• BMB Reports
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• v.45 no.8
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• pp.452-457
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• 2012

Diketoreductase (DKR) from Acinetobacter baylyi contains two tryptophan residues at positions 149 and 222. Trp-149 and Trp-222 are located along the entry path of substrate into active site and at the dimer interface of DKR, respectively. Single and double substitutions of these positions were generated to probe the roles of tryptophan residues. After replacing Trp with Ala and Phe, biochemical and biophysical characteristics of the mutants were thoroughly investigated. Enzyme activity and substrate binding affinity of W149A and W149F were remarkably decreased, suggesting that Trp-149 regulates the position of substrate at the binding site. Meanwhile, enzyme activity of W222F was increased by 1.7-fold while W222A was completely inactive. In addition to lower thermostability of Trp-222 mutants, molecular modeling of the mutants revealed that Trp-222 is vital to protein folding and dimerization of the enzyme.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.59 no.3
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• pp.297-301
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• 2021

Toxoplasma gondii infection is widespread worldwide, not only posing a serious threat to human food safety and animal husbandry, but also endangering human health. The selectivity index was employed to measure anti-T. gondii activity. Hederagenin (HE) exhibited potent anti-T. gondii activity and low cytotoxicity. For this reason, HE was selected for in vivo experiments. HE showed 64.8%±13.1% inhibition for peritoneal tachyzoites in mice, higher than spiramycin 56.8%±6.0%. Biochemical parameters such as alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, glutathione, and malondialdehyde, illustrated that HE was a good inhibitor of T. gondii in vivo. This compound was also effective in relieving T. gondii-induced liver damage. Collectively, it was demonstrated that HE had potential as an anti-T. gondii agent.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.49 no.2
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• pp.174-180
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• 2021

Chalcones exhibit multiple biological activities. Various studies have attempted to modify the structure of chalcones with a special focus on the addition of substituents to the benzene rings. However, these chemical modifications did not improve the water solubility and bioavailability of chalcones. Glycosylation can markedly affect the physical and chemical properties of hydrophobic compounds. Here, we evaluated the ability of a highly promiscuous glycosyltransferase (GT) BsGT1 from Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633 to biosynthesize chalcone glucosides. Purified BsGT1 catalyzed the conversion of 4'-hydroxychalcone (compound 1), 4'-hydroxy-4-methylchalcone (compound 2), and 4-hydroxy-4'-methoxychalcone (compound 3), into chalcone 4'-O-β-D-glucoside (compound 1a), 4-methylchalcone 4'-O-β-D-glucoside (compound 2a), and 4'-methoxychalcone 4-O-β-D-glucoside (compound 3a), respectively. To avoid the addition of expensive uridine diphosphate glucose (UDP-Glc), a whole-cell biotransformation system was employed to provide a natural intracellular environment for in situ co-factor regeneration. The yields of compounds 1a, 2a, and 3a were as high as 90.38%, 100% and 74.79%, respectively. The successful co-expression of BsGT1 with phosphoglucomutase (PGM) and UDP-Glc pyrophosphorylase (GalU), which are involved in the biosynthetic pathway of UDP-Glc, further improved the conversion rates of chalcones (the yields of compounds 1a and 3a increased by approximately 10%). In conclusion, we demonstrated an effective whole-cell biocatalytic system for the enzymatic biosynthesis of chalcone β-D-glucoside derivatives.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.1042-1047
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• 2002

Recently, many natural medicines, which have advantage of less side effects and possibility of long-term use, have been studied for their capacity and effects of anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and regenerative potential for periodontal tissues. Cortex Eucommiae, Eupoly phaga, Semen Cuscutae, Halloysitum Rubrum have been traditionally used as medicines for treatment of bone disease in Korea. The objective of the present study is to examine the ability of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity in human fetal osteoblast cell line (hFOB1) with several natural medicines. hFOB1 added DMEM/F-12 were cultured with dexamethasone as a positive control, and with each natural medicine. ALP activity was measured by spectrophotometer for enzyme activity and naphthol AS-Bl staining was performed for morphometry. All of the natural medicines induced a higher ALP activity compared to negative control, especially, Cortex Eucommiae increased an ALP activity in all experimental groups (p<0.05). In naphthol AS-Bl staining, all of the natural medicines of this study increased the stained area compared to negative control. Especially, Cortex Eucommiae and Eupoly phaga showed statistical significance compared to negative control (p<0.05). These results indicate that Cortex Eucommiae, Eupoly phaga, Semen Cuscutae, Halloysitum Rubrum have an inducing ability of ALP synthesis on osteoblasts.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.20 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2007

The vegetation of habitats of a Korean rare plant Kirengeshoma koreana Nakai at Mt. Baekun was investigated by phytosociological approach. The vegetation of investigated area shows typical southern-temperate Quercus forest. The humidity of soil was high and the ground of locality was flat area of sub-alpine. These investigated area is very important for conservation of a rare plant, Kirengeshoma koreana that is limited in this area. Therefore, sustainable conservation strategy such as designation of conservation area should be prepared urgently by the results of long-term monitoring studies.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.101-113
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• 2015

Application of herbal medicines as natural preservatives has been increased because of its low toxicity or side effect, compared to artificial preservatives. In this study, papers and patents researching anti-microbial activity of herbal medicine were collected and analyzed by the year of publishment, species of bacteria, fungi, or yeasts, and herbal medicines used. After early 2000's, the number of paper publishment has been decreased, while that of patent registration has been increased up to early 2010's. Most studied species were Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, as gram-positive or gram-negative bacteria, and Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger as fungi. The bark of Cinnamomum cassia (L.) J. Presl was most frequently studies herbal medicine, followed by the roots of Scutellaria baicalensis Georgi and Sophora flavescens Ait. This study demonstrates that herbal medicines can be used as natural preservatives against diverse species of bacteria, fungi, or yeasts with their wide-ranged anti-microbial activities.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.751-765
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• 1999

Several growth factors and polypeptidesare not commonly yet used for regenerators of bone tissue or alveolar bone because of the insufficiency of studies on their side effects, genetic engineering for mass production and stability for clinical application. Recently, many natural medicines, which have advantage of less side effects and possibility of long-term use, have been studied for their capacity and effects of anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and regenerative potential of periodontal tissues. Olibanum, Myrrha, Phlomis Radix, and Cimicifugae Rhizoma have been traditionally used as a drug for treatment of bone disease in oriental medicine. The objective of this study was to examine the ability of alkaline phosphatase(ALP) synthesis of rat calvarial osteoblast(MC3T3-E1) when several natural medicines were supplemented. MC3T3-E1 cells were cultured with ${\alpha}$-MEM(negative control), dexamethasone(positive control), and each natural medicines for 3 and 5 days. And then ALP synthesis was measured by spectrophotometer for enzyme activity and by naphthol AS-BI staining for morphometry. All of the natural medicines induced higher activity of ALP synthesis than the negative controls. Especially Olibanumind uced the higher activity than the positive controls (p<0.05). In the aspects of culturing time, except Cimicifugae Rhizoma, the natural medicines induced higher activity of ALP synthesis at 5 days than at 3 days (p<0.05). In morphometry, all of the natural medicines showed statistical significance compared to the negative control (p<0.05). Myrrha a n d Phlomis Radix showed larger positively stained area at 5days than at 3 days, whereas the others did not showed the difference between at 5 and at 3 days(p<0.05). These results indicate that several natural medicines have an inducing ability of ALP synthesis in MC3T3-E1 cells.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.49-60
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• 2003

Several growth factors and polypeptides are not commonly yet used for regenerators of bone tissue or alveolar bone because of the insufficiency of studies on their side effects, genetic engineering for mass production and stability for clinical application. Recently, many herbal medicines, which have advantage of less side effects and possibility of long-term use, have been studied for their capacity and effects of anti-bacterial, antiinflammatory and regenerative potential of periodontal tissues. Morindae Radix, Cibotium Barometz (L.), Albizziae Cortex, Cistandhis Herba have been traditionally used as medicines for treatment of bone disease in Eastern medicine. The objective of the present study is to examine the ability of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity of human fetal osteoblast (hFOB1) when several natural medicines were supplemented. hFOB1 were cultured with Dulbecuo's Modified Eagle's Medium Nutrient Mixture F-12 HAM ( DMEM/F-12 1:1 Mixture, Sigma, USA) and negative control, dexamethasone (positive control), and each natural medicines for 3 days. And then ALP activity was measured by spectrophotometer for enzyme activity and Alizarin red S staining for morphometry. Among the natural medicines of this study, Morindae Radix, Cibotium Barometz (L.) and Cistanchis Herba induced higher activity of ALP synthesis than negative controls in all experimental group. Albizziae Cortex showed mild increases than negative control group. According to measurement of positively stained area, all of the natural medicines of this study increased compared to negative control. Especially, Cibotium Barometz (L.) and Cistanchis Herba showed statistical significance compared to negative control (p<0.05). These results indicate that Morindae Radix, Cibotium Barometz (L.), Albizziae Cortex, Cistandhis Herba have an inducing ability of ALP synthesis on osteoblast.

• Journal of Evidence-Based Herbal Medicine
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 2009

Poria cocos has been traditionally used for the treatment of edema, scanty urine, dizziness due to retention of fluid, reduced appetite due to asthenia of spleen, loose stool, diarrhea, distraction, sudden palpitation and insomnia in East Asia. The aim of this study was to confirm whether Poria cocos wonfire whethe(PCWE) and Poria cocos ointment (PCO) have a preventive e of ter Pthe development of afire wdethe(PCWE (AD) in 2,4-Diniwhochlorobenzene (oria)-applied Balb/ wme e. Oral administration (12.5wmg/kg, 25wmg/kg) of PCWE and fire al application (O.5wmg/mouse, 1.0mg/mouse) of PCO decreased the development of AD-like skin lesions, ear swelling, spleen weight, total serum IgE. PCWE and PCO significantly also inhibited the infiltration of mast cells in the dorsal skin.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.124-127
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• 1991

In the preceding paper, it was reported that total 63 traditional Korean herbal medicines listed in the Korean Pharmacopoeia and Korean Natural Drug Standards were found to be different plants in terms of systematic botany when those were compared with other two countries' drug compendia, Chinese Pharmacopoeia, Japanese Pharmacopoeia and Japanese Natural Drug Standards. Among 63 traditional Korean herbal drugs, 28 items were subject to the chemical identification test by using official methods that are described in the Korean Pharmacopoeia and the Korean Natural Drug Standards. In addition, 5 items were also tested by using the official methods described in Chinese and Japanese drug compendia, since there are no official chemical tests available in the Korean drug compendia. It was found that most of chemical tests appeared to be suitable. It was noted that the chemical test for Atractylodis Rhizoma(蒼朮) was incorrect and unapplicable. Those chemical tests for Clematidis Radix(威靈仙), Rubi Fructus(覆盆子) and Viticis Fructus(蔓荊子) are desirable to be revised for more accurate identification.