Honey production from approximately 1.7 million colonies owned by around 21 thousand beekeepers was almost 36 thousand M/T in Korea. Pollen has used as a food and medicine from before the Joseon Dynasty period in Korea. Pollen grains such as acorn (Quercus acutissima), actinidia (Actinidia arguta) and green tea (Camellia sinensis) are popular in the markets in Korea. But stiff pollen wall hindered dissolution of polysaccharides and lowered extraction efficiency. In the present study, we measured the antioxidant activity and the total polyphenol content from the pulverized and lyophilized green tea pollen grains inoculated with 6 kinds of fungi to confirm the husk removal effect. The total polyphenol content of green tea pollens was highest in lyophilized pollen medium inoculated with Armillaria mellea, and was lowest in pollen inoculated with Lentinula edodes. Total polyphenol content of the lyophilized pollen was higher than that of the refined pollen and the pulverized pollen in green tea pollen germinated with A. mellea. The total polyphenol content of the lyophilized green tea pollens germinated with A. mellea was 1.4-fold higher than that extracted with water. Measurement of antioxidant activity using the DPPH free radical scavenging method showed that the lyophilized green tea pollen grains germinated with A. mellea had the highest and that germinated with L. edodes was lowest in antioxidant activities. The lyophilized green tea pollen grains germinated with A. mellea was 2 to 4 times higher than that extracted with water in the antioxidant activity of DPPH free radical scavenging. Many germinated cells were formed around pore of green tea pollen inoculated with L. edodes, while those were formed at the end of hyphae derived from green tea pollen grains inoculated with A. mellea.

For the investigation of the stability of purified bee venom(PBV) during the treatment in the temperature range of 50℃ to 120℃ for 24 hours, respectively, melittin contents, antibacterial effects, and cell regenerations were investigated. The changes in the melittin contents of PBV were not significantly different by treatment temperature below 70℃ for 24 houes and 80℃ for 4 hours. However the melttin contents is great decline after 24 hours above 80℃ for 24 hours. Antibacterial effects is not change below 80℃ for 4 houes but significantly decrease above 80℃ for 24 hours. Cell regenerations of PBV on human dermal fibroblast decreased at 80℃ for 24 houes, showing a significant difference from the below 80℃ for 4 houes. Through the temperature stability of PBV results of this study, it was treated that the melittin contents, antibacterial effects and cell regeneration effects of PBV could be maintained above 80℃ for 4 hours.

Royal jelly (RJ) is one of the most attractive functional foods that have been a commercial product, especially in dietetics and cosmetics in many countries. However, RJ has been evoked with dermatitis, acute asthma and anaphylaxis because of major RJ proteins. Therefore, to access water soluble royal jelly (WSRJ) that removed allergy-induced proteins as an effective whitening agent for cosmetics and potential external treatment for topical use, we investigated its ability to inhibit melanin biosynthesis. B16F1 cells were treated with 10 nM α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α -MSH) for 48hr, and then were treated with various doses of WSRJ for 36hr. WSRJ (1-10ug/ml) inhibited direct tyrosinase activity and cellular tyrosinase activity, which lead to the decrease of melanin synthesis in α-MSH stimulated B16F1 melanoma cells. In addition, we examined RT-PCR and Western blotting for melanogenesis-related genes such as tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP-1) and 2. WSRJ suppressed mRNA and protein expression of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein (TRP)-1 and TRP-2 in α-MSH stimulated B16F1 cells, and similar to positive control, arbutin. Our findings suggest that WSRJ induced the downregulation of melanogenesis by inhibiting tyrosinase, TRP-1 and 2 activations. It may serve as a new candidate in the new skin-whitening agents.

Royal jelly (RJ) is exclusive food that is secreted from the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands of worker honeybees, and it is well known to be a necessary for the growth of the queen honeybee Although fresh royal jelly have been demonstrated to enhance wound healing, the wound healing effects of water soluble royal jelly (WSRJ) have not been elucidated. We investigated whether WSRJ promotes the migration, attachment, and proliferation of human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs) during in vitro wound healing. HDFs were treated with 1-5ug/ml WSRJ and RJ for up to 24hr following wound formation. Cell migration was assessed by measuring recovery from wound margin, while cell attachment and proliferation were determined by MTT assay. By observing the numbers of cell attached, we confirmed that not only WSRJ but also RJ did not affect on the initial cell adhesion. WSRJ (5 ug/ml) enhanced cell migration rate approximately 84.3% in HDFs at 24hr, whereas RJ (5 ug/ml) increased cell migration rate 71.3% in HDFs at 24hr, which is similar to cell migration rate of WSRJ 1 ug/ml (73.7%). In cell proliferation assays, WSRJ induced an increase in the number of HDFs, compared with control and RJ. In conclusion, WSRJ promotes cell migration with increased cell proliferation in an in vitro wound healing model.