• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.329-333
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• 1998

Cell wall (lactic acid bacteria-sonicated precipitate ; LAB-SP) and cytosoll(lactic acid bacteria-sonicated supernatant ; LAB-SS) fractions were prepared from kimchi fermenting lactic acid bacteria such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides, Lactobacillus brevis, Lactobacillus fermentum , Lactobacillus plantarum and Pediococcus acidilactici, with Lactobacillus acidophillus isolated from yogurt. Using the Ames mutagenicity test and SOS chormotest system, the antimutagenic acitivity of those cell fractions was studied . One hundered eighty $\mu$l of LAB-SP from lactic acid bacteria isolated from kimchi, excepting Pediococcus acidilactici, supressed the mutagenicity of 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide(4-NQO) in Ames mutagenicity test and SOS chromotes system , by above 90% and 60% , respectively. LAB-SP from lactic acid bacteria also inhibited the mutagenicity mediated by 3-amino-1-methyl-5H-pyrido [4,3-b]indole (Trp-P-2). Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus plantarum, and Lactobacillus acidphillus had higher antimutagenicity against Trp-P-2). Lactobacillus fermentum , Lactobacillus plantarum , and Lactobacillus acidphillus had higher antimutagenicity against Trp-P-2 than the other lactic acid bacteria. However, LAB-SS of lactic acid bacteria did not show any mutagenic activity against 4-NQO in Ames mutagenicity test and SOS chromotest systems. On the mutagenicity of MEIQ and Trp-P-2 , LAB-SS of lactic acid bacteria from kimchi or dairy products exhibited a weaker inhibitory effect than LAB-SP of those bacteria. These results represent that, whether the lactic acid bacteria from kimchi are viable or nonviable, antimutagenic acitivity was still effective. We suggest that the strong, antimutaganic activity of lactic acid bacteria might be found in the cell wall fraction , rather than in the cytosol fraction.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.51 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2018

Purpose: This review article provides an overview of the trends of research papers on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria published from 1995 to 2017. Methods: All publications from 1995 to 2017 regarding kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were collected, reviewed, and classified. This review article covers the publications of the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria on experimental, clinical trials, and epidemiology studies. Results: The number of publications on kimchi over the period were 590: 385 publications in Korean and 205 publications in English. The number of publications on the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 95 in Korean and 54 in English. The number of publications on kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria were 84 and 38, respectively, in the experimental models. Ten research papers on kimchi in clinical trials and 7 publications in epidemiology were found. Kimchi or kimchi lactic acid bacteria had protective effects against oxidative stress, mutagenicity, toxicity, cancer, dyslipidemia, hypertension, immunity, and inflammation in in vitro, cellular, and in vivo animal models. Moreover, kimchi had effects on the serum lipids, intestinal microbiota, iron status, obesity, and metabolic parameters in human clinical trials. In epidemiology, kimchi had effects on hypertension, asthma, atopic dermatitis, rhinitis, cholesterol levels, and free radicals. Conclusion: This review focused on the publications regarding the health benefits of kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria, suggesting the future directions of studies about kimchi and kimchi lactic acid bacteria by producing a database for an evaluation of the health benefits of kimchi.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.423-429
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• 2009

The objective of this study was to investigate the potential of the application of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) from kimchi as a starter culture in the production of fermented sausages. To achieve this, a submerged model medium that contained LAB as part of a complex system of kimchi (0.5, 1.0, 1.0, 3.0, and 5.0%) and lyophilized kimchi powder (0.2 and 0.5%) was fermented for 120 h. During the fermentation period, the growth of total viable organisms and LAB, and the changes in the pH and the titratable acidity, were investigated. The initial LAB counts ranged from 6.4 to 7.7 Log CFU/mL for the kimchi media, and from 6.9 to 6.9 Log CFU/mL for the kimchi powder media. In all the kimchi batches, the LAB increased logarithmically, and the highest LAB counts (around 9 Log CFU/mL) were reached in 24 h. An evident lag phase of the LAB was observed in the kimchi powder samples and reached 8.8 Log CFU/mL in 8 h. The decrease in the pH and the formation of lactic acid were rapid in the kimchi batches, and reached pH values of 3.4-3.5 in 12 h. With these results, the LAB that was integrated with the addition of kimchi or kimchi powder demonstrated its potential utility as a substitute for starter culture.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.109-120
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• 1997

In order to elucidate roles of lactic acid bacteria(LAB) for the antibiosis occurring in th fermenting environment of Kimchi, 2.052 strains of LAB were isolated from Kimchi. Fifty tow strains which showed antagonistic effect against 4 indicator strains were finally selected and investigated. Based upon responses to protease treatment, antibiosis of the 52 strains of LAB were classified into 3 types. Type A antibiosis resulted from action of antibiotic-like substances which were not affected by protease treatment and which had broad action spectra against even natural inhabitants of Kimchi. Type B antibiosis was due to bacteriocin-like substances which were very sensitive to treatment of protease and more effective against foreign bacteria than original inhabitant microflora. Type C antibiosis was owing to proteinaceous compounds which were activated or induced by the presence of protease and then exerted antibacterial activities. Therefore, lactic acid bacteria appeared to contribute to antibiosis of Kimchi by the concerted action of these three different types of antibacterial compounds. As one of model system for type B bacteriocin, the antagonistic compound produced by LAB31-9 as well as th producer strain itself was further charaacterized. Strain LAB31-9 was identified as L. casei. Bacteriocin produced by LAB31-9 was proteinaceous and stable over wide range of pH and to various solvents, but very labile to heat treatment. Its mode of action was bactericidal. Based upon these data, bacteriocin produced by LAB31-9 was named as 'caseicin K319'. Genetic determinant for the bacteriocin production of LAB31-9 was located in the chromosome.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.229-234
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• 1997

Shizandra chinensis(SC) and Pinus regida(PR) showed antimicrobial activity against 3 strains(B-5, D-1, A-1) of lactic acid bacteria(LAB) isolated from kimchi among eight kinds of plant extracts such as Shizandra chinensis, Phellodendron amurense, ornus officinalis, Pinus regida, Allium tuberosum, Machilus thunbergii, Cyperus rotundus and Schizonepeta tenuifloia. The growth of LAB was inhibited apparently in modified MRS broth containing 1% Schizandra chinensis at $35^{\circ}C$. Pinus regida showed weaker inhibitory effect on the growth of isolated LAB than Shizandra chinensis. pH of SC added kimchi did not change greatly compare with control during 25 days of fermentation. Degree of titratable acidity change and ratio of reducing sugar utilization in control were more higher than in SC added kimchi during fermentation. Growth of total bacteria and lactic acid bacteria was inhibited about 1 to 2 $log_10$ cycle by addition of SC extracts during kimchi fermentation for 10 days at $10^{\circ}C$. Fermentation of kimchi was delaved about 5 to 7 days by addition of 1 or 2% of SC. extract, but sensory quality (falvor, taste and overall acceptability) of SC added kimchi was lower than that of control (p>0.05).

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.857-860
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• 2008

S-Adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) is a bioactive material used in the treatment of depression, osteoarthritis, and liver disease. To obtain lactic acid bacteria (LAB) producing high concentrations of SAM, LAB were isolated from commercial kimchi and from prepared kimchi products that contained shrimp jeotgal (fermented salty seafood) or sand lance jeotgal or that were fermented at 5 or $10^{\circ}C$, respectively, when pH was 4.2 to 4.8 and titratable acidity 0.6 to 0.9. Among the 179 LAB strains isolated from the fermented kimchi products, the genus Leuconostoc produced the highest intracellular level of SAM (1.58 mM) and Lactobacillus produced the second highest level (up to 1.47 mM) in the strain culture. This is the first study to quantify SAM in LAB isolated from fermented kimchi prepared by a general kimchi recipe. Ultimately, the selected strains (Leuconostoc mesentroides subsp. mesenteroides/dextranicum KSK417, L. mesentroides subsp. mesenteroides/dextranicum KJM401, and Lactobacillus bifermentans QMW327) could be useful as starters to manufacture fermented foods containing high levels of SAM.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.410-414
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• 1999

This study was carried out to investigate distribution of homofermentative lactic acid bacteria(LAB) and heterofermentative LAB during kimchi fermentation period. The number of heterofermentative LAB was decreased during the fermentation. The ethanol extracts of Lithospermum erythrorhizon and Sophrora flavescens AITON showed strong antimicrobial activities against both homofermentative LAB and heterofermentative LAB. The extracts of Glycyrrhiza uralensis and Curcuma longa showed stronger antimicrobial activity against hetrofermentative LAB than against homofermentative LAB. the antimicrobial activities of the plant extracts against LAB were accelerated by mixing of two or three kinds.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.142-158
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• 2019

Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented vegetable probiotic food. The use of high quality ingredients and predominant LAB (lactic acid bacteria)-whether it be ambient bacteria or adding starters, low temperature and facultative anaerobic condition for the fermentation are important factors for preparing kimchi with better taste and functionality. The predominated LAB genera are Leuconostoc, Lactobacillus, and Weissella in kimchi fermentation. The representative species are Leu. mesenteroides, Leu. citrium, Lab. plantarum, Lab. sakei, and Wei. koreensis. Kimchi, especially the optimally fermented kimchi, has various health benefits, including control of colon health, antioxidation, antiaging effects, cancer preventive effect, antiobesity, control of dyslipidemic and metabolic syndrome, etc.; due to the presence of LAB, various nutraceuticals, and metabolites from the ingredients and LAB. The kimchi LAB are good probiotics, exhibiting antimicrobial activity, antioxidant, antimutagenic and anticancer effects, as well as immunomodualatory effect, antiobesity, and cholesterol and lipid lowering effects. Thus, kimchi ingredients, LAB, fermentation methods, and metabolites are important factors that modulate various functionalities. In this review, we introduced recent information showing kimchi and its health benefits in Korean Functional Foods (Park & Ju 2018).

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1066-1075
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• 2023

Kimchi is a traditional Korean fermented vegetable that is stored and fermented at low temperatures. However, kimchi lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are typically isolated under mesophilic conditions, which may be inappropriate for isolating the diverse LAB. Therefore, this study investigated the suitable conditions for isolating various LAB from kimchi. Here, LAB were isolated from four kimchi samples using MRS, PES, and LBS media and varying isolation temperatures (30, 20, 10, and 5℃). Then, MRS was selected as the suitable medium for LAB isolation. A comparison of culture-dependent and culture-independent approaches indicated that 5℃ was not a suitable isolation temperature. Thus, the number and diversity of LAB were determined at 30, 20, and 10℃ using 12 additional kimchi samples to elucidate the effect of isolation temperature. With the exception of two samples, most samples did not substantially differ in LAB number. However, Leuconostoc gelidum, Leuconostoc gasicomitatum, Leuconostoc inhae, Dellaglioa algida, Companilactobacillus kimchiensis, Leuconostoc miyukkimchii, Leuconostoc holzapfelii, and Leuconostoc carnosum were isolated only at 10 and 20℃. The growth curves of these isolates, except Leu. holzapfelii and Leu. carnosum, showed poor growth at 30℃. This confirmed their psychrotrophic characteristics. In Weissella koreensis, which was isolated at all isolation temperatures, there was a difference in the fatty acid composition of membranes between strains that could grow well at 30℃ and those that could not. These findings can contribute to the isolation of more diverse psychrotrophic strains that were not well isolated under mesophilic temperatures.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.32 no.12
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• pp.1583-1588
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• 2022

In this study, we investigated the effect of lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains used as starters for kimchi fermentation, namely Lactococcus lactis WiKim0124, Companilactobacillus allii WiKim39, Leuconostoc mesenteroides WiKim0121Leuconostoc mesenteroides WiKim33, and Leuconostoc mesenteroides WiKim32, on the intestinal epithelial tight junctions (TJs). These LAB strains were not cytotoxic to Caco-2 cells at 500 ㎍/ml concentration. In addition, hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) decreased Caco-2 viability, but the LAB strains protected the cells against H₂O₂-induced cytotoxicity. We also found that lipopolysaccharide (LPS) promoted Caco-2 proliferation; however, no specific changes were observed upon treatment with LAB strains and LPS. Our evaluation of the permeability in the Caco-2 monolayer model confirmed its increase by both LPS and H₂O₂. The LAB strains inhibited the increase in permeability by protecting TJs, which we evaluated by measuring TJ proteins such as zonula occludens-1 and occludin, and analyzing them by western blotting and immunofluorescence staining. Our findings show that LAB strains used for kimchi fermentation can suppress the increase in intestinal permeability due to LPS and H₂O₂ by protecting TJs. Therefore, these results suggest the possibility of enhancing the functionality of kimchi through its fermentation using functional LAB strains.