• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.320-324
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• 2012

Osteoporosis is an important public health issue in postmenopausal women. It is a major public health concern and is widely believed that osteoporosis results from imbalance between bone resorption and bone formation. Recently natural products from plants have been extensively studied as therapeutic drugs to treat and prevent various diseases. Hoelen (scientific name, Poria cocos) is a mushroom that is used in traditional Chinese medicine. Hoelen exhibits anti-inflammatory activity and has a protective effect on tumor progression. However, the effect of hoelen in osteoclast differentiation remains unknown. Thus, we examined the effect of hoelen in receptor activator of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation. Hoelen significantly inhibited RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMMs) in dose dependent manner without toxicity. Also, we showed that hoelen significantly inhibited the mRNA expression of tartrate-resistant acid phophatase (TRAP) and nuclear factor of activated T cells 1 (NFATc1) in BMMs treated with RANKL. In Particular, hoelen greatly inhibited the protein expression of NFATc1. Ectopic expression of NFATc1 partially reverses hoelen-mediated inhibition of osteoclast differentiation. Taken together, our results demonstrated that hoelen may be useful treatment option of bone-related disease such as osteoporosis, reumatoid arthritis, and periodontitis.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.7 no.2
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• pp.149-153
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• 1992

Pseudomanas fluorescens was selected from mushroom and studied in both batch and continuous culture in order to find out optimum conditions for cultivation. P. fluorescens is an aerobic bacterium and antagonistic to Pseudomonas tolaasii which causes blotch disease on the mushroom cap. Cells of P. fluorescens were grown well on medium containing 30g/L of glucose, whereas the growth was inhibited with the glucose concentration at higher than 30g/L. The highest value of specific growth rate and productivity were obtained when using 10g/L of yeast extract. Optimum concentrations of $NH_4Cl$ and $(NH_4)_2SO_4$ for culture were found to be 1.0g/L and 0.1g/L respectively. Optimum concentration of $MgSO_4{\cdot}7H_2O$ used as a sulfur source was 1.0g/L. It was also found that the cell concentrations were at the maximum level when grown on the medium containing 1.0g/L of $KH_2PO_4$ and 0.1g/L of $CaCl_2$. Also, the optimum culture conditions were $30^{\circ}C$ and pH 6.0. Cultivation of P.fluorescens at high initial dissolved oxygen (D.O) value led to a decrease of bacterial productivity in batch culture. Maximum productivity was achieved at 68 for the initial D.O value.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.178-182
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• 2008

Although the number of patients with Acanthamoeba keratitis has increased dramatically since the widespread use of contact lens, it is still very hard to cure the disease. The proteases from the Acanthamoeba were reported to play important role in the pathogenesis of keratitis. In this study, the inhibitors for extracellular serine proteases of A. castellanii were screened from the extracts of 230 mushroom samples collected from various regions of Korea. The mushrooms were extracted with methanol and water ($65^{\circ}C$). Filtered and concentrated extracts (0.3 mg/ml) were preincubated with proteases before addition of peptide substrate N-succinyl-ala-ala-pro-phe p-anilide. The selected extracts showing strong inhibitory effects were characterized. Although inhibition with single extract was not so high enough, the complete inhibition was achieved with combination of two extracts. The selected extract showed little effect on other serine proteases such as thrombin (human and bovine) and on general protease such as protease K.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.438-444
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• 2011

The mushroom Coriolus versicolor contains biologically active polysaccharides, most of which belong to the ${\beta}$-glucan group. Diverse physicochemical properties, due to different sources and isolated types of ${\beta}$-glucans, can induce distinct biological activities. We investigated the effects of ${\beta}$-glucans from C. versicolor on phagocytic activity, nitric oxide (NO), TNF-${\alpha}$ production, and signaling of dectin-1, a well-known ${\beta}$-glucan receptor, in macrophages. ${\beta}$-Glucans increased phagocytic activity and TNF-${\alpha}$ and NO-iNOS/eNOS production. Laminarin, a specific inhibitor of dectin-1, showed strong inhibitory effects on phagocytosis and subsequent TNF-${\alpha}$, iNOS, and eNOS production increased by ${\beta}$-glucans, indicating that ${\beta}$-glucans reacts with dectin-1 receptors. We examined whether the aforementioned cytokines were involved in the signaling pathway from the dectin-1 receptor to phagocytosis, and found that the inhibition of iNOS, eNOS, and TNF-${\alpha}$ receptors significantly decreased ${\beta}$-glucan-induced phagocytosis. In conclusion, our study showed that dectin-1 signaling, triggered by ${\beta}$-glucans, subsequently elicited TNF-${\alpha}$ and NO-iNOS/eNOS production, and that these molecules seem to act as secondary molecules that cause eventual phagocytosis by macrophages. These findings suggest that C. versicolor could be used as a nutritional medicine that may be useful in the treatment of infectious disease.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.147-151
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• 2002

Trichoderma spp. are the aggressive causal agents for green mold disease on oyster mushroom (Pleurotus spp.) cultivation. Antifungal bacteria (KATB 99121, KATB 99122 and KATB 99123 strains) were isolated from the compost for Pleurotus ostreatus. Among these bacterial strains, KATB 99121 strain showed an excellent inhibitory activity to the pathogens for green molds such as T. harzianum, T. viride and T. hamatum and an animal pathogen, Candida albicans, but did not affect on the culture of Pleurotus ostreatus (2209, Chunchu 2 and Wonhyung strains). KATB 99121 strain secreted amylolytic, proteolytic and cellulolytic exoenzymes. KATB 99122 and KATB 99123 strains excreted amylolytic, proteolytic, cellulolytic, lipolytic exoenzymes and showed ${\beta}$-glucosidase activity. Further studies will be conducted on the development of microbial fungicides using the antagonistic bacteria for the control of green mold disease on Pleurotus spp.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.103-108
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• 2008

Objective: Atopic dermatitis is the most common chronic inflammatory skin disease in childhood. Phellinus linteus, an orange color mushroom, has been used as a traditional herb medicine for years. Recent preliminary animal experiments suggest that Phellinus linteus grown on germinated brown rice is effective in chronic inflammatory disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Phellinus linteus grown on germinated brown rice in the treatment of atopic dermatitis(AD). Methods: 35 patients, 2 to 14 years of age, with mild to moderate AD were treated with Phellinus linteus grown on germinated brown rice powder per oral, $6{\sim}12g$/day adjusted by the body weight, divided three for up to 12 weeks without other treatment. The mean age of patients was 7.3 years. The disease activity has been monitored by objective SCORAD index. The symptom score of the pruritus was measured by using a traditional visual analogue scale (VAS). In addition, the global assessments of clinical response were also monitored by patients or their parents. Results: After 12 weeks of the study, significant reductions in mean severity scores and mean symptom scores were observed. The mean objective SCORAD indices of 35 patients decreased from 25.31${\pm}$8.96 to 18.73${\pm}$13.89(p<0.05). And the mean symptom score of pruritus assessment decreased from 7.37${\pm}$1.33 to 4.6${\pm}$2.3(p<0.05). The patient's global assessment of clinical response were also improved through the period of treatment(p<0.05). Conclusions: Phellinus linteusgrown on germinated brown rice may play a role in the treatment of mild and moderate AD in Children.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.240-244
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• 2012

Burkholderia gladioli pv. alliicola CH1 showed typical soft rot symptoms at higher than $20^{\circ}C$ but very weak soft rot symptoms at temperature under $10^{\circ}C$. Among the nine agro-chemicals, oxolinic acid WP, streptomycin + copper hydroxide WP and streptomycin WP were found to be effective for the inhibition of the pathogen in vitro. The results of scanning electron microscopic investigation showed that onion bulbs was macerated by infection of B. gladioli pv. alliicola CH1. B. gladioli pv. alliicola CH1 was able to produce polygalacturonase but did not produce pectin lyase and carboxymethylcellulase. In analysis of the polygalacturonase activity of the isolated pectin-degradation enzymes from B. gladioli pv. alliicola CH1 total protein, three activity bands 45 kDa, 35 kDa, and 29 kDa were detected by the direct (or in-gel) activity staining on SDS-PAGE.

• Journal of Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.28-32
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• 2009

The bacterial toxin, tolaasin, causes brown blotch disease on the cultivated mushrooms by collapsing fungal and fruiting body structure of mushroom. Cytotoxicity of tolaasin was evaluated by measuring hemolytic activity because tolaasins form membrane pores on the red blood cells and destroy cell structure. While we investigated the inhibitions of hemolytic activity of tolaasin by $Zn^{2+}$ and $Cd^{2+}$, we found that $Ni^{2+}$ is another antagonist to block the toxicity of tolaasin. $Ni^{2+}$ inhibited the tolaasin-induced hemolysis in a dose-dependent manner and its Ki value was $\sim10$ mM, implying that the inhibitory effect of $Ni^{2+}$ is stronger than that of $Cd^{2+}$. The hemolytic activity was completely inhibited by $Ni^{2+}$ at the concentration higher than 50 mM. The effect of $Ni^{2+}$ was reversible since it was removed by the addition of EDTA. When the tolaasin-induced hemolysis was suppressed by the addition of 20 mM $Ni^{2+}$, the subsequent addition of EDIA immediately initiated the hemolysis. Although the mechanism of $Ni^{2+}$ -induced inhibition on tolaasin toxicity is not known, $Ni^{2+}$ could inhibit any of fallowing processes of tolaasin action, membrane binding, molecular multimerization, pore formation, and massive ion transport through the membrane pore. Our results indicate that $Ni^{2+}$ inhibits the pore activity of tolaasin, the last step of the toxic process.

• Research in Plant Disease
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.254-259
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• 2006

Bacillus spp. isolated from mushroom medium wastes were evaluated for their biocontrol potentials on control of Sclerotinia rot of lettuce. The Bacillus isolates were more effectively obtained from waste suspension when directly added into nutrient agar(NA) medium than plating on the agar medium. Totally 42 isolates obtained from the wastes B23 and B42 showed highest antifungal activity against eight fungal pathogens such as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, Rhizoctonia solani, Pythium ultimum, Phytophthora capsici, Fusarium oxysporum, Colletotrichum gloeosporioides, Cladosporium cucumerinum, and Botrytis cinerea and B23 and B42 were finally selected for further studies. Optimal concentration of the isolates was $10ml(10^7cfu/ml)$ to suppress the Sclerotinia rot of lettuce. Supplements such as starch, glycerol, and egg-yolk successfully maintained the bacterial population for 30 days in vitro and increased bio-control potentials against the disease. The bacterial isolate B23 alone showed 72% control value, furthermore it presented 95% control value when supplemented with 0.2% of starch, glycerol, and egg-yolk. The promising Bacillus isolates B23 and B42 were identified as Brevibacillus brevis and Bacillus stearothermophillus, respectively, based on morphological and physiological characteristics according to API database.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.1034-1041
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• 2010

The oriental medicine Jangwonhwan, which is a boiled extract of 12 medicinal herbs/mushroom, has been prescribed for patients with cognitive dysfunction and it is originally from the Korean medical text, DonguiBogam(amnesia chapter). Recently, a modified recipe of Jangwonhwan (LMK02-Jangwonhwan) consisting of seven medicinal plants/mushroom, was shown to reduce ${\beta}$-amyloid deposition in the brain of Tg-APPswe/PS1dE9 mouse model of Alzheimer disease. The toxicity of LMK02 was investigated in SD rats by oral repeated adminstration for 4 weeks and we tried to determine test does for 13 weeks repeated study. Quality control of tablet form of LMK02 was established by estimating indicative components, Ginsenoside Rg3 of Red Ginseng and Decursin of Angelicagigas Nakai. The toxicity of LMK02 was investigated in 6 weeks old specific pathogen free (SPF) Sprageu-Dawley rats by oral administration. Each test group were consist of 5 male and 5 female and they received doses of 500, 1,000 and 2,000 mg/kg/day of test substance for 4 weeks. The clinical signs, death rate, body weight, food consumption, ophthalmic examination, urinalysis, hematological and serum biochemistry, organ weight and pathological changes were examined and compared with those of control group. Urinalysis : We observed increase of PRO(p<0.01), SG(p<0.01) in female rats of 1,000 mg/kg/day and 2,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.01). Also, we observed increase of pH and KET in female rats of 1,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.05) and of 2,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.01). WBC in female rats in 1,000 mg/kg/day and 2,000 mg/kg/day were on increase. Hematological test : We observed increase of MCV in male rats of 250 mg/kg/day. (p<0.05) Serum biochemistry test : We found increase of CHO in female rats of 2,000 mg/kg/day(p<0.05). During the experimental period, there were no animals dead or moribund. There were no treatment related changes of general symptom, food and water consumption, organ weight and autopsy According to the results of 4-week repeated dose range finding study, the highest dose was established as 1000 mg/kg for 13-week repeated dose toxicity study and we determined to put 2 more groups by common ratio two.