• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.432-440
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• 2006

A tuber lectin from Arisaema jacquemontii Blume belonging to family Araceae was purified by employing a single step affinity chromatography using column of asialofetuin-linked amino activated silica beads and the bound lectin was eluted with 100 mM glycine-HCl buffer pH 2.5. The purified A. jacquemontii lectin (AJL) showed a single protein band with an apparent molecular mass of 13.4 kDa when submitted to SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis under reducing as well as non-reducing conditions. The native molecular mass of AJL determined by gel filtration on a Biogel P-200 column was 52 kDa and its carbohydrate content was estimated to be 3.40%. Thus AJL is a tetrameric glycoprotein. The purified lectin agglutinated erythrocytes from rabbit but not from human. Its activity was not inhibited by any of the mono- and disaccharides tested except N-acetyl-D-lactosamine having minimal inhibitory sugar concentration (MIC) 25 mM. Among the glycoproteins tested only asialofetuin was found to be inhibitory (MIC $125\;{\mu}g/mL$). A single band was obtained in native PAGE at pH 4.5 while PAGE at pH 8.3 showed two bands. Isoelectric focusing of AJL gave multiple bands in the pI range of 4.6-5.5. When incorporated in artificial diet AJL significantly affected the development of Bactrocera cucurbitae (Coquillett) larvae indicating the possibility of using this lectin in a biotechnological strategy for insect management of cucurbits. Larvae fed on artificial diet containing sub-lethal dose of AJL showed a significant decrease in acid phosphatase and alkaline phosphatase activity while esterase activity markedly increased as compared to larvae fed on diet without lectin. Out of various human cancer cell lines employed in sulphorhodamine B (SRB) assay, this lectin was found to have appreciable inhibitory effect on the in vitro proliferation of HCT-15, HOP-62, SW-620, HT-29, IMR-32, SKOV-3, Colo-205, PC-3, HEP-2 and A-549 cancer cell lines by 82, 77, 73, 70, 41, 41, 37, 29, 21 and 21% respectively.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.570-576
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• 2014

Palmitoyl tripeptide (M330) showed higher antimicrobial activities than methyl paraben or phenoxy ethanol through minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) test. However, when the M330 was added into cosmetic formulation, white precipitates formed due to the electrostatic interaction between M330 and carbopol (carboxy vinyl polymer) as a thickener in cosmetics, and the viscosity of cosmetics decreased sharply. Also, the antimicrobial activities of M330 in cosmetics became lower than those of methyl paraben or phenoxy ethanol. Thus, the encapsulation of M330 in ethosome vesicle was attempted in order to recover the declined antimicrobial activities of M330 in cosmetics and prevent the precipitates from forming. When ethosome-encapsulated M330 was added into cosmetics, the precipitates did not form, and the decrease in the viscosity of cosmetics was not large compared to the addition of unencapsulated M330. Challenge tests showed that antimicrobial activities against gram negative bacteria were improved by the encapsulation of M330, but the encapsulation was not effective against gram positive bacteria and fungus. A combination of M330 with EDTA showed synergistic inhibitory potential against C. albicans. After coencapsulation of M330 and EDTA in ethosome, antimicrobial activities proved to be higher than those of unencapsulated M330 and EDTA.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.9-15
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• 2015

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been emerging worldwide as one of the most important hospital and community pathogens. At the same time, because of the difficulty in developing chemical synthetic drugs and because of their side-effects, scientists are making more efforts to search for new drugs from plant resources to combat clinical multidrug-resistant microbial infections. Cinnamomum camphora (C. camphora) is a plant of family Lauraceae, and grown Jeju island in South Korea that are used as a drug to treat neurasthenia, epilepsy, cystitis, pyelonephritis, digitalis, cancer, and diabetes mellitus in folk remedies. In this study, antibacterial activites of 80% ethanol extract of C. camphora leaves (CCE) were investigated in combination with antibiotics against clinical isolates of MRSA. The results showed that CCE was determined with MIC and MBC values ranging from 156 to 313 and 313 to $625{\mu}g/ml$, oxacillin from 128 to 256 and 128 to $512{\mu}g/ml$, ampicillin from 4 to 64 and 8 to $128{\mu}g/ml$. The combination of CCE with oxacillin or/and ampicillin were synergistic effect against MRSA 1, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 15/ MRSA 1, 2, 6, and 7.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.26 no.1
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• pp.27-37
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• 2023

Objectives: Moroccan Arbutus unedo is an essential medicinal plant; however, little is known about the biological properties of its leaves mentioned in Moroccan traditional medicine. Methods: Various standard experiments were performed to evaluate the phytochemical, antidiabetic, antioxidant, antibacterial, and acute and sub-chronic toxicity characteristics of A. unedo leaves. Results: Phytochemical screening led to the identification of several phytochemical classes, including tannins, flavonoids, terpenoids, and anthraquinones, with high concentrations of polyphenols (31.83 ± 0.29 mg GAEs/g extract) and flavonoids (16.66 ± 1.47 mg REs/g extract). Further, the mineral analysis revealed high levels of calcium and potassium. A. unedo extract demonstrated significant antioxidant and anti-diabetic activities by inhibiting α-amylase (1.350 ± 0.32 g/mL) and α-glucosidase (0.099 ± 1.21 g/mL) compared to the reference drug Acarbose. Also, the methanolic extract of the plant exhibited significantly higher antibacterial activity than the aqueous extract. Precisely, three of the four examined bacterial strains exhibited substantial susceptibility to the methanolic extract . Minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC)/minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values indicated that A. unedo harbor abundant bactericidal compounds. For toxicological studies, mice were administered with A. unedo aqueous extract at single doses of 2,000 and 5,000 mg/kg. They did not exhibit significant abnormal behavior, toxic symptoms, or death during the 14-day acute toxicity test and the 90-day sub-chronic toxicity test periods. The general behavior, body weight, and hematological and biochemical status of the rats were assessed, revealing no toxicological symptoms or clinically significant changes in biological markers observed in the mice models, except hypoglycemia, after 90 days of daily dose administration. Conclusion: The study highlighted several biological advantages of A. unedo leaves without toxic effects in short-term application. Our findings suggest that conducting more comprehensive and extensive in vivo investigations is of utmost importance to identify molecules that can be formulated into pharmaceuticals in the future.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.159-163
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• 2018

Two new polyketides, chinoketides A and B (1 - 2) with a known compound xylarphthalide A (3), were isolated from the solid medium of the endophytes from the leaves of the relic plant Distylium chinense with the "black-box" co-culture method, and the structures of two new compounds were elucidated by NMR, MS and CD spectra. And the absolute configurations of chinoketides A (1) and B (2) were determined as 2R,3R,8S and 5R,6S by calculating their ECD spectra to compare with the experimental CD spectra. Finally, the antimicrobial activities were evaluated to Erwinia carotovora sub sp. Carotovora (Jones) Bersey et al, and the results showed that compounds 1 - 3 displayed the antimicrobial activities with MIC value at 20.5, 30.4 and $10.2{\mu}g/mL$.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Telematics and Electronics
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.34-40
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• 1985

Characteristics of GaAE epilayers grown on (100) CaAs wa(tors by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) under various single crystal growing conditions were investigated. In fabrica-ting GaAs, epilayer by MBE, the most important factors are a substrate temperature(ts) and a flux density ratio (As/Ga). In this experiment, the substrate temperature was varied in the range of 48$0^{\circ}C$ to $650^{\circ}C$ and As and Ga cell temperatures were varied in the range of 218$^{\circ}C$ to 256$^{\circ}C$ and 876$^{\circ}C$ to 98$0^{\circ}C$, respectively. At the substrate temperature of 54$0^{\circ}C$, As cell temperature of 23$0^{\circ}C$, and Ga cell temperature of 91$0^{\circ}C$, the As/Ga ratio was 5"10, the surface morphology was most smooth . Investigation of As-stabilized surface by RHEED and of depth profile by SIM5 showed that As is less stable than Ga. Also, X-ray diffraction measurement revealed that single crystals of (400) and (200) were formed at the both sub-strate temperatures of 52$0^{\circ}C$ and 54$0^{\circ}C$.TEX>.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.6
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• pp.490-496
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• 2006

This study aimed to evaluate in vitro effects of Rheum undulatum L. root on the development of dental caries, especially its effects on viability, dental plaque formation, and glycolytic acid production of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus. Methanol extract of Rheum undulatum L. root and its fractions were prepared and tested. Among the test extract and fractions, dichloromethane fraction (DF) showed the most active antibacterial activity (inhibition zone: 13-17 mm) against S. mutans and S. sobrinus in a disc diffusion method. Minimal inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of DF against these bacteria ranged from 0.25 to 0.5 mg/mL. Furthermore, DF significantly inhibited the caries-inducing factors of these bacteria. At sub-MIC levels, DF inhibited in vitro dental plaque formation by S. mutans and S. sobrinus ($IC_{50}$= 0.079 and 0.142 mg/mL, respectively), which was caused, in part, by the inhibitory effect on the activity of glucosyltransferases. A significant reduction of glycolytic acid production was found at the concentration as low as 0.032 mg/mL for S. mutans and 0.063 mg/mL for S. sobrinus. The possible bioactive compounds that are inducing in vitro anti-cariogenic activity of DF are unknown. Based on the preliminary phytochemical analysis, the activity of DF may be related to the presence of anthraquinones, cardiac glycosides, coumarines, sterols/terpenes, and phenolics. These results indicate that DF is probably useful for the control of dental plaque formation and subsequent dental caries development.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.178-185
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• 2020

Rice bakanae is a typical seed-borne and seed-transmitted disease caused by infection by Fusarium fujikuroi. Seed disinfection using chemical fungicides (such as benomyl and prochloraz) is most effective in controlling the disease, but the emergence of fungicide-resistant strains has recently been increasing. Slightly acidic hypochlorous acid water (SAHW) is a safe and environmentally friendly disinfectant that has a potent and broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity against viruses, bacteria, and fungi. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effectiveness of SAHW against F. fujikuroi strains, including chemical fungicide-resistant strains, as an alternative to conventional chemical fungicides in the management of bakanae disease. SAHW showed strong but similar levels of antifungal activity among the F. fujikuroi strains with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC₉₀) of 5±2.5 ppm of free available chlorine (FAC). In addition, F. fujikuroi cells lost viability completely within 5 min of SAHW treatment due to the lethal damage to cell integrity. When the rice seeds infected by F. fujikuroi were treated with SAHW containing 20±10 ppm of FAC for 12 hr, the efficiencies of seed disinfection and disease control were 95-98% and 90.1-92.6%, respectively. Altogether, our data suggest that SAHW is an effective compound for controlling rice bakanae disease.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.35 no.4
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• pp.382-390
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• 2020

This study was carried out to evaluate the antimicrobial effect of red ginseng (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) against several foodborne pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Candida albicans and Aspergillus niger. The antimicrobial effect was determined by agar diffusion method using red ginseng extract, crude saponin and non-water-soluble fractions. Red ginseng extract showed antimicrobial effect against S. aureus, but not C. albicans or A. niger. The extract showed anti-bacterial activity at concentration above 30% against S. aureus, which cause both food poisoning and atophic dermatitis. Crude saponin showed antibacterial activity above 7.5% against the bacterium. However, the ginsenosides purified from crude saponin showed no antimicrobial activities at 100-200 ㎍/mL. To investigate the mode of growth inhibition, red ginseng extract and crude saponin were added to 0.85% NaCl solution containing S. aureus and then incubated at 35℃ for 12 h. The results showed that viable cells were rapidly reduced in above 10% concentration of red ginseng extract and above 2% of crude saponin, respectively. However, the crude saponin and red ginseng extract did not inhibit the bacterial cells completely at those same concentrations. On the other hand, whereas all non-water-soluble fractions showed inhibition zones above 10 mm against S. aureus, they showed no inhibition effects against E. coli, C. albicans or A. niger. The methanol fraction-1 (MF-1) showed the highest antibacterial activity against S. aureus, and the MIC (minimal inhibitory concentration) was 0.625 mg/mL. These results suggest that red ginseng extract, crude saponin and non-water-soluble fractions show selective antibacterial activity against S. aureus, and non-water-soluble fractions might be used as natural antibacterial agents.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.42-48
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• 2009

Anticandidial activity of seven herbal extracts, Taraxacum Platycarpum, Houttuyniae Herba, Lonicerae Flos, Anemarrhena Rhizome, Forsythia Fruit, Paeoniae Ratix, and Coptidis Rhizoma, were determined against five different Candida sp. by agar diffusion assay. The concentration of total phenolic compounds of seven herbal extracts ranged from 0.6 to $2.5{\mu}g/mg$. The total antioxidant activities showed that Taraxacum Platycarpum and Houttuyniae Herba were 60% in 80% ethanol extract and Lonicera Flower and Paeoniae Ratix were 70, 75%, respectively, in 100% ethanol extract. Coptidis Rhizoma extract showed antifungal activity against non-Candida albicans, C. tropicalis and C. glabrata. The MIC values of a compound separated in TLC from Coptidis Rhizoma extract were 24, and $48{\mu}g/mL$ against C. tropicalis and C. glabrata. The above compound showed the same retention time with berberin in HPLC analysis.