Corni Fructus (CF) is a fruit of Cornus officinalis Sieb. et Zucc. and has been used as traditional oriental medicine. It has various functional qualities such as being antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antihyperglycemic, and immunity-regulating. In the current study, CF was extracted from two conventional extract solvents (distilled water (DW) and 70% ethanol) with/without high-speed homogenization (HSH) treatments. The extract was characterized by measuring the total polyphenol contents and antioxidant activities. The HSH treatment significantly improved the total polyphenol content (from 28.4±0.9 mg/mL to 35.5±0.9 mg/mL), ABTS (from 59.8±0.4% to 78.4±2.7%), and DPPH radical scavenging activities (from 50.8±1.4% to 59.7±2.8%) of the DW extract and showed a level similar to that of 70% ethanol extract. The CF extracts were further used to prepare functional jelly with gelatin and other components such as pectin, fructooligosaccharide, and citric acid. The jelly’s hardness, springiness, gumminess, and cohesiveness were characterized using a texture profile analysis (TPA).

This study investigated the effects of pressurized steam-treated Corni Frutus (PSC) extract on osteoblast differentiation and osteoclast formation. The osteoblast differentiation effect of the extract was evaluated by measuring cellular alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity, cell matrix ALP staining, alizarin Red S staining and von Kossa staining on proliferating MC3T3-E1 osteoblast cells. The results confirmed that ALP activity, cell matrix ALP staining, alizarin Red S staining and von Kossa staining were all increased as proliferation increased from 1 to 14 days, without cytotoxicity. The osteoclast formation effect of the PSC extract was evaluated by measuring the cellular tartrate-resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) activity and cell matrix TRAP staining on receptor activator of nuclear factor kappa-B ligand (RANKL)-induced RAW264.7 osteoclast cells. Treating RAW264.7 cells with RANKL for 7 days increased matrix staining for TRAP and cellular TRAP activity. The PSC extract decreased these changes in a concentration-dependent manner. Therefore, PSC is expected to be a natural source for developing health functional foods and medicinal agents to prevent bone-related diseases, such as osteoporosis, by increasing osteoblast differentiation and reducing osteoclast activity.

The aim of this study was to investigate functional food material for the antioxidant and biological activities of untreated and steam-treated Corni fructus extracts in extraction solvents (through hot-water extraction, 50% ethanol extraction, and 50% methanol extraction). The yield of UCH (hot-water extract of untreated Corni fructus) was 47.45% and it was higher than those of extracts (13.20-27.18%) obtained by the other extraction methods. The total phenolic and flavonoid contents were 12.23 g/100 g (SCE, 50% ethanol extract of steam-treated Corni fructus) and 5.08 g/100 g (SCE), respectively, and the total sugar content was 71.32 g/100 g (SCH, hot-water extract of steam-treated Corni fructus). The main organic acid components of the extracts were oxalic acid, citric acid, malic acid, formic acid, and gallic acid. The DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities of SCE at 1,000 μg/mL were 72.37% and 43.15%, respectively. The ferric-reducing antioxidant power of SCE at 1,000 μg/mL was 689.49 μM. The extracts were investigated for their function in L-132, RAW 264.7, HeLa, and MCF-7 cell lines. The SCE performed better than the other extracts in terms of its protective effects against oxidative stress in L-132 cells and increased the production of NO. Further the SCE showed antitumor activities against HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells. Therefore, the SCE extracts is a good functional food material for the prevention of woman disease. Therefore, in our study, the SCE extracts is good functional food material for the prevention of oxidant, immunological, and tumor related disease.