Sang Hae Nam

Enhancement of Total Phenolic and Isoflavone-aglycone Contents and Antioxidant Activities during Cheonggukjang Fermentation of Brown Soybeans by the Potential Probiotic Bacillus subtilis CSY191

Changes in β-glycosidase activity, total phenolic and isoflavone contents, and antioxidant activities during the fermentation of brown soybeans (Galmi) fermented food cheonggukjang by the potential probiotic Bacillus subtilis CSY191 were investigated. The total phenolic and isoflavone-glycoside and -aglycone contents as well as ABTS radical scavenging activity and FRAP assays of extracts increased, but malonylglycoside content decreased after a steaming process. It was found that fermentation enhanced the total phenolic and isoflavone-aglycone and -malonylglycoside contents, corresponding to antioxidant activities increased, but isoflavone-glycoside content decreased. The highest levels of daidzein, glycitein, and gensitein were present at concentrations of 156.5 μg/g, 10.2 μg/g, and 2.5 μg/g after 48 h of fermentation. In addition, ABTS radical scavenging activity and FRAP assay increased significantly during fermentation. We suggest that the high antioxidant activity of cheonggukjang of brown soybeans might be related to the markedly higher levels of total phenolic content and isoflavone-aglycones achieved during fermentation.

Characteristics of Allergy Inducing Materials Isolated from Rhus verniciflua Stokes on BALB/c Mice

We purified crude urushiol from natural lacquer produced in Korea, China, and Japan and then isolated several urushiol congeners known to induce allergic reactions. The 3 major kinds of urushiol congeners that were isolated and purified were RV-1 (C₂₁H₃?O₂, M.W. 314.462), RV-2 (C₂₁H₃₂O₂, M.W. 316.240) and RV-3 (C₂₃H₃₄O₂, M.W. 342.515), occupying 80% of total crude urushiol. The content of RV-1 was the highest in natural lacquer from China at 70.07%, and was the lowest in that from Japan at 62.38%. However, the content of RV-2 in natural lacquer from Japan was 9.25%, 2～3 times higher than those from Korea (4.28%) and China (3.09%). As an allergy inducing character, RV-1 had strong inducing power and durability in the primary stage, showing slow recovery. RV-2 had weak power in the primary stage and also showed slow recovery. Although RV-3 had comparatively weak power at the primary stage, it induced the strongest allergy contact dermatitis after 48 hr. However, it recovered to nearly the same level as control group 72 hr after sensitization time. Accordingly, we found out that RV-1 is the most influential of urushiol congeners in inducing allergic reactions, natural lacquer from China having the most inducible strength and slowest recovery compared to those from Korea and Japan.

Comparison of Isoflavone Contents and Antioxidant Effect in Cheonggukjang with Black Soybean Cultivars by Bacillus subtilis CSY191

BACKGROUND: Soybeans are the rich sources of isoflavones. To date, the changes of isoflavone contents in various black soybeans cheonggukjang during fermentation by Bacillus subtilis CSY191 has not been investigated.METHODS AND RESULTS: This study investigated the changes of total phenolic and isoflavone contents and antioxidant effects during cheonggukjang fermentation made with four black soybean (BS) cultivars including Cheongja, Cheongja#3, Geomjeong#5, and Ilpumgeomjeong with a potential probiotic Bacillus subtilis CSY191. The total phenolic contents, isoflavone-malonylglycoside and -aglycone contents, and antioxidant activity were increased in cheonggukjang at 48 h fermentation, while the content of isoflavone-glycosides was decreased during cheonggukjang fermentation. In particular, the Cheongja#3 soybean fermented at 37℃ for 48 h displayed the highest antioxidant activities, compared to those of the other BS cultivars tested. Also, the highest levels of total phenolic, daidzein, glycitein, and genistein were present at concentrations of 17.28 mg/g, 283.7 g/g, 39.9 g/g, and 13.2 g/g at the end of Cheongja#3 soybean fermentation.CONCLUSION: The results from this study suggested that the enhanced antioxidant activity of cheonggukjang of BS might be related to increased levels of total phenolic, isoflavon-aglycone, and malonyl-glycoside contents achieved during fermentation. Furthermore, fermented Cheongja#3 soybean showed the highest levels of enhanced antioxidant activities than the other BS cultivars.

An optimized extraction technique for acetylcholinesterase inhibitors from the Camellia japonica seed cake by using response surface methodology.

The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the extraction conditions for the acetylcholinesterase (AchE) inhibitory activity and extraction yield from Camellia japonica seed cake. Predicted values for AchE inhibition and extraction yield were 19.41 and 13.35%, respectively, which are in good agreement with the experimental values from validation, suggesting that RSM may provide a useful tool to optimization processes.