSP and OCN on day 7 significantly increased. In the MTA/EMD group, OSN and OCN gene expression significantly increased on day 7, whereas ALP expression decreased on days 3 and 7 (p < 0.05). Conclusions: These results suggest the MTA/BMP-2 combination promoted more rapid differentiation in MC3T3-E1 cells than did MTA/EMD during the early mineralization period.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
• /
• 제33권3호
• /
• pp.151-156
• /
• 2018

The world is becoming overwhelmed with widespread diseases as antibiotic resistance increases at an alarming rate. Hence, there is a demanding need for the discovery and development of new antimicrobial drugs. The ocean is gifted with many organisms like phytoplankton, algae, sponges, cnidarians, bryozoans, mollusk, tunicates and echinoderms, which are known to produce a wide variety of bioactive secondary metabolites with pharmacological properties. Many new therapeutic drugs have emerged from marine invertebrates, although the large algal community is yet to be explored. The bioactivity possessing secondary metabolites of marine algae include polyphenols, phlorotannins, alkaloids, halogenated compounds, sulfated polysaccharides, agar, carrageenan, proteoglycans, alginate, laminaran, rhamnan sulfate, galactosylglycerol, and fucoidan. These metabolites have been found to have great antimicrobial activities against many human aliments. Studies show that the algal community represents about 9% of biomedical compounds obtained from the sea. This review looks at the evolution of drugs from the ocean, with a special emphasis on the antimicrobial activities of marine algae.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
• /
• 제5권3호
• /
• pp.231-235
• /
• 2005

A limited number of studies have been conducted on the bioactivity of Callophyllis japonica (C. japonica), which is a red seaweed that is traditional in the oriental diet. In this report, the hepatoprotective effect of C. japonica was studied in a carbon tetrachloride $(CCl_4)-induced$ hepatotoxicity model in rats. A single intraperitoneal injection of 1.25 ml/kg of 20% $CCl_4$ in olive oil produced an elevated level of serum glutamic pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) and increased enzyme activity of serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT). Pre-treatment with C. japonica (150 mg/kg/d) for 3 days in $CCl_4-injected$ rats reduced the levels of SGPT and SGOT compared with control levels (P < 0.05), while higher doses (300 and 600 mg/kg) were ineffective. The administration of C. japonica (150 mg/kg/d) for 3 days after the $CCl_4$ injection in rats was ineffective at reducing SGPT and SGOT. The histopathological findings in each group largely agreed with the biochemical data. The results of this study support the suggestion that C. japonica has a hepatoprotective effect on chemical-induced liver injury.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• 제26권3호
• /
• pp.201-206
• /
• 2016

Consumers are more aware of their health and more conscious of environmental conditions nowadays. As such, there is an increasing demand for agri-foods obtained from organic agricultural practices. The present study aims to compare quality characteristics and antioxidant activities between organically and conventionally grown perilla leaf, leaf lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage. The conventionally grown leafy and stem vegetables showed significantly (p<0.05) higher weights and lengths. There was no significant difference in moisture contents of organically and conventionally grown vegetables. The L (lightness), a (redness), and b (yellowness) values of organically and conventionally grown perilla leaf, leaf lettuce, broccoli, and cabbage showed significant differences (p<0.05). Conventionally grown perilla leaf, leaf lettuce, and broccoli showed significantly (p<0.05) higher DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities. Overall, the quality characteristics of conventionally grown leafy and stem vegetables were higher than those of organically grown ones. On the other hand, antioxidant activities of organically grown leafy and stem vegetables were higher than those of conventionally grown ones. Further studies are recommended to evaluate other differences such as flavor, organic acid, polyphenol, vitamin, mineral, and bioactivity compounds between organically and conventionally grown vegetables.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
• /
• 제54권3호
• /
• pp.175-187
• /
• 2018

Myxobacteria produce diverse secondary metabolites for predation, self-defense, intercellular signaling, and other unknown functions. Many secondary metabolites isolated from myxobacteria show pharmaceutically useful bioactivity such as anticancer, antibacterial, and antifungal activities with a unique mechanism of action. Therefore, a large number of myxobacterial strains have been isolated globally and many bioactive compounds have been purified from them. However, 16S rRNA database analysis indicates that there are far more types of myxobacterial species in the wild than have ever been isolated, and genome sequence analysis suggests that each myxobacterium is capable of producing much more metabolites than already known. In this article, the current status of studies on the secondary metabolites from myxobacteria, their biosynthetic genes, biological functions, and transcriptional regulatory factors governing gene expression were reviewed.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
• /
• 제25권1호
• /
• pp.12-19
• /
• 2022

In the present study, we investigated the effects of recombinant eel gonadotropins (rec-GTHs) on maturation induction in immature ovarian culture in vitro and sex steroid hormones in vivo in the Japanese eel Anguilla japonica. To study the in vitro effects of rec-GTHs on estradiol-17β (E2) production in immature ovarian tissues, ovarian tissues were incubated with different doses of rec-follicle-stimulating hormone (rec-FSH) or rec-luteinizing hormone (rec-LH). The results revealed that the E2 levels in the rec-FSH (0.1, 0.5, or 1 ㎍/mL)- and rec-LH (0.1 or 0.5 ㎍/mL)-treated groups were significantly higher than those in the female eels from the control group. Furthermore, to investigate the in vivo effects of rec-GTHs on the gonadosomatic index (GSI) and plasma sex steroid hormone levels, the eels were injected intraperitoneally with eel's ringer (control), salmon pituitary extract (SPE; for female eels), human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG; for male eels), rec-FSH, rec-LH, and rec-FSH + rec-LH once a week. The results revealed that except for the SPE and the hCG groups, none of the groups exhibited a significant difference in GSI values. However, in vivo plasma E2 levels increased at the end of 4 weeks after rec-FSH treatment in female eels. Based on these results, it is suggested that rec-GTHs may have a positive effect on sexual maturation in female eels; however, further studies on complementary rec-protein production systems and additional glycosylation of rec-hormones are needed to elucidate hormone bioactivity in vivo and in vitro.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 한국자원식물학회 2021년도 춘계학술대회
• /
• pp.53-53
• /
• 2021

Abeliophyllum distichum Nakai (A. distichum), endemic species of Korea, is classified according to the petals and calyx colors. Recently, A. distichum cv. Okhwang 1, which has the golden flower, designated the first official cultivar improved from A. distichum species. The study on the chloroplast genome of A. distichum cv. Okhwang 1 have been reported, but no studies on bioactivity such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer have been progressed. This study was conducted to evaluate the inhibition on melanogenesis of the flower from A. distichum cv. Okhwang 1 (FAO). Antioxidant activity was measured using DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging assays. Inhibition effects on melanogenesis of FAO were confirmed by expression of tyrosinase-related proteins and mRNAs using immunoblotting and RT-qPCR. Tyrosinase is an enzyme that regulates both stimulation and inhibition of melanogenesis. Stimulated MITF in cellular levels increases the expressions of tyrosinase, TRP-1, and TRP-2 to induce melanogenesis. As a result, FAO inhibited the expression of MITF, followed by down-regulated tyrosinase, TRP-1, and TRP-2, which lead to inhibit melanin overproduction. In conclusion, these results indicated that FAO reduced reactive oxygen species (ROS) and markedly inhibited the expression of melanin-related factors. The present study suggested providing that FAO has the potential for development as a functional cosmetic material derived from natural.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• 제18권5호
• /
• pp.711-720
• /
• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: The diet is an important route of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs). However, few studies have investigated the association between dietary intake and EDC exposure levels among Koreans. In an earlier study, we showed that the bioactivity of serum aryl hydrocarbon receptor ligands (AhRLs) could be a surrogate biomarker to indicate exposure to EDCs and that they inhibit mitochondrial function. We also found that the mitochondria-inhibiting substances (MIS) in serum ascertained by intracellular adenosine triphosphate (MIS-ATP) and reactive oxygen species (MIS-ROS) levels could be biomarkers of exposure to EDCs, as they showed a strong correlation with AhRL and the levels of EDCs in the blood. Here, we investigated the association between the consumption of specific foods and surrogate serum biomarkers for EDCs, namely AhRL, MIS-ATP, and MIS-ROS, among middle-aged Korean adults. SUBJECTS/METHODS: A total of 1,466 participants aged 45-76 yrs from the Ansung cohort of the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study were included. Food consumption, including that of meat, fish, vegetables, and fruits, was measured using a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. RESULTS: Fish intake was positively associated with AhRL (β = 0.0035, P = 0.0166), whereas cruciferous vegetable intake was negatively associated with AhRL (β = -0.0007, P = 0.0488). Cruciferous vegetable intake was positively associated with the MIS-ATP levels (β = 0.0051, P = 0.0420). A higher intake of fish was significantly associated with an increased risk of high AhRL (tertile: odds ratio [OR], 1.49; 95% confidence intervals (CIs), 1.08-2.06; P for trend = 0.0305). In addition, the second-highest tertile of cruciferous vegetable intake had lower odds of high AhRL than the lowest tertile (OR, 0.73; 95% CIs, 0.54-0.97), although no significant linear trend was observed. CONCLUSION: Consumption of different types of foods may be differentially associated with EDC exposure in middle-aged Korean adults.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• 제22권4호
• /
• pp.585-590
• /
• 2015

As consumers are aware of their health and are more conscious of environmental conditions, there is an increasing demand for organic agri-foods. The present study aims to investigate the physicochemical quality characteristics and antioxidant activity of organic green peppers. The weight, length, moisture content, color (Hunter L, a, b) and hardness were measured for the quality characteristics. In addition, the DPPH, ABTS radical scavenging activities and total phenolic contents were analyzed for the comparison of antioxidant activities between organically and conventionally grown green peppers. The weight and length of the organically grown green peppers were lower than those of the conventionally grown ones. The moisture content of the organically and conventionally grown green peppers was similar. The L and b values of the organically grown green peppers were higher than those of the conventionally grown ones. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of the organically grown green peppers (62.86%) was higher than that of the conventionally grown ones (51.06%). The total phenolic content of the organically grown green peppers was higher than that of the conventionally grown ones, however, there was no significant differences between organically and conventionally grown green peppers (p<0.05). Further studies would be recommended for the evaluation of other characteristics such as flavor, taste, and bioactivity compounds between organically and conventionally grown green peppers.