• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2002

An International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) program based at the University of Illinois at Chicago initiated its activities in 1998, with the following specific objectives: (a) inventory and conservation of of plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and of medicinal plants of Laos; (b) drug discovery (and development) based on plants of Vietnam and Laos; and (c) economic development of communities participating in the ICBG project both in Vietnam and Laos. Member-institutions and an industrial partner of this ICBG are bound by a Memorandum of Agreement that recognizes property and intellectual property rights, prior informed consent for access to genetic resources and to indigenous knowledge, the sharing of benefits that may arise from the drug discovery effort, and the provision of short-term and long-term benefits to host country institutions and communities. The drug discovery effort is targeted to the search for agents for therapies against malaria (antimalarial assay of plant extracts, using Plasmodium falciparum clones), AIDS (anti-HIV-l activity using HOG.R5 reporter cell line (through transactivation of the green fluorescent protein/GFP gene), cancer (screening of plant extracts in 6 human tumor cell lines - KB, Col-2, LU-l, LNCaP, HUVEC, hTert-RPEl), tuberculosis (screening of extracts in the microplate Alamar Blue assay against Mycobacterium tuberculosis $H_{37}Ra\;and\;H_{37}Rv),$ all performed at UIC, and CNS-related diseases (with special focus on Alzheimer's disease, pain and rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma), peformed at Glaxo Smith Kline (UK). Source plants were selected based on two approaches: biodiversity-based (plants of Cuc Phuong National Park) and ethnobotany-based (medicinal plants of Cuc Phuong National Park in Vietnam and medicinal plants of Laos). At mc, as of July, 2001, active leads had been identified in the anti-HIV, anticancer, antimalarial, and anti- TB assay, after the screening of more than 800 extracts. At least 25 biologically active compounds have been isolated, 13 of which are new with anti-HIV activity, and 3 also new with antimalarial activity. At GSK of 21 plant samples with a history of use to treat CNS-related diseases tested to date, a number showed activity against one or more of the CNS assay targets used, but no new compounds have been isolated. The results of the drug discovery effort to date indicate that tropical plant diversity of Vietnam and Laos unquestionably harbors biologically active chemical entities, which, through further research, may eventually yield candidates for drug development. Although the substantial monetary benefit of the drug discovery process (royalties) is a long way off, the UIC ICBG program provides direct and real-term benefits to host country institutions and communities.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.160-169
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• 2014

44 compounds and 9 minerals were isolated from and detected in the New Zealand deer velvet antler Cervus elaphus var. scoticus L$\ddot{o}$nnberg. The chemical structures of (1 - 26) were identified on the basis of the spectroscopic methods and comparisons with literature, respectively. The structures were identified as cholesterol (CS, 6), 7-keto-CS (7), $7{\beta}$-hydroxy-CS (8), and $7{\alpha}$-hydroxy-CS (9), and included 12 steroid $3{\beta}$-O-(palmitic/stearic/myristic acid esters; PM/SA/MS) [CS-$3{\beta}$-O-PM (1 - 1), CS-$3{\beta}$-O-SA (1 - 2), CS-$3{\beta}$-O-MR (1 - 3), 7-keto-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-PM (2 - 1), 7-keto-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-SA (2 - 2), 7-keto-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-MR (2 - 3), $7{\beta}$-hydroxy-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-SA (3 -1), $7{\beta}$-hydroxy-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-PM (3 - 2), $7{\beta}$-hydroxy-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-MR (3 - 3), $7{\alpha}$-hydroxy-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-SA (4 - 1), $7{\alpha}$-hydroxy-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-PM (4 - 2), and $7{\alpha}$-hydroxy-CS-$3{\beta}$-O-MR (4 - 3)], dinonyl phthalate (5), 8 nucleic acids analogues [uracil (10), deoxyguanosine (11), deoxyuridine (12), uridine (13), deoxyadenosine (14), adenosine (15), inosine (16), and guanosine (17)], and the 9 free amino acids [L-phenylalanine (18), L-isoleucine (19), L-leucine (20), L-tyrosine (21), L-valine (22), L-proline (23), L-threonine (24), L-alanine (25), and L-hydroxyproline (26)]. Also, there are 8 kinds of amino acids [asparagine, serine, glutamine, glycine, histidine, arginine, methionine, and lysine], 2 sialic acids [N-acetylneuraminic acid (27), ketodeoxynonulosonic acid (28)], and 9 minerals [Na > K > Ca > Mg > Fe > Zn > B > Al > Cu] were detected from the autoaminoacid analyzer and ICP spectrometer, HPAEC-PAD/HPLC-FLD, respectively. 9 kinds of oxycholesterol-$3{\beta}$-O-fatty acid ester (2 - 1, 2 - 2, 2 - 3, 3 - 1, 3 - 2, 3 - 3, 4 - 1, 4 - 2, and 4 - 3) and 3 nucleic acids (12, 14, and 15) were isolated from the velvet antler for the first time. 6 kinds of steroids (7, 8, 9, 2 - 1, 3 - 1, and 4 - 1) were examined for their anti-proliferative effects against L1210, P388D1, K562, MEG-01, KG-1, MOLT-4, A549, HepG2, MCF-7, SK-OV-3, and SW-620 cancer cell lines. They showed anti-proliferative effects with $IC_{50}$ values of 0.06, 2.16, 2.42, > 50.0, 1.66 and $8.31{\mu}M$ against L1210, while the values were 24.05, 9.44, 5.22, 0.25. 9.48 and $49.77{\mu}M$ against P388D1, respectively. The others were inactive.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.470-475
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• 2007

Oplopanax elatus (O. elatus) is a tall deciduous shrub that has traditionally been used for σ eating a variety of ailments such as diabetes, coughling, rheumatism, gastro-intestinal disorders, and wounds. In order to examine the safety of the ethanol extracts of O. elatus, we performed a 14-day repeated-dose toxicity study with Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were treated with daily doses of the D. elatus ethanol extracts by gavage at 0, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg/day for 14 consecutive days. We recorded clinical signs of toxicity, body weight, hematology, organ weights, gross and histological changes in target organs, and clinical chemistry analysis data for all rats. There were no significant changes in body and organ weights during the experimental period. The hematological analysis and clinical blood chemistry data revealed no toxic effects from the O. elatus ethanol extracts. Pathologically, neither gross abnormalities nor histopathological changes were observed between the control and treated rats of both sexes. Collectively, these data suggest that the ethanol extracts of O. elatus have a high margin of safety.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.318-323
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• 2008

Nokwon, a new cultivar for vegetable soybean, was developed from the cross between Keunolkong and Hyangnam-1 and released in 2006. The pedigree of Nokwon, designated as Milyang 153 in 2003, was SS96425-2B-11-4-1-1-1. Nokwon, used as a vegetable soybean was characterized by dark green pod, large seed, very short plant height, and lodging resistance. Nokwon has determinate growth habit, white flowers, gray pubescence, oval leaf shape and brown pods at maturity. The mature seeds have a greenish yellow seed coat with brown hilum and yellow cotyledon. In Korea, Regional Yield Trials (RYT) for vegetable soybean from 2004 to 2006, Nokwon shows strong tolerance to soybean mosaic virus and lodging in fields. Fresh pods of Nokwon harvested at the beginning of August, and stem height was 11cm shorter than 45 cm of Hwaeomputkong. In the same tests, fresh pod of Nokwon (11.4 ton/ha) yielded 14% higher than Hwaeomputkong (10.0 ton/ha). Nokwon had 5.9 cm fresh pod length, 13.1 mm fresh pod width, 75.4 g seed weight per 100 green seed, 39.4% green seed protein content, and 17.3% green seed oil content.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.668-673
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• 2010

A new black seed coat soybean cultivar, 'Heugseong' was developed at the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) in 2008. The goal to breed the black seed coat soybean is to develop the cultivar with large seed size, high yield, lodging tolerance, and resistance to disease such as soybean mosaic virus (SMV), and bacterial pustule. 'Heugseong' was selected from the cross between 'Gnome85', showing yellow seed coat, lodging tolerance, and high yield, and 'Cheongja', showing green cotyledon, and black seed coat. The preliminary, advanced and regional yield trials for this cultivar were carried out from 2004 to 2008. It has determinate growth habit, purple flower, brown pubescence, brown pod color, black seed coat, yellow cotyledon, elongated seed shape, oval leaf shape and large seed size (29.2 grams per 100 seeds). It was 4 days later in maturity than the check cultivar 'Ilpumgeomjeongkong'. 'Heugseong' was better than the check cultivar in the seed quality of isoflavone contents(1,913 ${\mu}g/g$). It has good adaptability for cooking with rice in ratio of water absorption and seed hardness, for physics of black tofu, and for fermented black soybean paste. The average yield of 'Heugseong' was 2.37 ton per hectare in the regional yield trials carried out in six locations of Korea from 2006 to 2008.

• Korean Journal of Breeding Science
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• v.42 no.6
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• pp.684-689
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• 2010

'Sangwon', a new cultivar for vegetable soybean, was developed from the cross between 'Keunolkong' and 'Oshimamidori', and was released at the National Institute of Crop Science (NICS) in 2007. The goal to develop a vegetable soybean cultivar with green pod, early maturity, large seed size, high yield, lodging tolerance, and resistance to disease such as soybean mosaic virus (SMV). 'Sangwon' has light green pod, early maturity, large seed, short plant height, and lodging tolerance. 'Sangwon' has determinate growth habit, white flower, gray pubescence, and oval leaf shape. The matured seeds have a yellow seed coat with light brown hilum, and a yellow cotyledon. 'Sangwon' has 5.8 cm fresh pod length, 13.2mm fresh pod width, 69.5 g seed weight per 100 green seeds, 44.0% green seed protein content, and 14.8% green seed oil content. At the regional yield trials (RYT) for vegetable soybean from 2005 to 2007, 'Sangwon' shows strong resistance to soybean mosaic virus (SMV) and tolerance to lodging in fields. Fresh pods of 'Sangwon' were harvested at the beginning of August. In the same tests, fresh pod of 'Sangwon' (10.39ton/ha) yielded 5% higher than 'Hwaeomputkong' (9.90ton/ha).