Background : As a part of ongoing research to elucidate and characterize anti-cancer nutraceuticals, extracts from many kinds of medicinal plants were tested for their ability to cytotoxicity on cancer cells so far. Datura stramonium is one of the plants known to contain various alkaloids such as hyoscyamine, scopolamine, atropine etc. Traditionally, it has been used as an analgesic, antispasmodic, and central nervous stimulant. Leaves are also known to be effective against asthma, cough, and chronic bronchitis. In this study, cytotoxicity of extracts from D. stramonium on human cancer cell lines A549 (lung), and HepG2 (liver) were evaluated and compared. Methods and Results : The extract was diluted with DMSO in the form of 10, 50, 250, 1,000 μg/ml for final concentration series respectively. The cell viabilities were examined by MTT assay. On HepG2 cell line, extracts of D. stramonium showed dramatic dose-dependent cytotoxicity on 10, 50, 250, 1,000 ㎍/㎖ concentrations series as 88.16%, 78.55%, 55.57%, 23.06% cell viability respectively. On A549 cell line, likewise, same concentration series showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect as 96.49%, 96.12%, 68.54%, 20.26% cell viability respectively. On A549 cell line, there was no difference in effect between 10 ㎍/㎖ and 50 ㎍/㎖. Conclusion : Above results, high concentrations of extracts are effective on two cancer cell lines. These results are expected to be used on further studies about the anticancer activity of D. stramonium as basic data. In order to confirm the anticancer effect of D. stramonium, it is anticipated that additional tests will be required to confirm the apoptosis assay and related protein expression.

Background : In ancient, roots of Rumex crispus, called wooi-daehwang, were used for various symptoms and diseases like cough, phlegm, bronchitis and hepatitis, caused inflammatory. As a part of ongoing research to elucidate and characterize anti-inflammatory nutraceuticals, solvent-partitioned fractions from R. crispus root were tested for their ability to suppress inflammation. In this study, NO synthesis inhibitory activity of solvent-partitioned fractions from R. crispus root on LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 mouse macrophages was evaluated. Methods and Results : The EtOH extracts were suspended in water. The aqueous layer was further partitioned in diethylether, ethylacetate and n-butanol, sequentially. RAW264.7 cells were seeded onto 96-well plates, and cells were allowed to adhere for 6 h and then were pretreated with the R. crispus root extracts for 24 h. Cellular nitric oxide (NO) production was stimulated by adding lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Absorbance was measured at 520 ㎚ by microplate reader. NO synthesis inhibitory activity potential of these fractions was evaluated by assessing NO production by LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells in the presence and absence of the solvent-partitioned R. crispus root fractions. NO synthesis inhibitory activity of diethylether fraction diluted in 50 ㎍/㎖, 25 ㎍/㎖, 12.5 ㎍/㎖, 6.25 ㎍/㎖, 3.125 ㎍/㎖ was 79.2%, 70.9%, 59.5%, 16.1%, and 11.8%, respectively. And NO synthesis inhibitory activity range of another fractions, EtOAc, n-BuOH and aqueous layer, were 0 - 30.2%, 0 - 20.1% and 3.8 - 22.4%, respectively. Conclusion : From the above results, it showed that diethylether fraction have strong NO synthesis inhibitory activity, it was suggested that R. crispus root have NO synthesis inhibitory effects. R. crispus root possesses anthraquinones, such as chrysophanol, parietin, and anthrones etc. According to previous studies, R. crispus semen extract has analgesic and hepatoprotective effect as anti-inflammatory, and extract of R. napalensis has cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, COX-1 inhibitory and free radical scavenging effect. Our present study has shown that R. crispus root extracts anti-inflammatory effects probably by suppressing iNOS expressions, and resulting in the inhibition of NO synthesis.

Background : D. lablab is tropical vine grown as a garden annual belonging to Leguminosae, which is used in oriental medicine for coldness like a cooling disease, diarrhea and abdominal pain etc. when it is hot weather in summer and plenty of rainy seasons. In previous study, D. lablab showed an inhibitory activity for trypsin. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) was produced by trypsin via a second protease-activated receptor. Therefore, it is considered that there are substances having antioxidant activity in D. lablab. Methods and Results : The seed of dried D. lablab was extracted hot water, and then partitioned with Et2O, EtOAc, n-butanol and aqueous. The aqueous layer was separated from silica gel and Diaion HP-20 liquid chromatography and HPLC-prep, resulting in confirmed two compounds. The two compounds was identified to C14H14N2O4 and stachyose from ESI-MS and 1H- and 13C-NMR. The two compounds was performed the intracellular ROS measurement and the expression of catalase and Cu/Zn SOD. The intracelluar ROS measurement was detected using DCF-DA in LPS-treated RAW264.7 cell. The results were shown that two compounds inhibited intracellular ROS levels to dose-dependent. And the expression of genes was detected quantitative real-time PCR in LPS-trated RAW264.7 cell. Although the two compounds were not significantly different towards the Cu/Zn SOD expression level, the expression level of catalase genes were indicated an increase rate of about 347% in C14H14N2O4 and about 242% in stachyose at 50 ㎍/㎖ compared with LPS-not treated cells. Conclusion : From the above results, both compounds significantly shown antioxidant activity in dose-dependent by examining the amount of intracellular ROS and the expression levels of SOD and catalase enzymes. As screening ROS inhibition of C14H14N2O4 and stachyose in vitro, they may be a good candidate for regulating the progression of human oxidant stress diseases and warrants further studies.

Background : This study was carried out to investigate the cytotoxicity in 9 extracts from 8 medicinal plants, such as leaf extract of Lonicera maackii (Llm), leaf extract of Platycarya strobilacea (Lps), flower extract of Fagopyrum dibortryis (Fdf), stem extract of Physostegia virginiana (Spv), root extract of Allium senescence (Ras), aerial part extract of Allium schoenoprasum (Aas), aerial part extract of Artemisia japonica var. manshurica (Aaj), stem extract of Caryopteris incana (Sci), and leaf extract of Caryopteris incana (Lci), on human cancer cell lines. Methods and Results : Dried plant extracts were granted from National Institute of Horticultural and Herbal Sciences. The extracts of each plant were dissolved in DMSO and stored in deep freeze at –20℃. The cell viabilities were examined by MTT assay. On SK-OV-3 cell line, Lps, Aas, Sci ans Lci showed dose-dependent cytotoxic effect. On A549 cell line, almost samples show dose-dependent cytotoxic effect, but especially Aaj showed relatively high cytotoxic effect. In case of HCT-15 cell line, Llm and Aas showed relatively high cytotoxic effect. Conclusion : These results suggested that Lonicera maackii, Platycarya strobilacea, Fagopyrum dibortryis, Physostegia virginiana, Allium senescence, Allium schoenoprasum, Artemisia japonica var. manshurica, and Caryopteris incana can be utilized as potential sources of anticancer agent due to their cytotoxicity.

Background : As a part of ongoing research to elucidate and characterize anti-inflammatory nutraceuticals, six kinds of plant extracts (aerial part of Nepeta cataria, leaves of Lonicera maackii, leaves of Platycarya strobilacea, flower of Fagopyrum dibotrys, flowers and fruits of Solanum nigrum, stem of Physostegia virginiana) were tested for their ability to suppress inflammation. The anti-inflammatory has been studied in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells which cells synthesized nitric oxide (NO) from L-arginine by nitric oxide synthase (NOS). In this study, NO synthesis inhibitory activity of six kinds of plant extracts on LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 mouse macrophages was evaluated. Methods and Results : Six kinds of plant extracts were parceled out from RDA (Rural Development Administration). RAW 264.7 cells (1.5×105 cells/well) were seeded onto 96-well plates with DMEM media containing 10% FBS and 1% antibiotics. The cells were pretreated with the extracts and LPS-stimulated cells for 24 h. Cellular NO production was stimulated by adding 1 μg/mL of LPS. After incubation, Griess reagent was used to determine NO production. Absorbance was measured at 520 nm by microplate reader. NO synthesis inhibitory activity potential of these extracts was evaluated by assessing NO production by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells in the presence. As a result, inhibition rate of NO production was about 40% of L. maackii, 33% of F. dibotrys, 23% of P. strobilacea and 17% of P. virginiana. Meanwhile, there was no significant results in aerial part of N. cataria and flowers and fruits of S. nigrum. Conclusion : From the above results, we be able to confirm that leaves of L. maackii and flower of F. dibotrys appeared dose-dependent NO synthesis inhibitory activity and leaves of P. strobilacea appeared NO synthesis inhibitory activity in low-concentration. As screening NO synthesis inhibition of six extracts, they may be a good candidate for delaying the progression of human inflammatory diseases and warrants further studies.

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.

In Korea, production of super sweet corn has been economically feasible and is substituting for traditional sweet corn due to better flavor in recent years. Major limiting factors for super sweet corn production are low field emergence and low seedling vigor. The optimum water potential (WP) for the priming of normal and aged seeds of dent, sweet (su) and super sweet (sh2) corns was studied to improve low seed quality. Seeds were primed at 0, -0.3, -0.6, -0.9, and -1.2 MPa of polyethylene glycol (PEG) 8000 solution at 15~circC for 2 days. Priming effects differed depending on the type of corn, seed quality, and WP of PEG solution. Although WP of priming solution did not influence the emergence rate of extremely high quality normal dent corn seeds, it reduced time to 50~% emergence (T50) and increased plumule weight. In contrast, the emergence rate of aged field corn was improved by seed priming at 0 MPa and plumule weight and α-amylase activity was enhanced. The optimum WP for both normal and aged sweet and super sweet corn seeds was between -0.3 and -0.6 Mpa. At the optimum WP emergence rate, α-amylase activity, and content of DNA and soluble protein increased, while T50 and leakage of total sugars and electrolytes reduced.

The performance of 7 sugary (su) and 12 shrunken-2 (sh2) sweet com hybrids which are commercially grown in the United States was tested in Korea. The 100-seed weight of su hybrids (16.5-23.6 g) was much heavier compared to that of sh2 hybrids (10.9-17.5 g). The germination rate of su and sh2 hybrids at 25~circC ranged 93.3-100% and 86.7-98.9%, the emergence rate of su and sh2 hybrids in cold test ranged 78.9-97.8% and 62.2-97.8%, and field emergence rate of su and sh2 hybrids ranged 74.4-100.0% and 79.9-98.2%, respectively. In su hybrids, there was a significantly positive correlation between germination rate at 25~circC and emergence rate in cold test or early growth. In contrast, in sh2 hybrids seed weight was positively correlated with early plant growth, while not with the germination rate at 25~circC or emergence rate in cold test and field. Most sh2 hybrids produced larger and more marketable ears compared to su hybrids although there were significant differences among the hybrids in the same genotype. At harvest (24 days after pollination) soluble solids content of su hybrids (24.3-27.1 Brix %) was much higher than that of sh2 hybrids (13.8-18.0 Brix %), while total sugars of sh2 hybrids (21.4-28.6% on the dry weight basis) was much higher compared to su hybrids (2.4-15.9%). Considering germination and emergence rates, marketable ear production, and total sugar content, 'GCB 70' and 'Sweet Satin' in su hybrids and 'Ice Queen', 'Aspen', 'Sweet Magic', 'Bandit', 'Xtrasweet 82', 'Aspen', and 'Cambella 90' in sh2 hybrids performed better than other hybrids.