• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.117-122
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• 2014

As a Chinese herbal medicine used in East Asia for thousands years, Cortex Magnoliae Officinalis (CMO) was observed to possess a protective effect against OH-induced DNA damage in the study. To explore the mechanism, the antioxidant effects and chemical contents of five CMO extracts were determined by various methods. On the basis of mechanistic analysis, and correlation analysis between antioxidant effects & chemical contents, it can be concluded that CMO exhibits a protective effect against OH-induced DNA damage, and the effect can be attributed to the existence of phenolic compounds, especially magnolol and honokiol. They exert the protective effect via antioxidant mechanism which may be mediated via hydrogen atom transfer (HAT) and/or sequential electron proton transfer (SEPT). In the process, the phenolic-OH moiety in phenylpropanoids is oxidized to the stable quinine-like form and the stability of quinine-like can be ultimately responsible for the antioxidant.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.141-150
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• 2021

This short review on the chemistry, pharmacological properties and patents of obovatol and obovatal from Magnolia obovata is the first publication. Pharmacological properties are focused on anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-platelet and neuroprotective activities. Obovatol and obovatal were first isolated from the leaves of M. obovata. Also reported in the bark and fruits of M. obovata, obovatol and obovatal are neolignans i.e., biphenolic compounds bearing a C-O coupling. Other classes of compounds isolated and identified from M. obovata include sesquiterpene-neolignans, dineolignans, trineolignan, lignans, dilignans, phenylpropanoids, phenylethanoid glycosides, flavonoids, phenolic acids, alkaloids, sesquiterpenes, ketone and sterols. The anti-cancer properties of obovatol and obovatal involve apoptosis, inhibition of the growth, migration and invasion of cancer cell lines. However, obovatol displays cytotoxicity against cancer cells but not obovatal. Similarly, anti-inflammatory, anti-platelet, neuroprotective, anxiolytic and other pharmacological activities were only observed in obovatol. The disparity in pharmacological properties of obovatol and obovatal may be attributed to the -CHO group present in obovatal but absent in obovatol. From 2007 to 2013, eight patents were published on obovatol with one mentioning obovatal. They were all published at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office by scientists of the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB) as inventors and assignee, respectively. Some future research and prospects are suggested.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.317-324
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• 2021

This study was carried out to investigate the flavoral essential oil components in the stems of Agastache rugosa. These components were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass selective detector (GC-MSD). The stems of Agastache rugosa were contained alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, fatty acid esters, and terpenoids. The peak area (%) of estragole was highest among its oil components and the next were pulegone and menthone. The terpenoid alcohols found were 1-octen-3-ol, chavicol, spatulenol, 3-hexen-1-ol, 2-cyclohexen-1-ol, methyl eugenol, and octaethyllene glycol. The stems also contained ketones such as pulegone, menthone, cis-isopulegone, 2-cyclohexene-1-one, 3-octanone, 1-cyclohexanone, isoindole-1-one, t-ionone, inden-2-one, as well as the aldehydes of 4-methoxycinnam and benzaldehyde. The following esters were also detected 1-isopulegone-3-yl acetate, caryophyllene oxide, acetate and benzendicarboxylic acid ester. The terpenoids in the stems were identified as caryophyllene, limonene, cyclohexasiloxane-D, germacrene-D, anethole, cadinene, muurolene, and bourbonene. Overall Agastache rugosa contained several functional oil components including phenylpropanoids and terpenoids as flavoral essential oil components for natural aromatherapy.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.13-20
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• 2018

Estragole is a naturally occurring phenylpropanoid obtained from essential oils found in a broad diversity of plants. Although the phenylpropanoids show many biological activities, clear regulation of the inflammatory signaling pathways has not yet been determined. Here, we scrutinized the anti-inflammatory effect of estragole. The anti-inflammatory effect of estragole was determined through the inhibitory mechanisms of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase (COX-2), nuclear factor kappa B ($NF-{\kappa}B$), and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathways and the activation of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf-2)/heme oxygenase (HO)-1 pathways in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Estragole significantly inhibited NO production, iNOS and COX-2 expression as well as LPS-induced $NF-{\kappa}B$ and MAPK activation. Furthermore, estragole suppressed LPS-induced intracellular ROS production but up-regulated the stress response gene HO-1 via the activation of transcription factor Nrf-2. These findings demonstrate that estragole inhibits the LPS-induced expression of inflammatory mediators via the down-regulation of iNOS, COX-2, $NF-{\kappa}B$, and MAPK pathways, as well as the up-regulation of the Nrf-2/HO-1 pathway, indicating that this phenylpropanoid has potential therapeutic and preventive applications in various inflammatory diseases.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.43 no.6
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• pp.475-486
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• 2005

Fungal secondary metabolites constitute a wide variety of compounds which either playa vital role in agricultural, pharmaceutical and industrial contexts, or have devastating effects on agriculture, animal and human affairs by virtue of their toxigenicity. Owing to their beneficial and deleterious characteristics, these complex compounds and the genes responsible for their synthesis have been the subjects of extensive investigation by microbiologists and pharmacologists. A majority of the fungal secondary metabolic genes are classified as type I polyketide synthases (PKS) which are often clustered with other secondary metabolism related genes. In this review we discuss on the significance of our recent discovery of chalcone synthase (CHS) genes belonging to the type III PKS superfamily in an industrially important fungus, Aspergillus oryzae. CHS genes are known to playa vital role in the biosynthesis of flavonoids in plants. A comparative genome analyses revealed the unique character of A. oryzae with four CHS-like genes (csyA, csyB, csyC and csyD) amongst other Aspergilli (Aspergillus nidulans and Aspergillus fumigatus) which contained none of the CHS-like genes. Some other fungi such as Neurospora crassa, Fusarium graminearum, Magnaporthe grisea, Podospora anserina and Phanerochaete chrysosporium also contained putative type III PKSs, with a phylogenic distinction from bacteria and plants. The enzymatically active nature of these newly discovered homologues is expected owing to the conservation in the catalytic residues across the different species of plants and fungi, and also by the fact that a majority of these genes (csyA, csyB and csyD) were expressed in A. oryzae. While this finding brings filamentous fungi closer to plants and bacteria which until recently were the only ones considered to possess the type III PKSs, the presence of putative genes encoding other principal enzymes involved in the phenylpropanoid and flavonoid biosynthesis (viz., phenylalanine ammonia-lyase, cinnamic acid hydroxylase and p-coumarate CoA ligase) in the A. oryzae genome undoubtedly prove the extent of its metabolic diversity. Since many of these genes have not been identified earlier, knowledge on their corresponding products or activities remain undeciphered. In future, it is anticipated that these enzymes may be reasonable targets for metabolic engineering in fungi to produce agriculturally and nutritionally important metabolites.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.88-95
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• 2007

Atractylodes macrocephala has been used for renal anorexia, gastroenteritis, cold, dyspepsia in Korean folk medicine. Specially aerial parts has been eaten as edible mountain herbs. In order to investigate the efficacy of antioxidant activity the activity guided fractionation and isolation of physiologically active substance were peformed. For the investigation of the active components from Atractylodes macrocephala MeOH extracts of aerial parts of Atractylodes macrocephala Koidzumi L. were suspended with H$_2$O, partitioned by CHCl$_3$. In order to investigate the efficacy of antioxidative activity the activity guided fractionation and isolation of physiologically active substance were peformed. CHCl$_3$, H$_2$O, 30% MeOH, 60% MeOH, MeOH fractions were examined antioxidative activity by DPPH method. It was revealed that 30% MeOH and 60% MeOH fractions have significantly antioxidant activity. From 30% MeOH and 60% MeOH fraction, six flavonoids (7-methoxy-pinocembrin-7-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside, apige nin-8-C-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside, 4'-caffeoyl-luteolin-6-glucopyranoside, luteloin-6-C-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside, apigenin-6-C-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside, luteolin) and four phenylpropanoids (3-feruloylquinic acid, 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, feruloyl acid, 3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid) were isolated. To investigate the antioxidant activities of each compounds, we measured radical scavening activity with DPPH method and anti-lipid peroxidative efficacy on low density lipoprotein (LDL) with TBARS assay. Six compounds (III, IV, V, VI, IX, X) which have antioxidant factor showed significant activities.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.371-374
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• 2005

The compositions and antioxidant activities of tree and hydrolyzed phenolic acids, which are aglycones of esterified phenolic acids, in wild ginseng leaves were investigated. The contents of tree and hydrolyzed phenolic acids in the wild ginseng leaves were $422.4\;{\pm}\;3.5$ and $319.6\;{\pm}\;5.7\;mg/100\;g$, respectively, as gallic acid equivalents. Free phenolic acids were composed of 55.3% benzoic acid derivatives and 44.6% phenylpropanoids. The major constituents of free phenolic acids in the ginseng leaves were syringic (139.4 mg/l00 g) and sinapic (131.2 mg/100 g) acids. On the other hand, hydrolyzed phenolic acids in the ginseng leaves were mainly composed of caffeic (59.4 mg/100 g), ferulic (49.5 mg/100 g), and p-coumaric (33.8 mg/100g) acids. Phenylpropanoid content was higher (82.7%) than benzoic acid derivatives (17.3%). $IC_{50}$ values of DPPH radical scavenging activity were $10.2\;{\mu}g/mL$ for tree phenolic acids and 8.0 mg/mL for hydrolyzed phenolic acids, as gallic acid equivalents. Hydrolyzed phenolic acids also exhibited higher hydroxyl and superoxide radical scavenging activities than free phenolic acids did. These results indicated that the antioxidant activities of the wild ginseng leaves were correlated more closely with phenylpropanoid contents than with total amount of phenolics.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.147-152
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• 1996

To screen inhibitors on complement system from natural resources, micro-screening method was established by using hemolytic complement assay. Complement fixation reaction was carried out in the microplate system. For standard hemolysis (50% hemolysis) of the classical pathway (CP), hemolysin and complement serum were diluted to $1/75{\sim}1/100\;and\;1/80{\sim}1/120$, respectively, when sheep erythrocytes were $5.0{\times}10^8\;cells/ml$. In case of the alternative pathway (AP), complement serum was diluted to 1/5 and EGTA and $Mg^{2+}$ were added 4 mM, $4{\sim}8\;mM$, respectively, when rabbit erythrocytes were $4.0{\times}10^8\;cells/ml$. Dimethyl sulfoxide was used for the assay of non-aquous soluble compounds or extracts and its final concentration was not more than 1%. Three phenylpropanoids showed anticomplementary activities in proportion to the concentration for both pathways and rosmarinic acid exihibited the highest inhibitory activities: $5.4{\pm}3.6%(0.063\;mM){\sim}95.8{\pm}0.2%(0.5\;mM)\;and\;35.1{\pm}0.9%(0.063\;mM){\sim}95.6{\pm}1.1%(1\;mM)$ on the CP and the AP, respectively.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.283-289
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• 2016

Naturally occurring antioxidants, such as polyphenols are widely found in fruits, vegetables, wines, juices, and other plant-based dietary sources and are divided into several sub classes, including phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, stilbenoids, and lignans. As part of the our ongoing search for bioactive food ingredients, the antioxidant and advanced glycation end products (AGEs) formation inhibitory activities of the methanolic extract of the aerial parts of Cirsium setidens were investigated in vitro bioassay system. The antioxidant properties were evaluated through radical scavenging assays using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) ($ABTS^+$) radicals. In addition, the activity of C. setidens against diabetes complications was also tested via AGEs formation inhibition assay. The total phenolic contents were determined using a UV-VIS spectrophotometric method. All tested samples showed a dose-dependent radical scavenging and AGEs inhibitory activities. In particular, the n-butanol (BuOH)-soluble portion showed the most potent radical scavenging activities against DPPH and $ABTS^+$ radicals with $IC_{50}$ values of $24.3{\pm}1.7$ and $25.0{\pm}3.3{\mu}g/mL$, respectively. Futhermore, the inhibition of AGEs formation by the n-BuOH-soluble portion ($IC_{50}$ value; $46.0{\pm}1.5{\mu}g/mL$) was higher than that those of the soluble portions for the other solvent. The results showed that C. setidens could be considered as an effective source of natural antioxidants and other ingredients.