본 연구에서는 미숙과 복분자 추출물의 건강기능식품 기능성 원료 개발을 위하여 지표성분을 ellagic acid로 설정하였으며, HPLC 분석법의 유효성을 검증하였다. 또한 국내 재배종 미숙과 복분자인R. occidentalis와 중국 재배종 미숙과 복분자인 R. chingii의 ellagic acid 함량 차이와 시험법 적용을 통해 원료의 상호대체 및 혼용 가능성을 확인 하였다. 추출용매별 ellagic acid 함량을 분석한 결과, 5% 주정 추출물이 국내산과 중국산에서 각각 16.56 mg/g과 17.27mg/g으로 가장 높게 나타났으며 두 종간의 함량 차이가 없음을 확인하였다. 향 후 두 종간의 생리활성 비교 연구를 통해 생리활성물질인 ellagic acid 함량 유사성과 같이 두 종간의 생리활성 유사성 부분의 추가 검증 연구가 필요할 것으로 사료된다. 또한 본 연구에서의 분석법 검증은 특이성, 직선성, 정확성 및 정밀성을 확인하였으며 그 결과, 표준용액의 피크유지시간과 spectrum이 미숙과 복분자 5% 주정추출물과 일치하여 특이성을 확인 하였다. 검량선의 R2은 0.9999으로 높은 직선성을 보였으며, 검출한계 0.25 μg/mL, 정량한계는 0.77 μg/mL였다. 회수율은 97.54-101.01%의 범위로 나왔고, 일내분석과 일간분석에서 상대표준편차는 국내산이 각각 0.54-1.30%와 2.23-3.15%, 중국산이 각각 0.48-2.21%와 1.57-2.79%로 나왔다. 따라서 본 연구를 통하여 기존의 문헌에서 제시된 ellagic acid 분석법이 미숙과 복분자 5% 주정추출물에서의 지표성분 표준분석법으로 적합한 시험법임을 재검증하였고, 건강기능식품 기능성 원료로서 ellagic acid를 지표성분으로 설정하였을 경우 국내산 미숙과 복분자인R. occidentalis와 중국산 미숙과 복분자인R. chingii의 수급 여건에 따라 상호 대체가 가능한 근거가 될 수 있는 자료중 하나로 활용될 수 있을 것으로 판단된다.

Dendropanax morbifera Léveille (Araliaceae) is an endemic species growing in the south-western part of South Korea and has been used in folk medicine and health functional food. Several studies have indicated that extract of D. morbifera (DP) has cytotoxic activities on a number of human cancers, such as, breast cancer, lung cancer, hepatoma, and chorioepithelioma. Recently, polyacetylene and triterpene compounds have been isolated from the DP and showed to have anti-complement activity. β-Amyrin, α-amyrin, dendropanoxide, and β-sitosterol are isolated from DP. However, its biological activities in cancer have not yet been clearly elucidated. In this study, we evaluated the anti-cancer activity of isolated triterpenoids from the DP leaves by measuring the levels of cytotoxicity against MCF-7 human breast cancer and A549 human lung cancer cells. Six triterpenoids were isolated from the n-hexane fraction of DP leaves along with the known compounds. β-amyrin (1), α-amyrin (2), olean-12-en-3,24 β-diol (3), dendropanoxide (4), β-sitosterol (5), and stigmasterol (6). Compound 3 and 6 were isolated from DP for the first time. Cytotoxic activities of six compounds were evaluated against two human cancer cell lines by using the MTT in vitro assay. Among them, five compounds (1, 2, 4, 5, and 6) showed moderate cytotoxic activities toward the tested cell lines, and were safe to normal cells. Western blot analysis showed a decreased expression of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and increased levels of pro-apoptotic protein Bax in MCF-7 and A549 cells treated by β-amyrin and α-amyrin. Flow cytometry analysis confirmed that five compounds (1, 2, 4, 5, and 6) treatment increased populations of sub-G1 (apoptosis) phase. The results of the present study revealed that triterpenoids from DP have the potential for further development as anticancer agents.

Dendropanax morbifera Leveille (Araliaceae) is an endemic species growing in the south-western part of South Korea that has been used in folk medicine and health functional food. In this study, we investigated an extract of quercetin in Jeju D. morbifera by varying different parts (fruit, sprouts, leaves, sprigs, and branches), harvest times, and extraction solvents. In addition, we aimed to establish a simple and reliable HPLC/UV analytical method to determination of quercetin for the quality control and base line data of the Jeju D. morbifera extract as a health functional food ingredient. The analytical specificity was determined with retention time and photo diode array (PDA) spectrum by analyzing quercetin using HPLC and comparing the results to those of extracts. This analytical method for quercetin was validated for its limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ), precision, and accuracy. A high linearity in the standard calibration curve was obtained, with a coefficient of determination (R2) of 0.9996. Also, the LOD and LOQ values were found to be 0.28 μg/mL and 0.85 μg/mL, respectively, and the recoveries of quantified compounds ranged from 97.91% to 104.10%. Furthermore, the relative standard deviation (RSD) values of data from the intra- and inter-day precision analyses were less than 1.36% and 3.65%, respectively. As a result, the highest quercetin content among the extracts of Jeju D. morbifera leaves was found to be 20.14 mg/g, which was extracted at harvest in May (cultivation period 10 years) with 60% EtOH. All in all, we believe that the results obtained would be helpful in the development of nutraceutics and natural medicines and for the quality control of D. morbifera.