Sun-jin Kim

Anticomplement activity of polyacetylenes from leaves of Dendropanax morbifera Leveille.

The present study evaluated the anticomplement effect of polyacetylenes from Dendropanax morbifera (Araliaceae) in the classical pathway complement system. The leaves of D. morbifera were evaluated with regard to its anticomplement activity, and its active principles identified following activity‐guided isolation. An aqueous CCl4 fraction of the leaves of D. morbifera exhibited significant anticomplement activity on the classical pathway complement system, which was expressed as total hemolytic activity. Three polyacetylenes isolated from the leaves of D. morbifera, namely (3S)‐falcarinol (1), (3S,8S)‐falcarindiol (2) and (3S)‐diynene (3). Compounds 1, 2 and 3 showed inhibitory activity against complement system with 50% inhibitory concentrations (IC50) values of 87.3 µm, 15.2 µm and 39.8 µm. Among the compounds tested, 2 showed the most potent anticomplement activity (IC50, 15.2 µm). Copyright

Chemical composition, antioxidant activity and larvicidal effects of essential oil from leaves of Apium graveolens.

The leaves of Apium graveolens were extracted and the essential oil composition, immunotoxicity effects, and antioxidant activity were studied. The analyses were conducted by gas chromatography and mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), which revealed the essential oils of A. graveolens leaves. Twenty-eight components, representing 73.72% of the total oil were identified from the leaves. The major components are 4-chloro-4,4-dimethyl-3-(1-imidazolyl)-valerophenone (19.90%), 1-dodecanol (16.55%), 9-octadecen-12-ynoic acid, methyl ester (4.93%), ethyl 4,4-D2-N-hexyl ether (4.11%), 3-(hydroxymethyl)-1-phenyl-1-heptadecyn-3-ol (3.28%), 1,4-methano-1H-indene, octahydro-4-methyl-8-methylene-7-(1-methylethyl)-, [1S-(1α,3αα,4α,7α,7αα)]- (2.99%), 3,4-dihydro-2H-1,5-(3″-t-butyl)benzodioxepine (2.56%), Z-10-tetradecen-1-ol acetate (2.53%), 9H-pyrrolo[3′,4′:3,4]pyrrolo[2,1-α]phthalazine-9, 11(10H)-dione, 10-ethyl-8-phenyl (2.07%). The leaf oil had significant toxic effects against the larvae of A. aegypti with an LC50 value of 59.32 ppm and an LC90 value of 127.69 ppm. The essential oil from the A. graveolens leaves was investigated for scavenging of the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical activity and the results demonstrate that the essential oil from the A. graveolens has potential as a natural antioxidant and thus inhibit unwanted oxidation process. The above data indicate that the major compounds may play an important role in the toxicity of essential oils and also as natural antioxidant.

Composition of the essential oil constituents from leaves and stems of Korean Coriandrum sativum and their immunotoxicity activity on the Aedes aegypti L.

The leaves and stems of Coriandrum sativum were extracted and the essential oil composition and immunotoxicity effects were studied. The analyses were conducted by gas chromatography–mass spectroscopy (GC-MS), which revealed the essential oils of C. sativum leaves and stems. Thirty-nine components representing 99.62% of the total oil were identified from the leaves. The major components are cyclododecanol (23.11%), tetradecanal (17.86%), 2-dodecenal (9.93%), 1-decanol (7.24%), 13-tetradecenal (6.85%), 1-dodecanol (6.54%), dodecanal (5.16%), 1-undecanol (2.28%), and decanal (2.33%). Thirty-eight components representing 98.46% of the total oil were identified from the stems of the coriander. The major components are phytol (61.86%), 15-methyltricyclo[6.5.2(13,14),0(7,15)]-pentadeca-1,3,5,7,9,11,13-heptene (7.01%), dodecanal (3.18%), and 1-dodecanol (2.47%). The leaf oil had significant toxic effects against the larvae of Aedes aegypti with an LC50 value of 26.93 ppm and an LC90 value of 37.69 ppm and the stem oil has toxic effects against the larvae of A. aegypti with an LC50 value of 29.39 ppm and an LC90 value of 39.95 ppm. Also, the above data indicate that the major compounds may play an important role in the toxicity of essential oils.

Intraspecific relationship analysis by DNA markers and in vitro cytotoxic and antioxidant activity in Eleutherococcus senticosus

To analyse genetic relationships and intraspecific variation within Eleutherococcus senticosus, the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was performed on total genomic DNAs of 10 Eleutherococcus collections. Ten primers were used for amplification, yielding 106 bands, of which 87 were polymorphic. The genetic diversity and genetic distance among 10 collections of Eleutherococcus species were used to describe the dendrogram showing the phylogenic relationship. The 10 collections were classified into two groups (groups I and II) at a similarity coefficient of 0.50. Group I included E. senticosus from Bukhaedo (Japan), E. sessliliflorus from Youngwal (Korea), E. seoulense and E. chiisanesis, while group II included several internal and Russian collections. The range of polymorphism was from 66.7 to 90.9% in the 87 amplified polymorphic DNA fragments. The similarity value of all collections ranged from 0.41 to 0.92, and the average genetic distance was 0.61. Thus, RAPD analysis was useful in determining genetic relatedness among collections and in identifying different genotypes of E. senticosus and other Eleutherococcus species. Also, the biological activity on DPPH radical scavenging, antilipid peroxidation in rat liver microsomes and cytotoxic sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay was evaluated using root extracts of E. senticosus, Odaesan, Korea. Ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractionation revealed strong antioxidant against scavenging on DPPH free radical and also ethyl acetate fractionation exhibited high antilipid peroxidative activities. In the cytotoxic effects were evaluated on seven human cancer cell lines, the values of 50% growth inhibition (GI(50)) were mostly below 30 microg/ml for crude extracts to be considered as significantly active.

Antilipidemic activity of organic solvent extract from Sorghum bicolor on rats with diet-induced obesity

The present study evaluated the antiobesity and lipid-lowering effects from dichloromethane and ethyl acetate extracts of Hwanggeumchal Sorghum varieties on Sorghum bicolor. The Hwanggeumchal Sorghum ethyl acetate extracts significantly reduced the plasma total cholesterol and triglyceride levels significantly when given orally at a dose of 50 and 300 mg/kg/day to the high-fat diet-induced obese rats for 2 weeks. These findings demonstrate the excellent pharmacological potential of Hwanggeumchal Sorghum varieties to prevent obesity.

Neuroprotective effects of resveratrol derivatives from the roots of Vitis thunbergii var. sinuate against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity in primary cultured rat cortical cells

We observed that an aqueous extract of this medicinal plant exhibited significant neuroprotection against glutamate-induced toxicity in primary cultured rat cortical cells from methanol extracts of the roots of Vitis thunbergii var. sinuate (Vitaceae). To further clarify the underlying neuroprotective mechanisms of this observed effect, we isolated and identified various active fractions and components. By using such fractionation procedures, five resveratrol derivatives − vitisinols A (1), B (2), C (3), (+)-vitisin A (4), and (+)-vitisin C (5) − were isolated from the methanol extracts from the roots of V. thunbergii var. sinuate. Among these five resveratrol derivatives, 3 exhibited most significant neuroprotective activity against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity, as indicated by a cell viability of approximately 75%−85%, at concentrations ranging from 0.1 μM to 10 μM. These findings indicate that the neuroprotective effects of V. thunbergii var. sinuate might be due to the inhibition of glutamate-induced toxicity by resveratrol derivatives present in the plant.

Protective effects of organic solvent fractions from the seeds of Vigna radiata L. wilczek against antioxidant mechanisms

This study was conducted to evaluate the in vitro scavenging activity and inhibitory effect of low-density lipoprotein oxidation of pro-oxidant reactive species in response to treatment with organic solvent fractions from mung bean (seeds of Vigna radiata) extracts using various screening methods including biological and non-biological oxidants. The antioxidant activity of different organic solvent fractions from mung bean extracts were studied in vitro methods by evaluating the total phenol components, measuring the antioxidant activity by trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity, measuring the scavenging effects on reactive oxygen species and on reactive nitrogen species as well as measuring the inhibitory effect on Cu2+-induced human low-density lipoprotein oxidation. The mung bean extracts were found to have a potent scavenging activity against all of the reactive species tested as well as an inhibitory effect on low-density lipoprotein oxidation, the studied mung bean was revealed to be very effective against the evaluated pro-oxidant species, including reactive oxygen species and on reactive nitrogen species.

RETRACTED: Anti-complement activity of essential oils from red and black rice bran

RETRACTED

Intrinsic dorsoventral patterning and extrinsic EGFR signaling genes control glial cell development in the Drosophila nervous system

Dorsoventral patterning and epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling genes are essential for determining neural identity and differentiation of the Drosophila nervous system. Their role in glial cell development in the Drosophila nervous system is not clearly established. Our study demonstrated that the dorsoventral patterning genes, vnd, ind, and msh, are intrinsically essential for the proper expression of a master glial cell regulator, gcm, and a differentiation gene, repo, in the lateral glia. In addition, we showed that esg is particularly required for their expression in the peripheral glia. These results indicate that the dorsoventral patterning and EGFR signaling genes are essential for identity determination and differentiation of the lateral glia by regulating proper expression of gcm and repo in the lateral glia from the early glial development. In contrast, overexpression of vnd, msh, spi, and Egfr genes repressed the expression of Repo in the ventral neuroectoderm, indicating that maintenance of correct columnar identity along the dorsoventral axis by proper expression of these genes is essential for restrictive formation of glial precursor cells in the lateral neuroectoderm. Therefore, the dorsoventral patterning and EGFR signaling genes play essential roles in correct identity determination and differentiation of lateral glia in the Drosophila nervous system.