광나무(L. lucidum)는 ursolic acid와 oleanolic acid를 다량 포함하고 있다. 본 연구에서는 광나무 열매, 줄기, 잎 세 부위 추출물의 항주름 효능을 평가하였다. 광나무 추출물은 human skin fibroblasts에서 독성이 없을 뿐만 아니라 MMP-1과 MMP-2의 발현을 감소시키고 COL1A1의 발현을 증가시켰다. 이들 추출물은 모두 농도 의존적으로 COL1A1의 발현을 증가시켰으며 MMP-1과 MMP-2의 발현을 감소시켰다. 광나무 세 부위 추출물 가운데, 열매 부위에 가장 많은 양의 ursolic acid 와 oleanolic acid가 함유되어 있었으며 가장 강한 COL1A1 upregulating 효과와 MMP-1과 MMP-2 downregulating 효과를 나타냈다. 이처럼 항주름 효능을 보이는 광나무 열매 추출물은 기능성 화장품 소재로 개발될 수 있는 가능성이 있다.

Nitrogen (N) fertilization is essential for alleviating nutrient deficiencies of the world’s population by increasing rice production, one of the most important food crops of our time. Here we established an in vivo hydroponics rice seedling culture system to investigate the physio-biochemical and molecular responses of various rice genotypes to low nitrogen application. Yoshida’s nutrient solution (YS) was used to grow rice seedlings, and at three-week-old the seedlings manifested highly stable and reproducible symptoms, such as reduced shoot growth and length. Out of 12 genetically selected or tested genotypes, almost all (11 genotypes) showed varied degrees of growth reduction response to applied nitrogen (4 and 40 ppm N for treatment and control, respectively), but SR19663-B-B-34-3-3-3-1 showed similar growth as the control though its leaf width was smaller than the control. The leaves of a 11 representative low nitrogen-responsive genotype as BG90-2 were sampled for revealing the protein profiles between low and normal (control) nitrogen application by using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DGE) followed by staining of separated proteins with silver. Fifty differentially expressed silver stained protein spots were excised from 2-D gels and 41 proteins identified using high-throughput mass spectrometry (MS) using matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight-MS and nano electrospray ionization liquid chromatography tandem MS. These proteins could be assigned as major (energy metabolism, photosynthesis and oxidative stress) and minor functional categories, revealing many novel low N-responsive proteins, including those having energy/photosynthesis, and defense/stress, and iron homeostasis-related functions.