Choon Geun Lee

Enhancement of Antioxidative Activity of Codonopsis lanceolata by Stepwise Steaming Process

In general, stepwise hot steaming process is known to be effective in improving its biological activities; however, not much employed in processing Codonopsis lanceolata due to its hardness. In this study, C. lanceolata was first pretreated with warm water at and for two hours, then steamed for 3 hours. Antioxidant activities of 70% ethanol extracts were compared with the extract from the water solvent: 41.58% vs 8.98% of DPPH radical scavenging activity in adding of steamed extract and water extract, respectively. Reducing power of steamed and fresh C. lanceolata were also measured as 1.39 and 0.71. Total poly phenolic of the steamed extract was estimated as 12.11mg/g, compared to 3.98mg/g fresh C. lanceolata. Total flavonoid contents were also obtained as 11.48mg/g, compared to 7.11mg/g of fresh C. lanceolata. In comparing phenolic acids profiles in the extract, in general higher amounts of gallic acid, trans-ferulic acid, vanillic acid were obtained possibly by easy release of active components during thermal processing, which results in better antioxidant activities than that of water extract. This findings can also be supported by result that the ethanol extract showed better activities than the water extract.

Enhanced Immunomodulatory Activity of Gelatin-Encapsulated Rubus coreanus Miquel Nanoparticles

The aim of this work was to investigate the immunomodulatory activities of Rubus coreanus Miquel extract-loaded gelatin nanoparticles. The mean size of the produced nanoparticles was 143 ± 18 nm with a bandwidth of 76 nm in the size distribution and a maximum size of ~200 nm, which allows effective nanoparticle uptake by cells. Confocal imaging confirmed this, since the nanoparticles were internalized within 30 min and heterogeneously distributed throughout the cell. Zeta-potential measurements showed that from pH = 5 onwards, the nanoparticles were highly negatively charged, which prevents agglomeration to clusters by electrostatic repulsion. This was confirmed by TEM imaging, which showed a well dispersed colloidal solution. The encapsulation efficiency was nearly 60%, which is higher than for other components encapsulated in gelatin nanoparticles. Measurements of immune modulation in immune cells showed a significant effect by the crude extract, which was only topped by the nanoparticles containing the extract. Proliferation of B-, T- and NK cells was notably enhanced by Rubus coreanus-gelatin nanoparticles and in general ~2–3 times higher than control and on average ~2 times higher than ferulic acid. R. coreanus-gelatin nanoparticles induced cytokine secretion (IL-6 and TNF-α) from B- and T-cells on average at a ~2–3 times higher rate compared with the extract and ferulic acid. In vivo immunomodulatory activity in mice fed with R. coreanus-gelatin nanoparticles at 1 mL/g body weight showed a ~5 times higher antibody production compared to control, a ~1.3 times higher production compared to the extract only, and a ~1.6 times higher production compared to ferulic acid. Overall, our results suggest that gelatin nanoparticles represent an excellent transport vehicle for Rubus coreanus extract and extracts from other plants generally used in traditional Asian medicine. Such nanoparticles ensure a high local concentration that results in enhancement of immune cell activities, including proliferation, cytokine secretion, and antibody production.

Enhancement of Low Molecular Ginsenoside Contents in Low Quality Fresh Ginseng by Fermentation Process

This study compared the contents of low molecular ginsenoside according to fermentation process in low grade fresh ginseng. Low grade fresh ginseng was directly inoculated with a 24 h seed culture of Bifidobacterium Longum B6., Lactobacillus casei., and incubated at 36℃ for 72 h. Bifidobacterium Longum B6 was specifically was found to show the best growth on 3,255 × 10 6 CFU/㎖ after 48 h of fermentation. The content of ginsenoside Rb1, Re and Rd were decresed with the fermentation but ginsenoside Rh2 and Rg2 incresed after fermentation process. In the case of low molecular ginse- noside conversion yields were 56.07% of Rh2, 12.03% of Rg3 and 77.11% of Rg2, respectively. In addition, compound-K was irregular conversion yield as long as 72 h of fermentaion. This results indicate that fermentation process could increase the low molecular ginsenoside in low grade fresh ginseng.

Effect of Solubility of Thiamine Dilauryl Sulfate Solution through the Manufacture of the Nano Paticles on Antifungal Activity

Conventional Thiamine Dilauryl Sulfate (TDS) powder has a low stability. In order to solve this problem, this study was performed to improve the solubility of TDS. The process for enhance solubility of TDS was nano grinding mill and ultrasonic dispersion process. TDS paticle was manufactured to nano size through nano grinding mill process. The size of TDS nanoparticle was measured as average 220 nm by DLS. And The TDS nanoparticle in water solution manufactured through ultrasonic dispersion process. The TDS nanoparticle in water solution was showed the highest solubility with 40% ethanol. These results was increased the concentration of TDS from 200 ppm to 240 ppm in water solution. The TDS nanoparticle in water solution showed diameter of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides growth with smaller than about 1.56 cm compared to the TDS paticle in water solution at same concentration. Also, TDS nanoparticle in water solution showed growth inhibition activity as 59.2% with higher than about 10% compared to the TDS paticle water solution in same concentration. Finally, TDS nanoparticle in water solution was increased solubility through nano grinding mill and ultrasonic dispersion process. Also, the increase of concentration in TDS nanopaticle in water solution according to solubility enhancement lead to an result enhancement of antifungal activity. Consequently, we suggested that the TDS nanoparticle in water solution was more effective than TDS particle in water solution owing to the sub-cellular particle size, ability to persistence and targeting to cell membrane of Colletotrichum gloeosporioides. Furthermore we expected the applicating possibility with bio pesticide.

Enhancement of the Cognitive Effects of γ-Aminobutyric Acid from Monosodium Glutamate Fermentation by Lactobacillus sakei B2-16

γ-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) can be produced from 12% (w/v) monosodium glutamate (MSG) by the lactic acid bacteria Lactobacillus sakei B2-16, which was isolated from kimchi. This production of GABA has the highest conversion yield from MSG. In passive avoidance tests, GABA improved the long-term but not short-term memory recovery of mice administered scopolamine; 46.69 mg/mL GABA significantly improved the memory from 132 sec to 48 sec. The addition of 667 mg/mL of fermentation broth containing 46.69 mg/mL of GABA enhanced memory recovery up to 85% compared to the control group, but lower doses only enhanced memory 20%. These results imply that a high-dose intake may be necessary for the desired efficacy of GABA. GABA-mediated neurological effects were also confirmed by the growth of PC12 nerve cells, which demonstrated an increase in both growth and neurite differentiation with a ∼45% increase in the number of neurites per cell and a 65% increase in neurite outgrowth compared to the control group (no treatment). Most of these results were of greater magnitude than those reported for other plant resources. This is the first report of GABA obtained from MSG fermentation enhancing recognition functions using both in vivo and in vitro experiments, even though there were several reports on producing mass amounts of GABA from MSG fermentation. The findings could expand the use of GABA for many purposes as a natural and functional substance obtained from fermentation processes.