Platycodon grandiflorum (Bell flower) is an important plant that has traditionally been used as herbal medicine for the treatment of cough, phlegm, sore throats, lung abscesses, chest pains, dysuria, and dysentery. The present study was initiated to investigate the feasibility of inducing shoot and root organogenesis in cultured explants of P. grandiflorum in a range of culture media and through use of various plant growth regulators (PGRs). The plantlets (Stem containing one node) were isolated and cultured on different concentrations of Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium supplemented with PGRs. We found that proliferation and elongation of shoots and roots could be achieved on ¼ MS for P. grandiflorum with wild and green petals and on ⅛ MS for P. grandiflorum with double petals. The highest levels of development and elongation of adventitious shoots and roots were observed when petal explants were cultured on ¼ MS (pH 3.8) supplemented with 5% sucrose. Increasing the agar concentration reduced shoot growth and rooting potential; nevertheless, the highest number of shoots and roots was observed on 0.6% agar. In the case of growth regulators, ¼ MS supplemented with 1 mg L-1 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) was found to be best for shooting, although higher concentrations of BA tended to reduce shoot and root elongation. The highest number of shoots was achieved on 0.5 mg ․ L-1 thidiazuron (TDZ) from double petal explants grown on ⅛ MS. However, root and shoot elongation were found to decrease when TDZ concentrations were increased. Low concentrations of kinetin, naphthalene acetic acid, indole acetic acid, and 3-indole butyric acid induced shoot and root proliferation and elongation. Taken together, our study showed that low concentrations of PGRs induced the greatest root formation and elongation, showing that the optimal concentration of PGRs for shoot proliferation was species-dependent.

This study was conducted to evaluate the contents of total polyphenol and flavonoid, and the effect of antioxidant, antimicrobial activities and cytotoxicity in vitro by different solvent fractions from Orostachys japonicus. The ethylacetate fraction extract for O. japonicus contained 634.48 ㎍/g polyphenol and 205.20 ㎍/g flavonoid. The ABTS radical scavenging ability of ethylacetate fraction extract at 1 ㎎/㎖ was higher than 95% which is comparable to ascorbic acid of 97%. The APX enzymatic activity and CAT activity were 1125.89 μmol ascorbate oxidized/min/㎎ protein and 119.87 H2O2 decomposed/ min/㎎ protein, respectively. In disc agar plate diffusion assay, the extract gave rise to a larger inhibition circle with Listeria monocytogenes, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Staphylococcus aureus and Malassezia furfur strains compared with antibiotics kanamycin suggestive of high antibiotic activity. The cytotoxicity of extracts of O. japonicus was significant differences between solvent fractions. That is, the cytotoxic effect against human cancer cell was higher in ethylacetate fraction extract than other fraction extracts. These results suggest that fraction extract of O. japonicus might be very effective and economical in developing natural antioxidant and antimicrobial.

Background : The roots of Codonopsis lanceolata have been used as a tonic crude drug and an edible plant in Korea. The plant mainly contains triterpenoid saponins, including codonolaside, codonolasideⅠ-Ⅴ, lancemaside A-G. Their saponins have shown anti-inflammatory effects such as bronchitis and cough, insomnia and hypomnesia. C. lanceolata is well known to affect various pharmacological effects for human health, and its consumption is increasing. Recently, plant and plant-derived products were treated a part of the healthcare system by applying the bioactive phytochemicals. Antioxidant and immune activity substances in food play an important role as a health-protecting factor. This study was designed to investigate the in vitro immune cell growth and xanthine oxidase Inhibitory activity of different storage period and storage temperature of C. lanceolata. Methods and Results : The plant materials were used the roots of C. lanceolata cultivated in Jeju area, Korea. Immune enhancing effect was conducted using T cell and B cell of human immune cells. Each cell incubated for 8 days with the sample extracts compared to the control group, and the immune activation was measured according to the growth of immune cells. The xanthine oxidase Inhibitory activity was measured by modifying the method of Noro(1983). In different storage period and storage temperature conditions, the immune cell growth of C. lanceolata extract promoted a concentration-dependent manner in both human T cell and B cell, and did not show a significant difference. The xanthine oxidase Inhibitory activity of C. lanceolata extract tended to decrease more, depending on the longer the storage period or the higher the storage temperature. Conclusion : These results of this study suggested that the root of C. lanceolata may assist in the potential biological activities, and can be used as a source of human health products.

This study was performed to investigate the growth characteristics and inorganic components of Codonopsis lanceolata regarding regional differences. The plant height of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata was 373.6 cm, so it’s revealed that it has more vigorous growth than Korean won. The flowering time of Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was 2 weeks faster than Japanese one. Total fresh weight of root was 41.0 g and 39.0 g for Korean and Japanese respectively, thus, no significance difference was found. However, regarding fresh weight, Korean one had a more fresh weight (35.4 g) of main root parts, but Japanese one had a more fresh weight (9.6 g) of the lateral root part. Each inorganic component was found more in the aboveground parts, regardless of the region and the content of K was the largest. Regarding the content of macroelements for each part of Codonopsis lanceolata, the content of Na, Mg, P, S, and Ca in Korean Codonopsis lanceolata was found the highest on the leaf, followed by stem and root. In the case of Japanese Codonopsis lanceolata, same result was found on the content of Mg and Ca, however, the highest content of Na and P was found in the stem.

This study was conducted to compare the growth, inorganic components, and proximate components of Codonopsis lanceolata grown in 10 regions of Korea for selecting superior species and breeding by crossing. Among the all tested lines, the shortest plant height (217.12 cm) was observed from the Ulleungdo region line (No. 4) while the longest (273.9 cm) was observed from Hwasun region line (No. 9). In addition, the lines of central and northern region (No. 1~No. 7) tend to have shorter plant height than those of southern region (No. 8~No. 9) except Jejudo region line (No. 10). Flowering tends to be late towards southern region, and lines in central and northern regions were started flowering about 2 weeks earlier than those in southern regions. However, the heaviest root weight was 13.1 g, found in only Jejudo line (No. 10) whereas there was no significant difference found in the other regions which have a range of 8.3~11.0 g. The inorganic components were varied in each line, however, proportion of macroelements, such as K, Ca, and P, was the largest for every line. Especially for Heongseong region line (No. 2), had larger proportion of macroelements than the others. There was a difference of proximate compositions of Codonopsis lanceolata, except the moisture content, among all regions, however, it was generally shown that the content of crude protein (1.31~3.76%) and crude fiber (2.18~3.12%) was the highest.

토마토 정식 전 후 묘령에 따른 토마토의 생육의 특성, 수량, 광합성 및 항산화 효소 활성을 알아보고자 본 실험을 수행하였다. 토마토 파종부터 정식시 까지 기간을 40, 45, 50, 55, 60일로 설정하였다. 육묘 기간이 50일(표준묘)보다 짧을수록 토마토 생장과 생육이 촉진된 반면에 육묘 일수가 길수록 생장과 생육이 감소하였다. 정식 후 4주는 묘령이 가장 짧은 40일묘에서 광합성량이 낮았지만 정식 후 8주는 차이를 보이지 않았다. CAT(Catalase), APX(Ascorbate peroxidase), POX(peroxidase) 들은 정식후 6주까지 증가하다가 8주부터 감소하였다. 정식후 4주는 SOD (Superoxide dismutase), CAT 활성은 묘령이 어릴수록 높은 경향을 보였고 반대로 정식 후 6주는 APX, POX는 육묘기간이 길수록 활성이 높았다. 토마토 수량도 표준묘와 비교해서 육묘 기간이 짧은 묘령에서 토마토 생산성이 높은 반면에 육묘기간이 길수록 생산이 감소하였다. 토마토의 생장과 수량의 관점에서 보면 육묘 기간은 40-50일 적합하다는 결과를 도출하였다. 따라서 토마토를 토경재배 할 경우 표준 묘령 50일보다 짧은 묘를 정식 후 생장과 생산성에서 유리할 뿐 아니라 육묘 시 발생되는 생산비의 절감에 유리할 것으로 사료된다.