• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.10
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• pp.1458-1469
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• 2015

This study was carried out to investigate the nitrite scavenging activities (NSA) of nine kinds of wild vegetables in a $NaNO_2$ model system and nitrite of Chinese cabbage as well as the inhibitory effect of kimchi containing a mixture of wild vegetables (MWV) with nitrite scavenging activity on brain neuronal cell death. NSA was higher at pH 1.2 than pH 4.2 in all samples. NSA of extracts from sprouts of Oenothera laciniata and Aster scaber (AS) was above 90% at pH 1.2. AS, Codonopsis lanceolate (CL), Adenophora triphylla (AT), Platycodon grandiflorum (PG), and Taraxacum officinale (TO) extracts showed significantly higher levels of NSA than those from other extracts at pH 4.2. CL, AT, PG, and TO extracts showed high NSA on nitrite of Chinese cabbage. In addition, the effects of MWV on antioxidant and brain neuronal cell death induced by oxidative stress were investigated in human brain neuroblastoma SK-N-SH cells. MWV extract attenuated $H_2O_2$-induced cell death and reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in SK-N-SH cells. MWV extract showed significantly higher DPPH radical scavenger activity when compared to normal kimchi extract. MWV extract showed an inhibitory effect on brain neuronal cell death against oxidative stress by antioxidant activities.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.35 no.3
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• pp.291-295
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• 2002

This study was designed to investigate the effects of a butanol (BuOH) fraction from an extract of pine (Pinus densiflora Sieb et Zucc.) needles, on oxygen radicals and their scavenger enzymes in the liver membranes of rats. Twenty-eight male Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were divided into four groups over a 45 days study period: the control group on a basic diet, and three experimental groups on three different dietary levels of the butanol fraction, specifically 25 mg (BuOH-25), 50 mg (BuOH-50), and 100 mg (BuOH-100) butanol fraction/kg body weight/day, thereby 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.1% of butanol extract of pine needles was added to basil diet respectively. At the end of the experimental period, body weights and food intakes were not different among the four groups. The results showed that cholesterol accumulation in the mitochondria and microsomes of liver cells was significantly inhibited in the BuOH-50 and BuOH-100 groups: by 11.6% and 20.1% in the mitochondria of the BuOH-50 and BuOH-100 groups, respectively; and by 10.5%, and 13.5% in the microsomes of the BuOH-50 and BuOH-100 groups, respectively, compared with the control group. The levels of hydroxyl radicals (.OH) were significantly) lower in the liver mitochondria of the BuOH-50 and BuOH-100 groups (by 13.3% and 18.5%, respectively), while OH radicals were significantly lower in the microsomes or all three experimental groups (by 15.7% in the BuOH-25 group, 20.0% in the BuOH-50 group, and 20.6% in the BuOH-100group), compared with the control group. Superoxide radical (O$_2$) formation was also significantly inhibited in the liver cytosol of both BuOH-50 and BuOH-100 groups; the levels of these radicals were 8.0% lower for the BuOH-50 group and 11.1% lower for the BuOH-100 group, compared to the control group. Copper/Zinc - superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) activities were significantly increased (by 10.3% and 15.9%, respectively) in the liver cytosols of the BuOH-50 and BuOH-100 groups, but Mn-SOD activities were almost identical in the three RuOH groups, compared with the control group. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities were significantly increased in the three experimental groups (by 9.0% in the BuOH-25 group, 19.4% in the BuOH-50 group, and by 25.6% in the BuOH-100 group), compared with the control group. These results suggest that the butanol extract of pine needles may play an effective role in attenuating oxygen radicals and activating scavenger enzymes; consequently, aging may be very effectively modulated and/or inhibited.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.241-248
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• 2003

Sodium salicylate, a plant stress hormone that plays an important role(s) in defenses against pathogenic microbial and herbivore attack, has been shown to induce a variety of cell responses such as anti-inflammation, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in animal cells. p38MAPK plays a critical role(s) in the cell regulation by sodium salicylate. However, the signal pathway for sodium salicylate-induced p38MAPK activation is yet unclear. In this study, we show that although sodium salicylate enhances reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, N-acetyl-L-cysteine, a general ROS scavenger, did not prevent sodium salicylate-induced p38MAPK, indicating ROS-independent activation of p38MAPK by sodium salicylate. Sodium salicylate-activated p38MAPK appeared to be very rapidly down-regulated 2 min after removal of sodium salicylate. Interestingly, sodium salicylate-pretreated cells remained fully responsive to re-induction of p38MAPK activity by a second sodium salicylate stimulation or by other stresses, $H_2O$$_2$ and methyl jasmonate (MeJA), thereby indicating that sodium salicylate does not exhibit both homologous and heterologous desensitization. In contrast, pre-exposure to MeJA, $H_2O$$_2$, heat shock, or hyperosmotic stress reduced the responsiveness to subsequent homologous stimulation. Sodium salicylate was able to activate p38MAPK in cells desensitized by other heterologous p38MAPK activators. These results indicate that there is a sensing mechanism highly specific to sodium salicylate for activation of p38MAPK, distinct trom pathways used by other stressors such as MeJA, $H_2O$$_2$ heat shock, and hyperosmotic stress.