• Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.65-78
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• 2011

Ozone ($O_3$) is a main component of photochemical oxidants, and a phytotoxic anthropogenic air pollutant. In North America and Europe, the current concentration of $O_3$ has been shown to have significant adverse effects on vegetation. In this review, we summarize the experimental studies on the effects of $O_3$ on the growth and photosynthetic activity of Japanese forest tree species to understand the present knowledge and provide sound basis for future research toward the assessment of $O_3$ impacts on Japanese forest ecosystem. Since the 1990s, several Japanese researchers have conducted the experimental studies on the effects of ambient levels of $O_3$ on growth and physiological functions such as net photosynthesis of Japanese forest tree species. Although the sensitivity to $O_3$ of whole-plant growth is quite different among the species, it was suggested that the current ambient levels of $O_3$ in Japan are high enough to adversely affect growth and photosynthetic activity of Japanese forest tree species classified into high $O_3$ sensitivity group such as Japanese beech. The N load to soil has been shown to reduce the sensitivity to $O_3$ of Japanese larch and increase that of Japanese beech. To establish the critical level of $O_3$ for protecting Japanese forest tree species, therefore, it is necessary to take into account the N deposition from the atmosphere. There is little information on the combined effects of $O_3$ and other environmental factors such as elevated $CO_2$ and drought on growth and physiological functions of Japanese forest tree species. Therefore, it is necessary to promote the experimental study and accumulate the information on the combined effects of $O_3$ and any other abiotic environmental factors on Japanese forest tree species.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.96 no.5
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• pp.551-560
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• 2007

We investigated physiological damages and biochemical alleviation of five species of genus Acer under ozone fumigation in order to assess their tolerant ability against ozone toxicity. At the end of 150 ppb $O_3$ fumigation, photosynthetic characteristics were measured, and chlorophyll contents, malondialdehyde (MDA) and antioxidative enzyme activities were analyzed in the leaves of five maple trees (Acer buergerianum, A. ginnala, A. mono, A. palmatum, and A. palmatum var. sanguineum). The reduction of chlorophyll (chl) a in ozone-exposed plants was 16.8% (A. buergerianum) to 26.7% (A. ginnala) of control plants. For the content of chi b, A. ginnala and A. palmatum var. sanguineum represented the high reduction of 26.3% and 23.6%, respectively. The highest reduction on the chi a:b ratio was observed in the leaves of A. palmatum. The reduction of net photosynthesis in five species varied from 2.4% to 37.6%. Among five species, A. ginnala showed remarkable reduction (37.6%) for net photosynthesis in comparison with control. Carboxylation efficiency differed significantly (P < 0.05) among species and between control and ozone treatment. The reduction of carboxylation efficiency was the highest in the leaves of A. ginnala (44.7%). A. palmatum var. sanguineum showed the highest increase (41.7%) for MDA content. The highest increase of superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity represented in A. palmatum (26.1%) and the increase of ascorbate peroxidase (APX) activity ranged from 16.5% (A. ginnala) to 49.1% (A. palmatum var. sanguineum). A. mono showed the highest increase (376.6%) of glutathione reductase (GR) activity under ozone fumigation and A. buergerianum also represented high increase (42.3%) of GR activity. Catalse (CAT) activity increased in the leaves of A. ginnala, A. palmatun and A. palmatum var. sanguineum under ozone exposure, whereas A. buergerianum and A. mono decreased in comparison with control plants. In conclusion, physiological markers such as chlorophyll content and photosynthesis that responded sensitively to $O_3$ in maple trees were considered as the very important indicators in order to evaluate the tolerance against $O_3$ stress, and parameters were closely related with each other. Among anti oxidative enzymes, SOD and APX might be contributed to alleviate to $O_3$ toxicity through the increase of activity in all maple trees. Therefore, these compounds can be used as a biochemical maker to assess the stress tolerance to $O_3$.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.6 no.4
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• pp.271-278
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• 2002

Methanol extracts from 420 samples of 173 plant species in 58 families were tested at 5000 ppm for their insecticidal and acaricidal activities against five economically important arthropod pests by spray method. The responses varied with arthropod pest species, plant species and plant tissue sampled. In a test with Nilaparvata lugens Stal, extracts from Zanthoxylum piperitum barks, Chamaecyparis obtusa leaf and Quercus salicina leaf showed potent insecticidal activity. With Plutella xylostella L., potent larvicidal activity was observed from extracts of Platycarya strobilacea wood, Meliosma myriantha barks, Sophora japonica leaf, Zanthoxylum piperitum barks, and Pinus thunbergii wood. Methanol extracts of Sophora japonica leaf and Zanthoxylum piperitum barks showed high insecticidal activity against Spodoptera litura. In a test with Tetranychus urticae Koch, extract from Carpinus coreana leaf, Firmiana simplex barks, Elaeagnus macrophylla leaf, Aralia elata leaf, Comus controversa barks and Chamaecyparis obtusa leaf exhibited strong acaricidal activity. As a naturally occurring pest control agent, Zanthoxylum piperitum barks could be useful as new insecticidal and acaricidal products against various arthropod pests.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.38 no.4
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• pp.443-450
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• 2015

The east coast of the Korean Peninsula is susceptible to fires because of the low rainfall in winter and spring, and large forest fires have occurred in this area. Lack of fresh water to combat fires has hampered efforts to prevent widespread forest fires in this region. Seawater has not been used as a suppressant because of possible detrimental effects of salt. We investigated the mobility of saline water in the forest soil and their effect on the microbial activity. Using a fire-fighting helicopter, seawater was sprayed over three plots (50 × 100 m) located on the eastern slope of the Baekdu mountain range in South Korea in April, 2011. We sampled the soil in April 4, May 20, and August 5 to determine the amount of salt that remained in the soil. The electrical conductivity value of the soil decreased to <400 μS/cm over a 1-month period. Approximately, four months after the application of seawater, the electrical conductivity value and Na⁺ content in all treatment plots did not significantly differ to those of the control plot, and total microbial activity also recovered to that of the control. Our results indicate that the amount of rainfall, soil physical-chemical properties, and topological factors may be a critical factor determining the mobility of saline water in forest soil.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.50
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• pp.27-33
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• 2023

Zizyphus jujube is a plant in the buckthorn family (Rhamnaceae) that has been the subject of research into antibacterial, antifungal and anti-inflammatory properties of its fruit and seed. However, few studies have investigated its leaves. In this study, the anti-inflammatory activity of ZJL (an extract of Z. jujube leaf) was evaluated to verify its potential as an anti-inflammatory agent and SARS-CoV-2 medicine, using nitric oxide (NO) assay, RT-PCR, SDSPAGE, Western blotting, and UHPLC/TOFHRMS analysis. We found that ZJL suppresed pro-inflammatory mediators such as NO, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW264.7 cells. ZJL acted by inhibiting NF-KB and MAPK signaling pathway activity. We also confirmed that ZJL contains a phenol compound and flavonoids with anti-inflammatory activity such as trehalose, maleate, epigallocatechin, hyperoside, catechin, 3-O-coumaroylquinic acid, rhoifolin, gossypin, kaempferol 3-neohesperidoside, rutin, myricitrin, guaiaverin, quercitrin, quercetin, ursolic acid, and pheophorbide a. These findings suggest that ZJL may have great potential for the development of anti-inflammatory drugs and vaccines via inhibition of NF-κB and MAPK signaling in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells.

• The Korean Journal of Ecology
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.305-320
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• 1996

It is necessary to obtain information about the productivity of the human-influenced forest and to understand the consumption of biomass resources in secondary forest in order to examine the resource flux by human activity in rural landscape. Thus the aims of this study were to elucidate the biomass and their use of secondary Pinus densiflora forests and to discuss sustainable utilization of secondary forests in rural landscape system. This study was carried out in Yanghwa-ri, Kongjugun, Chungcheongnam-do, central Korea. The changes of growth rate and aboveground biomass of a pine forest for 2 years were analyzed to understand forest management regimes in rural pine forests. Through allometric equations deduced from 25 sample trees, biomass was estimated. The biomass increase of pine forest was approximately 16.36 t/ha/yr in the unexploited stand and 12.24 t/ha/yr in the exploited stand. These were nearly equal to those of natural pine forests in central Korea. This result proved that human-influenced pine forest in rural landscape as well as the natural one has high potentiality to provide forest products. Making graveyard in forest-land was the important disturbance and land-use which currently occurring in rural landscape in the study area. Finally, we presented some forest management for stutainable and positive uses of secondary forests as one of the local energy resources in terms of the holistic landscape-ecological view.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.2
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• pp.209-215
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• 2006

We investigated antioxidant capacity in leaves of 14 coniferous trees under field conditions. We focused on understanding the species characteristics on antioxidant systems and screening the coniferous tree species with the best antioxidant systems using their characteristics. The antioxidant capacity of 14 coniferous trees was divided into three groups. First group was Thuja orientalis and Chamaecyparis obtusa and those species had the highest content of ${\beta}$-carotene and xanthophyll. Second group, C. obtusa and Juniperus chinensis, used antioxidant enzymes to mitigate stress. C. obtusa represented high activity at superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione reductase (GR), and peroxidase (POD), and J. chinensis exhibited high activity at SOD, POD, catalase (CAT). Third group employed antioxidant such as ascorbic acid and ${\alpha}$-tocopherol. The antioxidant content of T. orientalis was the highest while that of Pinus parviflora and C. obtusa were the lowest. Few species belonged in three groups simultaneously, and most species belonged in at least one or two groups. In summary, we proposed that C. obtusa and T. orientalis had the highest antioxidant capacity while P. parviflora and P. desiflora for. multicalus had the lowest antioxidant capacity.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.634-640
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• 2018

Aralia cordata (A. cordata), which belongs to Araliaceae, is a perennial herb widely distributed in East Asia. We evaluated the anti-inflammatory effect of stems (AC-S), roots (AC-R) and leaves (AC-L) extracted with 100% methanol of A. cordata and elucidated the potential signaling pathway in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. The AC-L showed a strong anti-inflammatory activity through inhibition of NO production. AC-L dose-dependently inhibited NO production by suppressing iNOS, COX-2 and $IL-{\beta}$ expression in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. AC-L inhibited the degradation and phosphorylation of $I{\kappa}B-{\alpha}$, which donated to the inhibition of p65 nuclear accumulation and $NF-{\kappa}B$ activation. Furthermore, AC-L suppressed the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38. These results suggested that AC-L may utilize anti-inflammatory activity by blocking $NF-{\kappa}B$ and MAPK signaling pathway and indicated that the AC-L can be used as a natural anti-inflammatory drugs.

• Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science
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• v.95 no.5
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• pp.511-515
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• 2006

From the EtOAc soluble fractions of Platanus orientals Linn leaves, (+)-catechin (1), (+)-epicatechin (2), (+)-gallocatechin (3), kaempferol (4), quercetin (5), kaempferol-3-O-${\alpha}$-L-rhamnopyranoside (6), quercetin-3-O-${\beta}$-D-glucopyranoside (7) and tyrosol (8) were isolated. The structures of the isolated compounds were characterized by NMR and MS spectrometers. The antioxidative activities of the isolated compounds and fractions were evaluated by DPPH free radical scavenging method and the results indicated that compounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and EtOAc soluble fraction exhibited greater activities than ${\alpha}$-tocopherol and BHT, while compounds 6, 8 and other fractions showed low activity compared to the controls.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.7
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• pp.934-940
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• 2023

Syneilesis palmata (SP) is a traditional medicinal plant. SP has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and anti-human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) activities. However, there is currently no research available on the immunostimulatory activity of SP. Therefore, in this study, we report that S. palmata leaves (SPL) activate macrophages. Increased secretion of both immunostimulatory mediators and phagocytic activity was observed in SPL-treated RAW264.7 cells. However, this effect was reversed by the inhibition of TLR2/4. In addition, inhibition of p38 decreased the secretion of immunostimulatory mediators induced by SPL, and inhibition of TLR2/4 decreased the phosphorylation of p38 induced by SPL. SPL augmented p62/SQSTM1 and LC3-II expression. The increase in protein levels of p62/SQSTM1 and LC3-II induced by SPL was decreased by the inhibition of TLR2/4. The results obtained from this study suggest that SPL activates macrophages via TLR2/4-dependent p38 activation and induces autophagy in macrophages via TLR2/4 stimulation.