The objectives of present study were to characterize the peptides which were isolated from Korean fermented soybean paste, chungkukjang, and to determine their antioxidant activities. Four fractions were collected from the methanol extract of chungkukjang by using a recycling preparative HPLC. Among fractions, Fr-2 was identified to be highly potent free radical scavenging activity in the assay of 1,1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl (DPPH) and nitroblue tetrazolium(NBT)-reduction inhibition. Base on antioxidant effects, fraction Fr-2 was employed for the refraction with a prep-column and separated into five fractions of which two fractions were identified to have higher antioxidant activity. To confirm the amino acid constituents of antioxidant fractions Fr-2-2 and Fr-2-3 were analyzed, and eight kinds of amino acids such as aspartic acid, threonine, serine, glutamic acid, glycine, lysine, histidine, and arginine were identified as the constituent amino acids. Antioxidant activities of the separated peptides were further assessed cell viability with 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl terazolium bromide (MTT), and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis of H4IIE cells treated with hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Chungkukjang peptides have shown their ability to protect H4IIE rat hepatoma cells against H2O2- induced oxidative stress by concentration and time-dependent manner. Therefore, These results indicated that fermented soybean paste chungkukjang will be promoted the antioxidant and radical scavenging activities, and beneficial for health. The antioxidant peptide fractions Fr-2-2 and Fr-2-3 were denominated as P-NICS-1 and P-NICS-2, respectively. However, further studies were required to clarify their amino acid sequences and molecular properties, and physiological significances.

The composition of free sugar, free amino acid, and fatty acid in tubers of the cultivars 'Superior', 'Sinnamjak', and 'Chubaek' were evaluated at the two sites with different altitude, Gangneung (20 m altitude) as lowland and Daekwallyeong (760 m altitude) as highland. The average reducing sugar content of the three potato cultivars harvested in Daekwallyeong and Gangneung was 1.1% and 2.3%, respectively, which showed two-fold difference between the two locations. Average total sugar content was also two-folds lower in potatoes harvested in Daekwallyeong (6.3%) than those harvested in Gangneung (12.2%). Average content of free amino acids of the three potato cultivars harvested in Daekwallyeong and Gangneung was 1,325 mg/100g and 1,051 mg/100g, respectively. The cultivar 'Chubaek' has the highest amino acid content among the three tested cultivars. Potatoes from Daekwallyeong have higher unsaturated fatty acid levels than those from Gangneung. During the tuber development, unsaturated fatty acids levels increased in tubers grown in Daekwallyeong, but decreased in those grown in Gangneung. These results indicate that the quality of potatoes from Daekwallyeong is from Gangneung for food processing purpose for human consumption.