Inflammation is the first response of the immune system to infection or irritation in our body. The use of medicinal plants has been widely applied as an alternative source for drug development. One of marine natural resources, the anti-inflammatory effect of Ishige sinicola ethanol extract (ISEE), was evaluated by using LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cell and mice model. As a result, the production of nitric oxide (NO) and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-1β, TNF-α) were inhibited with increasing concentration of ISEE without any cytotoxicity. Furthermore, ISEE suppressed the expression of not only inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) p65, and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), including extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2, p38, and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) in a dose-dependent manner. In mice ear edema test, the formation of edema was reduced at the highest dosage of ISEE and the reduction of the number of infiltrated mast cells was observed in histological analysis. These results indicate that ISEE has a potent anti-inflammatory activity and can be used as a pharmaceutical material for many kinds of inflammatory disease.

To understand the changes in physical parameters and phytoplankton size structure caused by tides, a fixed station in the Youngsan River estuary was monitored at 2-h intervals, on April 28, 2012 and August 12, 2012. No clear relationship was observed between the temperature and salinity changes and tidal levels in April. However, in August, temperature decreased during the ebb tide and increased during the flood tide, while salinity showed the opposite trend. In addition, there was no specific change in the phytoplankton biomass corresponding to tidal levels in April. In August, the total chlorophyll a and the biomass of net phytoplankton (>20μm ) increased almost 20 times during the ebb tide and decreased during the flood tide. The biomass of nanophytoplankton (<20μm ) showed a similar variation in response to tidal level changes. In April, the relationship between percent contributions of phytoplankton size structure and tidal levels was not clear. In August, the net phytoplankton was dominant in the early stage and nanophytoplankton was dominant in the later stage, while contribution of nanophytoplankton and net phytoplankton increased at high tide and low tide, respectively. Therefore, in April, other factors such as freshwater discharge were more important than the tide, whereas in August, when no freshwater discharge was recorded, the changes in semidiurnal tides influenced the physical parameters and phytoplankton dynamics. These results could contribute to the understanding of phytoplankton dynamics in the Youngsan River estuary.

Lead leached out from the metal lead-sinker attached to fishing nets or contained in ropes are likely to cause the environmental contamination, consequently, resulting in ecotoxicity. However, it is very difficult to find out the data on the disposal reality of fishing nets, lead-containing form of/in fishing net and its content. In previous studies, we presented the containing form of lead and the lead concentration leached out by the containing forms. As a result, the leaching concentration of lead was the highest under the supposition condition of lead-sinker deposited on sandy tidal flat. In this study, as a subsequent study, we investigated long-term leaching characteristics from lead-sinker deposited on sandy tidal flat. We used a serial batch leaching experiment to investigate the long-term leaching characteristics, and the experimental conditions were as follows; solid to liquid ratio 1:20, shaking time 24 hours (repetition of 7 times), room temperature, and shaking rate 170 rpm. As a result, lead leaching concentration after shaking for 24 hours was 0.215 mg/L, showing the highest leaching concentration, and then the leaching concentrations between 2-7 times were greatly decreased. Analysis result by Visual Minteq 3.1 said most of the leached lead component could be extracted as crystal such as Anglesite (PbSO4), Cerrusite (PbCO3), Cotunnite (PbCl2), and Pb(OH)2 by sulfate and carbonate in seawater.