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.

This study was investigated the contents of total polyphenol, flavonoids and antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Codonopsis lanceolata extracts according to different steaming times. The contents of total polyphenol and flavonoid proportionally increased from 6.45 mgGAE/g to 18.26 mgGAE/g and 2.01 mgRE/g to 6.12 mgRE/g according to ethanol extracts at EDS7. DPPH radical scavenging activity was found to have been 15.26~65.2% and showed the highest level of antioxidant activity at EDS7 was 65.2%. The activity of ABTS radical scavenging and SOD-like activity were also the same result. DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activity was related to the number of steaming, and the scavenging activity was increased up to 7 times of steaming. The antimicrobial activity of EDS7 had strong antioxidant activity. Antimicrobial activities were examined against 5 microorganisms related to pathogens and food poisoning. The antimicrobial Activity was different depending on the bacteria, but it was effective at the concentration of 300 mg/mL rather than 150 mg/mL. These results showed that Codonopsis lanceolata extracts with a different number of steaming would be conducted to confirm the possibility of developing antimicrobial and antioxidant. It will be helpful in the study of component analysis of Codonopsis lanceolata extracts processed products.

In this study, hot water and ethanol, acetone, and hexane extracts of the steamed Deodeok were investigated for use as raw materials for natural cosmetics. Hot water and ethanol, acetone and hexane extracts of steamed Deodeok did not indicate cell toxicity up to 300 μg/mL concentration in the MTT assay. The tyrosinase inhibition effects of the ethanol extract were higher than the ascorbic acid. The efficacy of the steamed Deodeok's ethanol extract on the elastase inhibition was similar to that of quercetin at higher concentrations. In conclusion, water, ethanol, acetone and hexane extracts of the steamed Deodeok indicated strong possibility as a whitening and anti-wrinkle functional cosmetic ingredient. Among them, the steamed Deodeok's ethanol extract, which showed excellent activity, is highly available because it has high safety compared to other organic solvent extraction methods used in cosmetics, and has minimal irritation to the skin.