곰팡이 독소인 ochratoxin A(OA)는 신장독성, 최기형성, 발암성 및 면역독성을 나타내며, 식품, 곡류 및 정육 등에 잔류한다고 알려져 있다. 최근 우리나라의 된장, 간장등 발효식품에서도 OA가 검출되었다는 보고가 있어 OA에 대한 관심이 높아지고 있다. 본 연구에서는 OA의 전반적인 위해성 평가의 일환으로 OA의 독성 표적장기인 신장에 초점을 맞추어 신장독성 감소방법을 제시하고자 한다. 신장독성을 감소시키기 위한 대상물질로는 1) 기존에 독성감소 물질로 알려진 phenylalanine(Phe), 2) phenylalanine과 aspartic acid로 구성된 감미료인 아스파탐(Asp), 3) 녹차의 성분이며 free radical scavenger 및 antioxidant 작용이 있는 polyphenol(PP), 4) 최근 수명연장 효과가 있고 특히 신장질환에 대한 예방효과가 있다고 알려진 aloe 추출물(AE)을 선택하였다. 신장독성을 유발시키기 위하여 OA를 2.0 ㎎/㎏의 용량으로 2주간 연속 경구투여하였다. Phe(40 ㎎/㎏, i.p.)과 Asp(25 ㎎/㎏, p.o.)은 OA(2.0 ㎎/㎏, p.o.)와 병용투여하였으며, PP(200 ㎎/㎏, p.o.)는 OA 투여 2주전부터, AE(50 ㎎/㎏, i.v.)은 3일전부터 전처리하여 OA(2.0 ㎎/㎏, p.o.)와 2주간 병용투여하였다 신장독성의 확인은 혈청중 BUN, creatinine치 및 뇨중 γ-glutamyltranspeptidase와 N-acetyl-β-D-glucosarninidase의 활성을 측정하였고, 신장에 대한 조직병리 검사를 실시하였다. 실험결과, OA를 2주간 2.0 ㎎/㎏용량으로 투여한 결과 신장독성이 유발되었으며, 독성 감소물질로 사용한 4개의 화합물 모두 혈액 및 뇨중 신장독성 지표를 유의성있게 감소시켰다. 조직병리 검사결과 OA에 의하여 신장의 근위세뇨관에 변성이 유발되었으며, 4개의 화합물 처리군에서는 변성이 관찰되지 않았다. 이러한 결과로부터 Phe, Asp, PP및 An는 모두 OA에 의한 신장독성을 감소시킬 수 있으며, OA에 의한 신장독성 유발에는 Phe에 대한 경쟁작용 및 free radical생성이 관여되어 있음을 확인할 수 있었다

The acute oral toxicity of organogermanium, Ge-132 was evaluated in rats and mice. The changes of body weight and clinical signs were observed for 14 days after the oral administration of Ge-132, from 0.31 g/kg up to 5 g/kg for SD rats and from 1.25 g/kg up to 5 g/kg for ICR mice. No death and toxic effects were observed for 14 days. The body weight of rats was significantly decreased 1 day after the administration in the maximum dosing group, but the decrease of body weight returned to control level 3 days after dosing. No significant changes in body weight were observed in mice. Autopsy revealed no abnormal gross findings related to Ge132. Therefore, Ge-132 has no special toxic effects up to 5 g/kg, and LD_(50) values of Ge-132 are above 5 g/kg in rats and mice.

It has been reported that G009, polysaccharide isolated from Ganoderma lucidum IY009 has various pharmacological effects, such as antiinflamatory, antiviral, anticarcinogenic and immunomodulation effects. The purpose of this study was to determine the subacute toxicity of orally administered 6009 in Sprague-Dawley rats. Groups of 40 male and 40 female rats were gavaged with 0, 500, 1,000 or 2,000 mg/kg/day for 30 days. No drug-related deaths and clinical morbidities were resulted. There was no drug-related effect on the body weight gain, food consumption and water consumption. Statistically significant changes were observed in several hematological and biochemical parameters of G009-treated groups; however, most of these changes were within normal range and had no relationship to dosage. Urinalysis and bone marrow biopsy showed no remarkable changes in all treated groups. Gross necropsy and histopathology revealed no evidence of specific toxicity related to G009. Our data indicate that no-observed effect level of G009 is estimated to be above 2,000 mg/kg/day in rats.

Background : This study was conducted to examine the suitability of the blue/white vinyl for ginseng cultivation greenhouses in different regions in an effort to develop a stable ginseng cultivation technology and contribute to popularizing ginseng greenhouse farming. Methods and Results : For comparison purposes, ginseng plants were cultivated in the traditional shading and greenhouse shading facilities. The average temperature in the greenhouse shading facilities during the period of May through October was 20.5℃ in Namwon, 21.4℃ in Jinan, and 23.3℃ in Iksan, with Iksan recording a 1.9–2.8℃ higher average temperature, presumably due to its location in a plain area with low elevation. The average temperatures in the traditional shading facilities ranged between 22.9℃ and 25.7℃, 2.4–2.6℃ higher compared with the greenhouse shading facilities. As for the incidence of disease and pest, as low as 0.1–0.3% of the plants grown under greenhouse shading were infected with Colletotrichum dematium, Alternaria panax, and Rhizoctonia solani, whereas much higher incidences were noted in the control plants, with 3.3–11.3%, 4.7–17.0%, 0.1–0.5%, and 3.0–5.7% infected with Colletotrichum dematium, Alternaria panax, Rhizoctonia solani, and Phytophthora cactorum, respectively, throughout the regions. Heat injury occurred only in Iksan (0.3%) in the case of greenhouse-shaded plants, whereas the control plants suffered from much severer heat injury: 3.5% in Namwon, 10% in Jinan, and as high as 35.3% in Iksan. As for the roots, Namwon outperformed other regions in root length (29.7 ㎝), taproot length (8.7 ㎝), and taproot diameter (25.3 ㎜), and also the root fresh weight (53.4 g), followed by Jinan (48.7 g) and Iksan (40.4 g). In yield as well, the greenhouse in Namwon outperformed other regions with 1,297㎏/10a, followed by Jinan (1,183 ㎏) and Iksan (932 ㎏). The effect of greenhouse blue-white vinyl shading on yield by region was analyzed to increase of 177% in Namwon, 209% in Jinan, and 173% in Iksan with respect to their respective traditional shading facilities. Conclusion : The suitability of the blue/white vinyl shading in ginseng cultivation greenhouses was tested experimentally in three different regions. As a result, greenhouse-shaded ginseng plants were found to be much less affected by heat injury compared with traditionally shaded ginseng plants, resulting in much higher yields in all regions. This allows the conclusion that greenhouse ginseng cultivation can contribute to more stable ginseng yield and popularization of ginseng cultivation.