The root extracts of Paeonia lactiflora cv. ‘Red Charm’ has been studied by many groups, however, little attention has been paid to its flower petal. Paeonia is the genus in the Paeoniaceae family. ‘Red Charm’ Paeonia is a soft-stemmed herbaceous peony hybrid of P. officinalis and P. lactiflora. We previously showed the flower petal extract of Red Charm might have anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, however, it was not clear which components might be involved in this activity. Bioinformatics analysis previously indicated these extracts have potential anti-oxidant materials. One of them is identified as paeoniflorin, which is major component in root extract of Red Charm. In this study, we compared paeoniflorin and oxypaeoniflorin using DPPH assays to measure its anti-oxidant activities. Oxypaeoniflorin showed higher levels of radical scavenging activity, similar to ascorbic acid control, whereas paeoniflorin did not. Furthermore, nitric oxide assay showed they have similar anti-inflammatory effects. Taken together, these results suggest oxypaeoniflorin may play a more important role in the anti-oxidant activity of the flower petal and root extracts of Red Charm, compared to paeoniflorin. Further studies may be able to provide a platform to develop potential dual effects therapeutics for oxidant-mediated and inflammation-mediated disease in the near future.
Alcoholic fatty liver disorder has become a frequent health concern worldwide. To investigate the effects of Brassica oleracea (B. oleracea) sprout extract (BOE), the present study was designed with alcoholic fatty liver in the rat. Initially, the effects of BOE on liver parameters were examined. Male rats were divided into five groups. The normal control group was fed the normal diet, and the BOE group was fed the high fat diet and ethanol with/without BOE for 4 weeks. After 4 weeks feeding period, rats were sacrificed and their livers and blood were used for fatty liver-related biomarkers analyses. As a result, BOE ameliorated fatty liver-related enzymes profiles in liver tissues and also reduced blood alcohol concentration in rat model. We demonstrated that BOE protected the high fat diet and alcohol-induced fatty liver in rat model. Furthermore, BOE increased detoxificative abilities against alcohol.
Wheat is an economically important cereal worldwide and is a staple food in many countries. Extensive researches have been performed on the nutritional value and antioxidant potentials of sprouts of legumes like soybean, however very limited studies have been carried out on the sprouts of Korean wheat cultivar. The objective of this study was to investigate the phytochemical and antioxidant potentials of Korean wheat sprouts. The sprouts were grown for 10 (WS-10), 20 (WS-20), and 30 (WS-30) days at room temperature. The pH, color, chlorophyll, free amino acid, 1,1-diphenly- 2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), and total polyphenol content of the sprout samples were determined. The pH of sprouts was increased in the older sprouts. Color values were significantly influenced by the age of sprouts. The chlorophyll content was lowest but the total free amino acid content was highest in WS-30. On the other hand, the DPPH free radical scavenging potential and total polyphenol content were lower in WS-30. The results suggested that Korean wheat sprouts could be a potential source of nutrients and natural antioxidants.
Recently, as a natural substance has been emphasized interest in research to enhance the immune function. Green lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) is a popular vegetable used fresh and it contains various phytochemicals and antioxidant compounds, and has been reported to have various physiological activities such as antibacterial, antioxidant, antitumor and anti-mutagenic. However, only a few studies have investigated on the mechanism of action of immune-enhancing activity of lettuce. Therefore, in this study, the immunomodulatory activities and potential mechanism of action of Green lettuce extracts (GLE) were evaluated in the murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7. GLE significantly increased NO levels by RAW264.7 cells, as well as expressions of immunomodulators such as iNOS, COX-2, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12, TNF-α and MCP-1. Although GLE activated ERK1/2, p38, JNK and NF-κB, GLE-mediated expressions of immunomodulators was dependent on p38, JNK and NF-κB. In addition, TLR4 inhibition blocked GLE-mediated expressions of immunomodulators and activation of p38, JNK and NF-κB. Taken together, these results demonstrated that TLR4-MAPK/NF-κB signalling pathways participated in GLE-induced macrophage activation and GLE could be developed as a potential immunomodulating functional food.
This study was carried out to get the information of Plum tree (192 germplasm) collected in Korea, and to evaluate the organic acid contents and fermentation solution. The organic acid content of fruit was 50.9 ± 6.0 ㎎/g, and which was composed of 55.5% of citric acid, 43.4% of malic acid and 1.1% of oxalic acid, and showed large difference among germplasms. Oxalic acid and malic acid made no differences in organic acid content according to flesh color, whereas citric acid and total organic acid contents were highest in orange color and lowest in whitish green. Malic acid, citric acid and total organic acid contents did not show differences among fruit weight groups, but oxalic acid content was highest at fruit weight of 5.1 ~ 10.0 g and lowest at more than 20.1 g. The sugar content of fermentation solution of fruit was 55.7 ± 1.6 °Brix and the harvest rate was 116.7 ± 8.7%. The correlation coefficients among fruit weight, the sugar content (°Brix) and harvest rate of fermentation solution were very low, and there were correlations of r=–0.551** between fruit weight and oxalic acid, r=– 0.767** between malic acid and citric acid, and r=0.834** between citric acid and total organic acid content.
We performed taxonomic reviews and habitat circumstances survey for 41 un-introduced environmentally harmful plants (as designated by the Ministry of Environment, Korea in 2016). For this purpose, we investigated plant specimens from several herbaria and performed a field survey in the southeastern region of the United States. Base on the result, we presented the most comprehensive results of weed risk evaluation and taxonomic description up to now as well as classification keys for 11 species to apply the regulation management of putative invasive alien species – Centaurea maculosa Lam., Centaurea diffusa Lam., Mikania micrantha Kunth. (Asteraceae), Cenchrus echinatus L., Neyraudia reynaudiana (Kunth) Keng ex Hitchcock, Brachiaria mutica (Forsskål) Stapf, Vulpia bromoides (L.) Gray, Lolium persicum Boissier & Hohennacker, Setaria palmifolia (J. Konig) Stapf (Poaceae), Prosopis glandulosa Torr. (Fabaceae), Fallopia baldschuanica (Regel) Hobub. (Polygonaceae).
Bowlesia incana Ruiz & Pav., a new invasive alien plant in Korea, was found in Ulju-gun, Ulsan Metropolitan City. This species is characterized as being similar to the genera Hydrocotyle Tourn. ex L. and Centella L. However, it differs morphologically from these two genera in leaves, flowers, and fruits, as well as stellate pubescence growing on the whole plant. In Korea, Bowlesia incana Ruiz & Pav. is recorded for the first time in this study. A morphological description, distribution map, and illustrations based on the Korean materials collected are presented.