This study was conducted to investigate the effect of manufacturing temperature on curcuminoid contents and the antioxidant activity of turmeric (Curcuma aromatica Salab.) powder-enhanced nurungji. Two different processes employed turmeric powder (2%): AR (added after rice cooked) and BR (added before rice cooked). AR and BR nurungji samples were prepared by heating cooked rice at 180oC, 200oC, and 220oC for 3 minutes. As a result of the HPLC analysis, the contents of curcumin, demethoxycurcumin, and bisdemethoxycurcumin decreased as the heating temperature increased. Moreover, AR samples showed higher curcuminoids than BR samples. The total polyphenol contents, DPPH, and ABTS radical scavenging ability proportionally increased with the increase of the manufacturing temperature. On the other hand, flavonoid contents were decreased with increasing temperature. These results suggest that the preparation of turmeric powder-enhanced nurungji by AR process at 200oC is preferable to preserving curcuminoid contents and antioxidative activity.

Flavonoids are a group of plant polyphenol secondary metabolites, which widely exist in plant systems. Recently, flavonoids from plant-based sources have been gaining more interest due to their versatile biological activities. The biological activities of flavonoids are dependent upon their chemical structures, which in turn rely on their structural class, level of hydroxylation, substitution pattern, connection position, existence of C2=C3 double bond, and level of polymerization. Flavonoids are considered nutraceuticals in diet. They help prevent many chronic and degenerative illnesses through various biological activities, such as free radical scavenging, anti-lipid peroxidation, and xanthine oxidase inhibition, as well as their anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anti-cancer activities. The goal of the present review is to evaluate flavonoids’ chemical structural features and their biological activities as they relate to preventing chronic diseases affecting human health, and further navigate the relationship between the chemical structure and their biological function.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide and currently there are many approaches developing towards cancer treatment. Cancer treatments like chemotherapy and radiation therapy are often painful and have adverse effects. The mechanism of apoptosis is a complex process and it involves different pathways in its mechanism of action. Apoptosis can be caused by signals within the cell such as stress, or by extrinsic signals such as ligands binding to cell surface death receptors. The programmed cell death plays a important role in the several physiological and pathological processes. It plays important role in homeostasis. Flavonoids have gained importance as anticancer agents promoting cytotoxicity and apoptosis in cancer cells. Flavonoids are present in many medicinal plants which are a kind of ubiquitous natural products and essential active ingredients. They have strong biological activities with high efficiency and low toxicity, possessing good preventive and cure effects on different tumor forms. Flavonoids such as Scutellarein, Pectolinarigenin and Naringin have reported to possess significant anti-cancer effects on different cancer cell lines till date. In this review, we provide a summary about the anti-cancer effect of the three flavonoids and its mechanisms of action that can be used in future for understanding their potent anti-tumor properties.

본 연구에서는 감국 꽃 추출물의 항산화 및 항염활성을 검색하고 유효성분을 분리하여 화학구조를 규명하였다. 감국 꽃 에탄올 추출물의 DPPH 및 ABTS+ 라디칼 소거 활성을 측정한 결과 우수한 라디칼 소거 활성이 있음을 확인하였다. 또한 LPS로 유도된 RAW264.7 대식세포에서 세포독성 없이 우수한 nitric oxide (NO) 저해 활성을 나타내었다. 감국 꽃 에탄올 추출물의 유효성분을 찾고자 medium pressure liquid chromatography (MPLC)를 실시하여 2개의 화합물을 분리하였으며 1H 및 13C NMR 데이터 분석 및 문헌 비교를 통하여 화학구조를 동정하였다; Cynaroside (1), Apigetrin (2). 분리된 화합물을 HPLC를 통하여 정량분석을 수행하였으며 감국 꽃 추출물의 주요 성분으로 확인되었다. 화합물 1, 2의 항염활성을 확인한 결과 모두 농도의존적으로 우수한 NO 저해활성을 나타내었다. 이러한 연구 결과를 바탕으로 감국 꽃 추출물은 천연 항산화 및 항염 소재로써 활용 가능할 것으로 사료된다.

Buckwheat is well-known as a healthy crop with excellent nutritional and functional superiority mainly because of a high content of flavonoid compounds, specifically, rutin. However, buckwheat-based food products are known to have the reduced levels of rutin by rutin-degrading enzymes that generate quercetin during processing. However, since quercetin has a bitter taste, it may have a negative impact on consumer preferences, consequently retarding the utilization of buckwheat flour to a variety of buckwheat processed foods. Thus, this study was carried out to investigate the levels of rutin and quercetin in the milling fractions of buckwheat flours and also to monitor their changes by a variety of thermal treatments. Native buckwheat was separated into three fractions by sieving with 40 and 100 mesh screens which were designated as >40 M, 40-100 M, and 100 M<, respectively. The levels of rutin were the highest in the 40-100 M milling fraction, followed by <100 M and >40 M. Also, buckwheat flours were subjected to several thermal treatments including steaming and autoclaving. The contents of rutin and quercetin in the resulting buckwheat samples were analyzed by HPLC and the correlations between the flavonoid compounds and thermal treatments were investigated. The addition of water to buckwheat flour in making buckwheat products significantly decreased the levels of rutin while the quercetin content increased. However, the thermal treatments of buckwheat flours distinctly reduced the rutin loss and quercetin was hardly detected. Therefore, this study contributes to enhancing the health functionalities of buckwheat by reducing rutin loss, probably extending use of buckwheat flour to a variety of processed food products.

구아바 잎 추출물의 항산화 활성과 항염증 소재로서의 활용 가능성을 확인하고자 하였다. 구아바 잎 추출물의 총 폴리페놀 함량, 총 플라보노이드함량, RAW 264.7 세포에 대한 세포 독성 및 NO 생성 억제를 통한 항염증 효과, 피부에 대한 안전성 평가를 실시하였다. 본 실험 결과, 총 폴리페놀과 플라보노이드의 함량이 각 126.4 mg/g, 223.17 mg/g으로 높은 함량을 확인하였다. 대식세포인 264.7세포에 대한 세포 독성이 나타나지 않았으며 NO 생성을 농도 의존적으로 억제되는 것을 확인하였다. 구아바 잎 추출물을 함유한 크림을 제조하여 1차 첩포 테스트를 실시하여 피부 안전성을 확인한 결과 첩포 24 시간 후와 첩포 제거 24 시간 후에도 피부에 대한 자극은 확인되지 않았다. 이러한 결과를 종합해 볼 때 높은 총 폴리페놀과 플라보노이드의 함량으로 인한 항산화 활성이 우수하고, 세포에 대한 피부 독성이 적고 NO 생성 억제 효과가 확인됨에 따라 항산화 및 항염증 효과를 가진 소재로서의 활용 가능성을 확인하였다.

There is a growing demand for natural sleep aids due to various side effects of long-term administration of pharmacological treatments for insomnia. Honey has been reported to exhibit numerous potential health benefits, and it is hypothesized that honey may favorably affect insomnia treatment. Therefore, this study was performed to investigate the possible hypnotic effect of clover honey (CH) and to determine its in vivo mechanism. The total flavonoid content (TFC) of CH and fractions extracted with ethylacetate (EtOAc) and H2O was measured. The pentobarbital-induced sleep test using GABAA-benzodiazepine (BZD) agonists and antagonists was conducted to evaluate the potential mechanism of action behind the sedative-hypnotic activity of CH in mice. The results showed that administration of 500 and 1,000 mg/kg of CH significantly (p<0.01) reduced the sleep latency to a level similar to that of diazepam (DZP, 2 mg/kg), and 1,000 mg/kg of CH significantly (p<0.01) prolonged the sleep duration, which was comparable to that of DZP (2 mg/kg). Administration of the EtOAc fraction with a higher TFC significantly reduced the sleep latency at 50 to 200 mg/kg and prolonged the sleep duration at 100 to 200 mg/kg, which were comparable to those after administration of DZP (2 mg/kg). However, co-administration of CH and EtOAc with flumazenil, a specific GABAA-BZD receptor antagonist, blocked the hypnotic effect. Our findings suggest that the hypnotic activity of CH may be attributed to allosteric modulation of GABAA-BZD receptors. The TFC of CH is expected to be a key factor that contributes to its hypnotic effect.

화색변형 화훼 형질전환체 개발을 위한 유전자를 개발하고자 클레마티스로부터 청색소 발현 유전자를 동정하여 ClF3 ′5 ′H로 명명하였다. 아그로박테리움 공동배양 경유 형질전환기술을 이용 하여 페튜니아 Dream’s Red 품종에 ClF3 ′5 ′H 유전자를 도입하였 고, 선발배지에서 재분화한 식물체 51개체를 PCR분석하여 49개체로 ClF3 ′5 ′H 유전자의 도입을 확인하였다. 또한 22개체의 서던분석 을 통해 ClF3 ′5 ′H 유전자가 1~3개 copy가 도입되었음을 확인하였 고, 노던분석을 통해 형질전환체에서의 ClF3 ′5 ′H 유전자의 정상 적인 발현을 확인하였다. ClF3 ′5 ′H 유전자가 도입된 페튜니아 형질전환 식물체 7개체가 개화할 때 ClF3 ′5 ′H 유전자가 도입된 페튜니아아의 꽃잎 주요색이 적색에서 진적색으로, 화관 내부색이 적보라색에서 진적보라색 또는 자주색 계역로, 암술머리색이 연두색에서 자주색 계열로, 꽃잎 가장자리 모양이 물결모양으로 변형되는 것을 확인하였다. 또한 실시간 정량 유전자 분석을 통해 형질전환 7개체에서의 표현형적 변화가 ClF3 ′5 ′H 유전자의 발현에 의한 것임을 입증하였다.

Osteoporosis is a metabolic bone disease that is characterized by low bone mass resulting from an increase in bone resorption relative to bone formation. The most current therapies for osteoporosis have focused on inhibiting bone resorption by osteoclasts. The purpose of this study is to develop new anabolic agents for treatment of osteoporosis that have fewer risks compared to conventional therapies. We searched the natural products that were derived from the traditional Asian medicines which have been used for treatment of bone related diseases. Icaritin is a flavonoid glycoside derived from the herb Epimedium which has beneficial effects on bone formation. To determine the effect of icaritin on bone formation, we examined the effect of icaritin on MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation and differentiation. For determining the effects of icaritin on proliferation, we performed the MTT assay using MC3T3-E1 cells. To evaluate whether icaritin could promote the osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) activity and mRNA expressions of Runx2, osteocalcin (OCN), RANKL, and osteoprotegerin (OPG) were determined. Icaritin increased MC3T3-E1 cell proliferation. Icaritin increased the ALP activity of MC3T3-E1 cells on 72 hour culture in osteogenic media. mRNA expression of Runx2 was increased after 24 hour culture with icaritin. mRNA expression of osteocalcin was increased after 72 hour culture with icaritin. In addition, icaritin increased the mRNA expressions of OPG and RANKL. However, icaritin increased the mRNA expression of OPG much more than that of RANKL, and then, it increased the OPG/RANKL ratio. These results suggest that icaritin promotes osteogenic differentiation of osteoblasts and decreases osteoclast formation regulated by osteoblasts.

치자 씨의 에틸 아세테이트, 증류수 및 70% 메탄올(v/v)의 3가지 용매를 사용한 추출물의 용매 별 플라보노이드 함량 및 항산화 활성, 금속 킬레이트 능력 측정을 통하여 치자의 기능성 식품 재료로서의 가치를 검토하기 위하여 본 실험을 수행하였다. 치자 씨의 탄닌 함량은 1.517±0.003 mg CE/g (mg of catechin equivalents) 건조 중량으로 나타났으며, 치자 씨 용매 별 추출 수율은 증류수 (36.61%), 70% 메탄올(30.10%), 에틸아세테이트(20.40%) 순으로 나타났다. 추출 용매 별 항산화 활성은 농도(0.2, 0.4, 0.6 mg/mL)가 증가할수록 유의적으로 증가하였으며(p<0.05), 양성대조구로 사용된 ascorbic acid, BHA, EDTA 보다 낮은 활성이 관찰되었다. 플라보노이드 함량(mg QE/g, mg of quercetin equivalents)은 70% 메탄올(0.799), 증류수(0.565), 에틸아세테이트(0.117) 순으로 관찰되었으며, 항산화 활성은 대부분의 분석에서 용매 별 플라보노이드 함량 순과 비슷한 양상으로 나타났지만 ABTS 라디칼 소거능과 SOD 유사활성은 증류수 추출물이 70% 메탄올 추출물의 항산화 활성 보다 높은 것으로 나타났다. 치자 씨의 각 용매별 수율과 항산화 활성을 비교하였을 때, 증류수와 70% 메탄올 용매를 사용하여 추출 이용하는 것이 바람직하다고 생각된다. 본 실험 결과 치자 씨는 플라보노이드 화합물을 다량 함유하고 있으며 그로 인한 높은 수준의 항산화 활성과 생리활성을 가지고 있어 기능성 식품 및 천연 항산화제로서의 가치가 매우 기대된다.

Naringenin and its glycoside naringin (naringenin-7-O-glycoside) belong to this series of flavonoids and were well-known strong antioxidant activity. This study was conducted to flavonoid constituents and antioxidant activity of Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus cornucopiae. In order to determine active ingredient contents of Pleurotus ostreatus and Pleurotus cornucopiae, we were carried out total polyphenolic content (TPC) and flavonoid content (TFC) analyses. As a result, TPC (31.05 ± 0.03 g GAE/kg extract) and TFC (13.25 ± 1.24 g NE/kg extract) of Pleurotus cornucopiae were found significantly higher as compared to Pleurotus ostreatus. The IC50 values based on the DPPH (56.50 ± 0.73 μg/ml) and ABTS (86.53 ± 3.86 μg/ml) for Pleurotus cornucopiae were generally stronger showing potential antioxidant properties compared to Pleurotus ostreatus. In addition, naringin and naringenin content were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. A great amount of naringin and naringenin was found in Pleurotus cornucopiae. These results indicate that the Pleurotus cornucopiae can be used as an antioxidant therapeutic agent.

It is well known that the production of transgenic bovine embryos is more difficult than the production of non-transgenic bovine embryos. We performed whether the quality of transgenic bovine embryos expressing the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) can be improved when cultured for 4 days from day 4 until day 8 after activation with epidermal growth factor (EGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF), and flavonoid (F) supplements. The EGFP gene was introduced into bovine IVF embryos using microinjector. In experiment, transgenic bovine embryos were cultured in modified CR1aa medium containing 10% FBS at 38.8℃ in an incubator (5% CO2, 5% O2, and 90% N2) for 8 days and embryos were equally divided into four groups [non-treated group (control), 1 μM IGF+EGF (IE), 10 μM F and 1 μM IGF+EGF+10 μ M F (IEF)] at day 4 embryos. In the result, development rate of F treatment group (41.8%) was higher than that of control (33.3%), IE (23.9%) and IEF groups (28.0%). However, hatching rate was significantly high in IE (53.0%) and IEF (65.0%) groups than in control (42.9%) and F group (42.8%) (p<0.05). The EGFP expression rate was not different among all groups (30.0~33.3%) at blastocyst stage. In comparison of total cell number, IE group (145.2±10.4) was significantly higher than control group (101.4±14.3). Apoptotic index of IE group (1.9%) was the lowest compared with that of control (3.3%), F (3.5%) and IEF groups (4.6%). This result demonstrate that the combination of IGF, EGF and flavonoid can be helpful to improve the development potential and the quality of transgenic bovine embryos.

This study was conducted to investigate the total polyphenol, total flavonoid and the antioxidant activity in different origin and parts of Moringa olerifera cultivated in Cheorwon. The extraction yield from leaf, root and stem were 25.5, 23.0, 12.3%, respectively. The total polyphenol content was high in the leaf extracts (15.77 mg/g) followed by root extracts (11.23 mg/g) and stem extracts (3.50 mg/g) but the difference of origin was not observed. The total flavonoid content was high in the leaf extracts (14.78 mg/g) followed by stem (1.36 mg/g) and root (1.14 mg/g). The total flavonoid content of Philippines and Thailand leaf were statistically high compared to india leaf. The DPPH radical scavenging activity was high in the leaf extracts at the 1 mg/ml, 0.25 mg/ml but the difference of origin was not observed. The DPPH radical scavenging activity may be attributed to the presence of several compounds such as polyphenol and flavonoid. Hence consumption of diet supplemented with Moringa olerifera leaves could protect the human against diseases induced by oxidative stress.

Clematis patens는 미나리아재비과 으아리속에 속하는 다년 생 숙근초로 꽃잎화한 꽃받침을 가지고 있는 점이 특징이며 흰색, 분홍색, 자주색, 보라색, 등 다양한 화색이 존재한다. 본 연구에서는 C. patens ‘The President’에서 flavonoid 생합성 경로에 관여하는 유전자 중 delphinidin 계열 anthocyanin 색 소 합성을 유도하는 F3'5'H(ClF3'5'H)를 분리 동정하였으며, 화색 및 발달 단계별 ClF3'5'H 유전자의 발현 패턴을 분석하 였다. 또한 클레마티스 화색별 anthocyanin의 함량을 알아보 았다. 그 결과, 기존 보고된 Aconitum carmichaelii의 F3'5'H 유전자의 아미노산 서열과 79% 일치하여 높은 상동성을 갖는 것을 확인하였으며, ClF3'5'H 유전자의 발현 패턴은 흰색을 띠 는 클레마티스에서는 ClF3'5'H 유전자의 발현량이 많지는 않 았으나 다른 발달 단계에 비해 완전 개화한 단계에서 발현이 강했다. 분홍색을 띠는 클레마티스에서는 모든 발달 단계에서 ClF3'5'H 유전자의 발현이 검출되지 않았으며, 자주색과 보라 색을 띠는 클레마티스에서는 개화 직전 및 완전 개화 단계에 서 발현하였다. 이 결과로부터 클레마티스의 다양한 화색과 클 레마티스의 F3'5'H 유전자 발현과의 상관관계가 시사되었다.