Yunjeong Lee

Anti-aging Potential of Extracts Prepared from Fruits and Medicinal Herbs Cultivated in the Gyeongnam Area of Korea

Many recent studies have focused on maintaining a healthy life by preventing and/or postponing the aging process. Numerous studies have reported that continuous exposure to reactive oxygen species can stimulate skin aging and that excessive accumulation of fat can cause an impaired skin barrier and tissue structure alterations. Thus, the maintenance of antioxidant homeostasis and the suppression of adipose accumulation are important strategies for skin anti-aging. Here, we prepared three types of extracts [whole juice, acetone-perchloric acid (PCA), and ethanol] from 20 fruits and medicinal herbs native to the Gyeongnam area of Korea. The total phenolic content of each extract was analyzed, and we observed higher total phenolic contents in the medicinal herbs. Consistent with this, the results of the oxygen radical absorbance activity capacity assay indicated that the in vitro antioxidant activities of the medicinal herb extracts were stronger than those of the fruit extracts. The fruits and medicinal herbs had strong effects on cell-based systems, including H2O2-induced oxidative stress in human keratinocytes and 3T3-L1 lipid accumulation. Nishimura Wase persimmon, Taishu persimmon, wrinkled giant hyssop, sweet wormwood, Chinese cedar, red perilla, tan shen, hiyodori-jogo, and cramp bark may be natural anti-aging materials with effective antioxidant and anti-adipogenic activities. Taken together, our findings may provide scientific evidence supporting the development of functional foods and nutraceuticals from fruits and medicinal herbs.

Changes of oxidative/antioxidative parameters and DNA damage in firefighters wearing personal protective equipment during treadmill walking training

[Purpose] The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of personal protective equipment on the oxidant/antioxidant parameters and DNA damage in firefighters during training and recovery. [Subjects and Methods] Twelve male nonsmoking volunteer firefighters (35.1 ± 7.2 years) underwent two maximal treadmill training (9 METs, 6 km/h), within 2 weeks, one in regular clothes and one in personal protective equipment weighing 22.1 kg. Blood samples were obtained before, right after, and 40 min after training. Plasma conjugated dienes, total radical trapping antioxidant potential, erythrocytes antioxidant enzymes activities, and leukocyte DNA damage were measured. [Results] Wearing personal protective equipment during treadmill walking training resulted in increases of plasma conjugated dienes, total radical trapping antioxidant potential, and leukocyte DNA resistance to oxidative stress, which were recovered after in 40 min of rest. Erythrocyte antioxidant enzymes activities remained unchanged during the training either with regular clothes or personal protective equipment. [Conclusion] These results suggest that wearing personal protective equipment during firefighting work could induce oxidative stress, which was enough to produce DNA damage in leukocytes.

Effect of Dietary Plant Extracts (Coxynil ® , Growell ® , Respowell ® ) in Broilers

This study was carried out to evaluate the supplementation effect of dietary natural plant extracts (NP: Coxynil ® , Growell ® and Respowell ® ) on broiler chickens. Forty thousand male broilers with 7 days adaptation after hatching were fed experiment diets for 34 days. The supplementation effects of NP on growth performance, blood parameters and biopsy were examined with twenty thousand broilers as the treatment group. Twenty thousand broilers for the control group (CON) were fed the diet with salinomycin-6, clopidol-25, enramycin-1, and BMD-2.5. In the diet of the treatment group, the antibiotics were replaced with 0.03%, 0.035% and 0.03% of Coxynil ® , Growell ® and Respowell ® , respectively. The weight gain of the treatment group was increased but the feed intake was decreased, indicating that feed efficiency was increased compared to the CON. The mortality of the NP group was also lower compared to the CON group (1,008 birds to 1,693 birds), showing positive dietary effects from natural plant extracts. In the activity of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) and new cattle disease virus (NDV) antibodies, the NP showed lower antibody titer levels for both of IBDV and NDV compared to the CON. The levels of total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, globulin, and IgG in blood did not show significant differences between the groups. In the microscopic tissue analysis, no significant differences were detected. These results may suggest that a complex of three natural plant extracts can be used as alternative antibiotics in broilers.