• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.31 no.5
• /
• pp.910-916
• /
• 2002

As the utilization of medicinal herbs in food and bio-industry increases, safe hygienic technologies for them are demanded. To consider the possibility of application of radiation technology for this purpose, the genotoxi-cological safety of three r -irradiated medicinal herbs were studied. Astragali Radix, Atractylodes Rhizoma and Cimicifugae Rhizoma were irradiated at 10 kGy, and then were extracted with hot water. The genotoxicity of the extracts was examined in two short-term in vitro tests: (1) Salmonella reversion assay (Ames test) in strains of TA98 and TA100; (2) Micronucleus test in cultured Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. The extract was treated at maximum doses of 5 mg/plate in Salmonella reversion assay, and 1 mg/mL in micronucleus test where growth of CHO cells was inhibited by 50%. In Salmonella reversion assay with or without metabolic activation, both ex-tracts of irradiated and non-irradiated herbs showed no significant differences in formation of revertant colonies compared with the negative control. And also in micronucleus test, the incidences of micronucleus in CHO cells cultured with extracts of irradiated herbs were almost same as negative control in less than 3%. These results of two in vitro tests suggest that ${\gamma}$-irradiated herbs do not show mutagenicity and cytogenetic toxicity. Further tests of in vivo genotoxicity and chronic toxicity are needed to ascertain the safety of ${\gamma}$-irradiated herbs.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
• /
• v.49 no.1
• /
• pp.22-29
• /
• 2023

Background: The existing research results on the combined toxicity of these pollutants using mammals, such as rodents, are insufficient, especially in relation to changes in the immune system. Objectives: This study aims at evaluating the cellular immune response to PE-MPs solely or when combined with Pb, which possess excellent adsorption capacity with PE-MPs and is commonly co-exposed in our daily lives. Methods: The study investigated the cellular immune function of 9-week ICR mice with 28 days exposure to PE-MPs (2 mg/mouse/day) and Pb (0.1 mM in distilled water) individually and in combination. PE-MPs were administered via gastric intubation while the lead intake was conducted via the oral drinking water route. Cellular immunity was evaluated by analyzing the production for T_H1 cytokines namely, TNF-α and IFN-𝛾 and T_H2 cytokines, IL-4 and IL-6 in culture supernatants from polyclonally activated splenic mononuclear cells ex vivo. Results: Both the PE-MPs only and the PE-MPs+Pb exposure group revealed an increased T_H1 response with elevated TNF-α and IFN-𝛾 levels and downregulated T_H2 response with low IL-4, and IL-6 production levels compared to the control group. Furthermore, an increased IFN-𝛾/IL-4 ratio was found in the PE-MPs only and PE-MPs+Pb exposure groups, which indicated the skewedness to T_H1 response. Meanwhile, reduced blood hemoglobin levels and increased levels of IL-4, the dominant T_H2 cytokine in the Pb-only exposure group, were observed. Conclusions: Our current findings on the predominance of T_H1 immune response in the PE-MPs and PE-MPs+Pb groups suggest that PE-MPs could be responsible for the predominant induction of the cellular immune changes. This finding could be used as an important landmark in research related to T_H1 predominance, such as autoimmune diseases. It suggests that additional research on immune modulation using longer exposure durations or the same exposure route is required to elucidate stronger findings.

• Korean Journal of Poultry Science
• /
• v.35 no.3
• /
• pp.241-245
• /
• 2008

Lentiviral vector system is efficient vehicles for the delivery of exogenous genes, and it is generally used in the generation of transgenic chickens. In this study, we used recombinant lentiviral vectors to generate transgenic chicks that express the human superoxide dismutase-3 gene driven by the chicken ovalbumin promoter. It is well known that superoxide dismutases(SODs) are believed to play a crucial role in protecting cells against oxygen toxicity. There are three forms of SOD proteins: cytosolic Cu-Zn SOD, mitochondrial Mn SOD, and extracellular SOD(SOD-3). The recombinant lentivirus containing the human SOD-3 gene was injected into the subgerminal cavity of freshly laid eggs. Subsequently, the embryos were incubated to hatch using phases II and III of the surrogate shell ex vivo culture system. From 341 injected embryos, the 78 chicks hatched after 21 days incubation. The hatched chicks were screened for the human SOD-3 gene by using PCR. Two of 47 male chickens that survived to sexual maturity contained the human SOD-3 gene in their semen. These results showed that our transgenic chicken generation system was completely established.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.21 no.5
• /
• pp.361-371
• /
• 2013

This study was performed to determine the antimelanogenic effect and tyrosinase inhibitory activities of anthocyanin rich fraction (AN-SLP) from Liriope platyphylla Wang et Tang seeds. Anthocyanins isolated from L. platyphylla seeds revealed the presence of four major anthocyanin components, which were tentatively identified as delphinidin-3-Oglucoside, delphinidin-3-O-rutinoside, petunidin-3-O-rutinoside, and malvidin-3-O-rutinoside using semipreparative HPLC, $^1H$-NMR, $^{13}C$ NMR, FAB-MS and LC/ES-MS. The inhibitory effect of AN-SLP on tyrosinase activity was studied using in vitro (against mushroom tyrosinase) and ex vivo (against B16 melanoma cell tyrosinase) models. Cellular tyrosinase activity was decreased by AN-SLP treatment in B 16 melanoma cells through dose dependent manner, but AN-SLP did not inhibit mushroom tyrosinase and L-DOPA oxidation directly. AN-SLP showed melanin inhibition by 53.2% at 50 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$ which was 0.7 times more efficient than the antimelanogenic effect of commercial arbutin and kojic acid (36.5%) also did not show cell toxicity. Additionally, AN-SLP inhibited the activity of ${\alpha}$-glucosidase and the glycosylation of tyrosinase in melanoma cell. The resulting unsaturated glycosylation of tyrosinase makes it unstable and disturb correct transportation. From theses results, we conclude that AN-SLP could be used as anti-melanogenic agent for skin whitening.