Chios Gum Mastic (CGM) is a natural resin extracted from the leaves of Pistacia lentiscus, a plant endemic to the Greek island of Chios. It has been used by traditional healers, and it has antibacterial, antifungal properties, and therapeutic benefits for the skin. The CGM reduces the formation of dental plaque and bacterial growth in oral saliva, and recent studies have demonstrated the role of antioxidant activity of CGM. Although CGM has been widely investigated, its protective effect against oxidative-damage to keratinocytes, as well as the relationship between CGM and autophagy, has not been investigated. The aim of this study was to assess the protective effect of CGM against H2O2-induced oxidative stress and to evaluate the autophagic features induced by CGM in human keratinocytes. The pretreatment with CGM significantly reduced apoptosis in H2O2-exposed HaCaT cells. It promoted the degradation of caspase-3, caspase-8, and caspase-9; and it induced the formation of the processed PARP. The treatment with CGM caused an increase in vesicle formation compared to control group. The level of p62 was reduced and the conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II was increased in CGM treated HaCaT cells. Also, the treatment with CGM increased cleavage of ATG5-ATG12 complex. In summary, CGM helps the cells to survive under stressful conditions by preventing apoptosis and enhancing autophagy. Besides, the present investigation provides evidence to support the antioxidant potential of CGM in vitro and opens up a new horizon for future experiments.

Since organized living cooperative associations sold their environment-friendly agricultural products directly to independent consumers in the past, the general distribution channels such as wholesalers had difficulty in handling these products. However, the ratio of distribution via wholesale channel has been gradually increased as consumption of environment-friendly agricultural products has expanded. This study is to address vitalization of wholesale distribution for environmentfriendly agricultural products by gathering previous statistical data and analysis. In addition, statistical analysis are conducted by utilizing surveys on forwarders, consumers for environment-friendly agricultural products. As a result, the products producers ship are distributed through dealers at producers sites, producers cooperatives, or food process companies, food companies, internet shopping malls, large-scale distribution companies, consumer groups such as living cooperative associations, direct outlets at consumers sites, or exports. Among the channels, the large-scale distribution companies and franchised special shops account for 47%, the general supermarkets 15.7%, and living cooperative associations 14.6% respectively. By utilizing the research results on producers and consumers, and the distribution weight by channels for environment-friendly agricultural products, the distribution channels for living cooperative associations, wholesale markets, and large scale distribution companies are compared and evaluated. As a result, the level of producers’ and consumers’ satisfaction for them is the lowest since the low selling price for producers and high distribution margins.