Background : Capsaicin is an active component of chili peppers, which are plants belonging to the genus Capsicum. Research reported capsaicin has antioxidant and anti-inflamatory activity and osteoclast lineages are very susceptible to oxidative stress, as osteoclasts are produced by increased-generation of intracellular ROS and osteoclasts are activated by ROS. Therefore, our study was evaluated the influence of intracellular oxidative stress such as increased ROS level on RANKL-mediated osteoclast differenciation. Methods and Results : Capsaicin showed a good free radical scavenging activity at in-vitro antioxidant activity. The inhibitory effect of osteoclast differentiation on capsaicin was confirmed. Osteoclast differentiation from murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells was induced by RANKL. The effect of capsaicin on receptor activator of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) ligand (RANKL)-induced osteoclast differentiation was demonstrated using a tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) assay and TRAP staining. Capsaicin showed an inhibitory effect on TRAP activity. The TRAP staining showed that the number of TRAP positive osteoclasts was reduced in capsaicin-treated cells. Conclusion : Capsaicin revealed an inhibitory effect in osteoclast differentiation induced by RANKL. These results suggest that capsaicin may have a beneficial effect for the prevention or treatment of osteoclast caused bone diseases such as osteoporosis.

This study aims to assess forest healing programs to middle-aged people in Korea with metabolic syndrome as a method to control the syndrome through prevention and health improvement rather than treatment. In order to develop healing programs in the urban forests for metabolic syndrome patients, environment condition of the forests and moods of participants were compared. Thermal environments and the concentration of phytoncides were analyzed by the site. Saneum Healing Forest had a lower temperature but a higher humidity than Seoul Forest. Seoul Forest had higher PMV and PPD levels than Saneum Healing Forest, providing patients with freshness. This seems to be due to the seasonal factor of autumn. As for the total emissions of phytoncide, mountain forest generated more than urban forest. Nine components out of investigated twenty turned out to be generated more in the urban forests. The atmospheric composition of phytoncides, volatile organic compounds that are released from vegetation, was analyzed at both sites. Profile of Mood States (POMS) was measured before and after the healing program. The POMS suggested that forest environments reduce stress and increase comfort, calm, and feelings of refreshment. The tendency towards positive mood state in the forest recommend that middle-aged Metabolic syndrome patients participate in healing programs in the forests.

Freesia is one of the most popular flowers over the world including Korea, due to the fragrance and beauty of the plant flower. The first domestic freesia cultivar ‘Shiny Gold’ was developed by NIHHS, RDA, in 2003, which has yellow double and large petals and strong fragrance. Ten years have passed since ‘Shiny Gold’ was cultivated at floral farms, and the deterioration of cut flower quality and yield are reported from the farms. Virus infection causes a reduction in the quantity and quality of the cut freesia flowers and is one of the most serious problems in Korea. Virus detection was carried by reverse transcription polymer chain reaction (RT-PCR) for FreMV, FreSV, BYMV, CMV, and TRV, as known to infect freesia. FreMV, FreSV, BYMV, and TRV were detected single or multiply, and CMV was not found in the freesia leaves collected from the farms. To produce virus-free freesia, meristem culture of ‘Shiny Gold’ was conducted in MS medium added ribavirin at different concentration. As the increased of ribavirin concentration, the growth of ‘Shiny Gold’ plantlets was inhibited in freesia’Shiny Gold’. The plantlets produced by meristem culture in ‘Shiny Gold’ were virus free at the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) level.

Reynoutria japonica and R. sachalinensis have been used as medicinal resources in Korea. However, it is difficult to identify and determine these medicinal herbs correctly because they are usually customized and purchased as the fragmented rhizomes types. To develop molecular markers for distinguishing two species, we analyzed and compared the chloroplast DNA sequences of seven loci (atpB, matK, ccD-psaI, atpF-H, trnL-trnF, psbK-I and rpl32-trnL). Among them, we found two effective SNPs in psbK-I region for R. japonica and atpF-H region for R. sachalinensis. Based on these SNP sites, we designed the new R. japonica- specific primer which is able to amplify 300 bp fragment in psbK-I region. A similar strategy was applied for the atpF-H region of R. sachalinensis. These molecular markers would be successfully applied to recognize R. japonica and R. sachalinensis.

Throughout their meiotic maturation in most mammals, oocytes are arrested twice, prophase I and metaphase II. Being released from these arrests, transient or oscillation of intracellular Ca2+ concentration is observed in the ooplasm, which is not answered in relation to the specific role in the resumption of meiotic arrest. Recently, Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaM KII) has been known as a Ca2+ oscillation decoder from the in vitro experiment. CaM KII is multifunctional serine/threonine kinase observed in most cells. Present studies were performed to investigate the role of CaM KII during resumption of meiotic arrest and activation in vitro of mouse oocytes. It was questioned whether CaM KII might be involved in the meiotic resumption of mouse oocytes. Compared to the control, both of CaM KII inhibitors, KN-93 and KN-62, significantly inhibited germinal vesicle breakdown (GVBD) of mouse oocytes in a dose-dependent manner. As the concentration of KN-93 increased, concomitant decrease of intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) was also observed using confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) and an intracellular Ca2+ indicator, fluo 3-AM. When GVBD oocytes were treated with 6% ethanol, small [Ca2+]i transient was observed in oocytes bathed with Ca2+-free medium and large increase was observed in oocytes bathed with Ca2+-containing medium, suggesting that [Ca2+]i transient could happen from intracellular Ca2+ store as well as Ca2+ influx through Ca2+-channel on the oolemma. However, KN-93 inhibited the [Ca2+]i transient of GVBD oocytes in both cases. Using monoclonal antibodies against α-subunit of CaM KII, tubulin and microtubule-assocaited proteins (MAPs), CaM KII has been colocalized on the spindle with tubulin and MAPs. The present study also demonstrated the presence of α-subunit of CaM KII in heart, kidney, testes, ovary as well as in brain of the mouse. In ovarian follicles, CaM KII was expressed in granulosa cells and oocytes. Based on overall the above results, followings are suggested. First, CaM KII might be involved in the regulatory mechanism of meiotic resumption. Second, CaM KII might play a regulatory role in the stabilization of microtubule.

Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.) is a herb primarily distributed throughout in the world. We have used the inter-simple sequence repeats (ISSR) technique to investigate the phylogenetic relationships and genetic diversity of C. tinctorius. Of all germplasms, 88.7% were polymorphic among all germplasms. Mean genetic diversity within germplasms was very low (0.048). The Turkey germplasm had the highest expected diversity (0.082) and Australia germplasm was the lowest (0.020). These values indicate that most of the genetic diversity of safflower is found among germplasms and there is a high among-germplasm differentiation. We found eight phenetic bands for determining the specific marker of germplasm with SCAR markers. The regions of the Mediterranean Sea and India may be the most probable candidates for the origin of safflower. The tree showed four major clades: (1) European germplasms, (2) Azerbaijan, Egypt, and Ethiopia, (3) Australia, and (4) America.