Steaming is a method that has traditionally been used for medicinal plant extraction. This study investigated nitrite oxide production, ferrous ion chelating activity, α-glucosidase, xanthine oxidase, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities of ethanol, acetone and hot-water extracts of Codonopsis lanceolata prepared by steaming seven times. MTT assay showed that each extract was non-toxic up to a concentration of 700 μg/mL confirming that there was no cytotoxicity in all extracts. The α-glucosidase, xanthine oxidase, and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities exhibited by the hot-water extract obtained from steaming seven times were higher (83.1%) than the other extracts. Higher production of nitrite oxide and better ferrous chelating activity was recorded with hot-water extract compared to ethanol and acetone extracts. These results indicated that more steaming of Codonopsis lanceolata extracts would be required to validate the possibility of developing antioxidants. Also, further study is needed to determine if the components present in the tested extracts might be useful in the prevention of Alzheimer's disease. These results showed that hot-water extracts may be useful for their antioxidant and the production inhibitory activity of nitrite oxide. It will be helpful in the investigation of the constituent analysis of the steam-processed product of Codonopsis lanceolata.

The effect on the antioxidant activity and Nitric Oxide activity production inhibitory activity of Taraxacum has not been known. Therefore, phenolics and flavonoid contents were investigated from the ethanol extracts of five different Taraxacum species. The results showed that, among the five Taraxacum, T. hallaisanensis contains the highest total phenolic and flavonoid contents. When the antioxidant activity was measured by DPPH, ABTS+ and reducing power activity, the free radical scavenging activity of T. hallaisanensis was also the highest among five Taraxacum species. However, measurement by CCK-8 assay in Raw264.7 cells indicated that the extracts of Taraxacum species have no effect on cell viability. Moreover, we also investigated the effect of Taraxacum species on NO scavenging activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated Raw264.7 cells. The results clearly showed that Taraxacum species inhibited NO production, and the inhibitory effect of T. hallaisanensis was the strongest. The above results suggested that Taraxacum species affected the antioxidant and NO scavenging activity, and among the five species, antioxidant and NO scavenging activity assay of T. hallaisanensis was significantly higher than those of other four Taraxacum species. Therefore, T. hallaisanensis could be used as a potential drug with anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory effect.

This study was carried out to investigate the antibacterial activity against pathogens of acne and the anti-inflammatory effect of 75% ethanol extract and its fractions from the leaves of Prunus sargentii. In the antibacterial activity by the disc diffusion assay, the extract showed the highest effect against Propionibacterium acnes, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis in 5 mg/disc. However, the ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest antibacterial activity in 1 mg/disc. On the other hand, the hexane and chloroform fraction showed strong nitric oxide (NO) production inhibitory effect in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated Raw 264.7 cell. In the cell viability of Raw 264.7 by MTT assay, the extract and all fractions were exhibited normal viabilities as nontoxic result. Consequently, the extract from the leaves of P. sargentii and its ethyl acetate fraction could be applicable to functional materials for antibacterial activity related fields. Moreover, the hexane and chloroform fraction could be applicable to candidate materials as anti-inflammatory agent.

The study was conducted to investigate functional materials as skin whitening and anti-inflammatory agent from Taraxacum officinale and Taraxacum coreanum. The total polyphenol and flavonoid content in the ethanol extract of Taraxacum officinale were found to be 64.07mg/g and 32.46mg/g, respectively. In tyrosinase inhibitory activity, the hot water extract of Taraxacum coreanum was higher than the other extracts. However, in nitric oxide (NO) scavenging ability, the ethanol extract of Taraxacum coreanum was higher than the other extracts. the ethanol extract of Taraxacum coreanum showed strong NO production inhibitory effect in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated Raw 264.7 cell. In the cell viability measurement by MTT assay and the lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay against L929 cell, the extracts were exhibited fine cell viabilities and normal LDH release levels as nontoxic result in sample concentration of 250~1000μg/ml. As a result, the ethanol extract and the hot water extract of Taraxacum coreanum could be applicable to functional materials for anti-inflammatory and skin whitening related fields, respectively.

Two dineolignans (1,2) with nitric oxide inhibitory activities were isolated from Saururus chinensis (Saururaceae) using silica gel column chromatography. Although the structures, saucernetin-7 (1) and -8 (2), have been already reported, NMR assignment of the two compounds was completed aided by 2D-NMR spectroscopy including 1H-1H COSY, 1H-13C COSY, HMBC and NOESY NMR spectra. Compounds 1 and 2 exhibited significant nitride oxide inhibitory activity in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells with IC50 values of 11.3μM and 7.1μM, respectively.