Ju-Ryoun Soh

Germinated brown rice extract shows a nutraceutical effect in the recovery of chronic alcohol-related symptoms.

Chronic ethanol abuse can cause liver damage and unfavorable lipid profiles in humans and rodents. Phytonutrients have the potential to partially reverse some of the adverse effects of alcoholism. In this study, a germinated brown rice grown under conditions that favor high concentrations of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) was evaluated for protective effects against the toxic consequences of chronic ethanol use. Serum and hepatic lipid concentrations and enzymes indicative of liver damage were determined in mice chronically administered ethanol. Balb/c mice were fed with either AIN-76 diet (control), control diet plus ethanol, or control diet plus ethanol and supplemental brown rice extract for 30 days. The extract naturally contained 841 nmol GABA per milliliter and was prepared from germinated brown rice. Serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), liver aspartate aminotransferase, and liver alanine aminotransferase levels were increased in mice administered ethanol, but not in mice given ethanol and brown rice extract. The brown rice extract significantly increased serum and liver high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) concentrations. Furthermore, administration of the extract prevented ethanol-induced increases in liver triglyceride and total cholesterol concentrations. These findings raise the possibility that brown rice extracts containing a high level of GABA may have a nutraceutical role in the recovery from and prevention of chronic alcohol-related diseases.

Intracellular lipid accumulation inhibitory effect of Weissella koreensis OK1‐6 isolated from Kimchi on differentiating adipocyte

To investigate the intracellular lipid accumulation inhibitory effect of spent culture medium extract and the cytoplasmic fraction of Weissella koreensis OK1‐6 cells isolated from kimchi in differentiating 3T3‐L1 cells.

Hepatic gene expression profiles are altered by dietary unsalted korean fermented soybean (chongkukjang) consumption in mice with diet-induced obesity.

We found that Chongkukjang, traditional unsalted fermented soybean, has an antiobesity effect in mice with diet-induced obesity and examined the changes in hepatic transcriptional profiles using cDNA microarray. High-fat diet-induced obese C57BL/6J mice were divided into three groups: normal-diet control group (NDcon, 10% of total energy from fat), high-fat diet control group (HDcon, 45% of total energy from fat), and HDcon plus 40% Chongkukjang (HDC) and were fed for 9 weeks. The HDC group mice were pair-fed (isocalorie) with mice in the HDcon group. Final body weight, epididymal fat accumulation, serum total cholesterol, and LDL-cholesterol were improved in HDC group. The cDNA microarray analyses revealed marked alterations in the expression of about 800 genes. Several genes involved in fatty acid catabolism (Acaa2, Mgll, Phyh, Slc27a2, and Slc27a5) were normalized by Chongkukjang consumption. This study showed beneficial effects of Chongkukjang consumption in preventing diet-induced obesity and related metabolic abnormalities.

Ultra-fast simultaneous detection of obesity-related coenzymes in mice using microchip electrophoresis with a LIF detector.

Hepatic acyl-coenzyme A synthetase (ACS), carnitine palmitoyltransferase-I (CPT-I) and acetyl coenzyme A carboxylase (ACC) are coenzymes associated with the genetic type of obesity in animal models. This paper reports the use of microchip electrophoresis (ME) with a laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) detector based on a reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) to detect the amplified DNA fragments of these coenzymes (ACS, CPT-I and ACC) in the mRNA extracted from mice. DNA fragments ranging from 50 to 2652 bp were well resolved using this procedure with a running buffer (1x TBE), 0.5% polyvinylpyrrolidone (M(r) 1,000,000) as the coating gel and 0.7% polyethyleneoxide (M(r) 8,000,000) as the sieving gel at pH 8.30. The separation of the three RT-PCR products was achieved by ME in a single-run within 17 s using programmed field strength gradients (PFSG) (470 V cm(-1) for 9 s, 205.8 V cm(-1) for 2 s, 411.6 V cm(-1) for 4 s, 117.6 V cm(-1) for 2 s and 470.4V cm(-1) for 8 s). The ME-PFSG method was found to be 4 times faster than the method using a constant field and 138 times faster than slab gel electrophoresis. Moreover, the amplified RT-PCR products of the obesity-related coenzymes in C57BL/6J mice were analyzed using only sub-micro liter samples.