Earticle

This study aimed to investigate the enzymatic hydrolysis of mannitol using Viscozyme® L, Celluclast® 1.5 L, Saczyme®, Novozym®, Fungamyl® 800 L, Driselase® Basidiomycetes sp., and Alginate Lyase, and to optimize of reaction conditions for production of reducing sugar. Response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite rotatable design was used to study effects of the independent variables such as enzyme (1-9% v/w), reaction time (10-30 h), pH (3.0-7.0) and reaction temperature (30-70oC) on production of reducing sugar from mannitol. The coefficient of determination (R2) of Y1 (yield of reducing sugar by Viscozyme ® L) and Y3 (yield of reducing sugar by Saczyme®) for the dependent variable regression equation was analyzed as 0.985 and 0.814. And the p-value of Y1 and Y3 showing 0.000 and 0.001 within 1% (p < 0.01), respectively, was very significant. The optimum conditions for production of reducing sugar with Viscozyme® L were 9.0 % (v/w) amount of enzyme, 30.0 hours of reaction time, pH 4.5 and 30.0oC of reaction temperature, and those with Saczyme® were 9.0% (v/w) of amount of enzyme dosage, 30.0 h of reaction time, pH 7.0 and 30.0oC of reaction temperature, consequently, the predicted reducing sugar yields were 22.5 and 27.9 mg/g-mannitol, respectively.

There are a large number of bioactive sesquiterpene lactones from compositae plants including Hemistepita lyrata Bunge. In the present study, we purified two sesquiterpene lactones, Hemistepsin A and B, from H. lyrata and evaluated their antimicrobial activities against Malassezia obutusa. Chromatographic separation was used for the preparation of Hemistepsin A and B, and the identity of these compounds was confirmed by NMR. Strong inhibition of growth of M. obutusa was obtained with all doses of Hemistepsin A tested. Moreover, antifungal activity of Hemistepsin A occurred in a dose-dependent manner. Hemistepsin B also showed potent antifungal activity at the dose of 800 μm/disc. From these results, it was suggested that Hemistepsin A and B be beneficial for the preparation of the useful agent for treating scalp diseases occurred by dandruff-causing Malassezia species.

The bacterial community structure in a biological reactor fed influent from a wastewater treatment system was investigated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and in situ hybridization. Sludges were collected from three biological reactors (aerobic,oxic,and anoxic tanks) at the M wastewater treatment facility (WTF). The influent of the MWTF consisted of mixed tannery wastewater (40~65%) and seafood wastewater (35~60%). The treatment processes resulted in a removal efficiency for BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and COD (chemical oxygen demand) of 83.6~ 98.2% and 72.8~84.6%, respectively for tannery wastewater than for seafood wastewater resulted in greater survival of biomass in the biological reactors and a higher removal of BOD, COD, and T-N of about 8~18%. In contrast, addition of greater amounts of seafood wastewater decreased the amount of biomass in the bioreactors due to the increasing concentration of chromium from that wastewater and it also. The dominant bacterial species during the high seafood wastewater input period were Burkholderia cepacia (JX901049) and an uncultured bacterium (JF247555), while Pseudomonas geniculata (HQ256559) was dominant during the high tannery wastewater input period. Flavobacteriumsp. BF.107 (FM173271) and Hyphomicrobium zavarzinii (Y14306) were dominant under anoxic conditions.

To date, various strategies have been studied to increase specific productivity in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell cultures. Also, albumin-fusion platform is being applied to other important bioactive peptides with short half-lives. Here, we investigated the effects of silkworm gland hydrolysate (SGH) on the production of albumin-erythropoietin (Alb- EPO) in transgenic CHO cells. The viable cell density of CHO cells was increased by 13% in the medium containing 1 mg/mL SGH higher than in the control medium without SGH. In addition, the production of Alb-EPO was also 1.26- fold enhanced by reducing the early apoptosis of CHO cells. In conclusion, SGH could be used as a useful supplement for the enhancement of recombinant protein production.

This research was to investigate physicochemical properties and antioxidative activities of rapeseed meal for the development of functional cosmetic material. Seventeen kinds of amino acid at rapeseed meal were found and glutamic acid concentration was significantly the highest (28.4 mg/g), followed by glycine, proline, arginine, isoleucine, and aspartic acid. Among various vitamins, cloline content was the highest (459.1 mg/kg), followed by niacin, tocopherol, and pantothenic acid. Among various fatty acids of rapeseed meal, oleic acid was the highest (36.7%), followed by linoleic acid and linolenic acid. DPPH radical scavenging activities of methanol and acetone extract of rapeseed meal at 2.0 mg/mL were 80.4 and 78.9%, respectively. The methanol and acetone extracts of rapeseed meal were a stable at the range of pH 3-9 on DPPH radical scavenging activity. The maximum reducing powers of methanol and acetone extract of rapeseed meal at 4.0 mg/mL were 0.7 and 0.68 OD 700 nm, respectively. The maximum superoxide inhibition activities of hot water, acetone, and methanol extract of rapeseed meal were 70.2, 75.2, and 81.4%, respectively. These results showed that the methanol and acetone extract of rapeseed meal can be used as a new source of functional cosmetic material.

This study was carried out to investigate the antimicrobial and antioxidative activities of Camellia japonica extracts for cosmetic applications. Antimicrobial effects of C. japonica were determined against Bacillus cereus by methanol extract of new leaf, stem and stem-leaf; Malassezia pachydermatis, by methanol extract of new leaf and stemleaf. A methanol extract of new leaf of C. japonica showed strong antimicrobial effect using paper disc method against most species especially in Staphylococcus aureus. Antioxidative activities of C. japonica seed oils were determined by DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities. The value of EC50 of DPPH scavenging activity was 500 mg/mL and that of ABTS scavenging activity was 96.10 mg/mL. C. japonica oil extracts showed lower antioxidative activities than those of gallic acid and α-tocopherol. Electron microscopic observation of damaged virgin hairs of different ages gave a stabilizing effects after C. japonica seed oil treatment. These results indicated that the extracts of stem, leaf and seed of C. japonica could be used as cosmetic ingredient combined with appropriate formula.

Ponciri fructus, the unripe fruits of Poncirus trifoliata, are widely used in oriental traditional medicine as a remedy for inflammation, gastritis, emesis, digestive ulcers, allergy, and dysentery. To study the anti-wrinkle effects of Ponciri fructus extract (PFE) containing flavanone glycosides, PFE was fermented with Ganoderma lucidum mycelia and its biological activities were investigated. In Ponciri fructus extracts fermented with G. lucidum (G-PFE), polyphenol content was 1,021.00±0.50 μg/mL and flavonoid content was 589.41±0.21 μg/mL. G-PFE was found to scavenge 1,1-diphenyl- 2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals and superoxide anion radical by a dose dependent manner, respectively. G-PFE showed higher antioxidant activity than that of PFE. In addition, the photoprotective properties of G-PFE was tested in human dermal fibroblasts (HDF) exposed to UVA radiation. G-PFE inhibited the activity of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and showed a dose dependent decrease in the expression level of MMP-1. G-PFE also increased collagen biosynthesis in HDF. These results demonstrate that G-PFE could be useful as a potential cosmetic ingredient for anti-wrinkle.

Volatile flavor compounds of Chamaecyparis obtuse essential oil were extracted by simultaneous steam distillation extraction (SDE) and supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and analyzed by GC-MS. A total of 48 and 50 components were identified in essential oil by SDE and SFE, respectively. Monoterpenes, oxygenated monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, oxygenated sesquiterpenes, and diterpenes in essential oil by SDE were 37.24, 10.9, 9.61, 0.22, and 0.22%, respectively. In the case of SFE, they were 19.1, 23.3, 22.66, 1.31, and 10.57%, respectively. Antioxidant activities were increased with the increase of essential oil up to 80 μL /mL, irrespective of extraction method. Especially, when the essential oil concentration extracted by SDE was increased from 20 to 80 μL /mL, the antioxidant activity was increased from 10.5 to 55.1%. However, over 80 μL/mL of essential oil, an equilibrium state was maintained. In the case of essential oil extracted by SFE, it was decreased compared to that of SDE. For the improvement of atopic dermatitis, various cosmetics such as an ato-cide soap, ato-cide spray, and ato-cide lotion containing essential oil extracted by SFE were tested. About over 90% was useful for the improvement of atopic dermatitis after 4 weeks of clinical trial targeting 40 female adults. These results demonstrate that ato-cide soap, ato-cide spray, and atocide lotion containing essential oil extracted by SFE could be used in functional cosmetics.

The aim of this study was to examine inhibitory effects of pine needle ethanol extracts (PNEE) on atopic dermatitis (AD). To determine inflammatory activity PNEE was added to LPS-induced murine peritoneal macrophages for an in-vitro test. In addition, anti-AD test was carried out by spreading PNEE on the dorsal skin of 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB)- induced BALB/c mice. It was confirmed that the nitric oxide (NO) secretion was suppressed when 1~ 50 μg/mL of PNEE were added to LPS-induced murine peritoneal macrophages. Moreover, levels of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-1β‚ were decreased. For the anti-AD test, PNEE alleviated symptoms of the erythema in DNCB-induced mice. Furthermore, the IFN-γ secretion of the group treated with PNEE was increased in splenocytes from DNCB-induced mice compared to the positive control, while IL-4 secretion diminished. Through these results, we can conclude that PNEE can inhibit AD by modulating the IFN-γ, IL-4 cytokines production and inhibiting inflammation.

The hydrolysates prepared with various enzyme digestion of Capsosiphon fulvescens were used to measure the inhibitory effects against angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE). The commercially available enzymes such as Celluclast, Viscozyme, Lysing enzyme, Flavourzyme, Alcalase and Pectinex were used to digest C. fulvescens and produce hydrolysates. The maximum ACE inhibitory activity was observed using Alcalase hydrolysis (72.9%). The optimal conditions of Alcalase extraction were pH 8.0 and extraction time for 12 hr. The hydrolysates were fractionated using preparative- LC and anion-exchange chromatography on DEAEcellulose and the fraction B and B-2 were isolated. The ACE inhibitory activity of fraction B-2 by anion-exchange chromatography was 82.6%. The molecular weight of fraction B-2 estimated using size exclusion chromatography was about 1 kDa. The monosaccharide composition of the fraction B-2 was determined to be mannose (1.1%), glucuronic acid (1.3%), galactose (1.3%) and glucose (96.3%).

In order to develop new skin whitening agents, we prepared the CH2Cl2 layer (NGC) and BuOH layer (NGB) of 75% EtOH extract of the Nelumbinis nucifera Gaertner. We measured their tyrosinase inhibitory activity in vitro and melanin synthesis inhibitory activity in B16-F1 melanoma cells. They did not show inhibitory activity against mushroom tyrosinase but showed melanin synthesis inhibitory activity in a dose-dependent manner. In a melanin synthesis inhibition assay, NGC and NGB suppressed melanin production up to 52% and 46% at a concentration of 100 μg/mL, respectively. To elucidate the mechanism of the inhibitory effects of NGC and NGB on melanogenesis, we measured the expression of melanogenesis-related proteins by western blot assay. As a result, NGC suppressed the expression of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP-1), tyrosinase related protein 2 (TRP-2), phosphorylated cAMP responsive element binding (p-CREB) protein, and microphthalmia associated transcription factor (MITF). And NGB inhibited the protein expression of tyrosinase and MITF, but had no significant effect on TRP-1, TRP-2, and p-CREB expression. Moreover, NGB increased the expression of phosphorylated extracellular signal- regulated kinase (p-ERK). In addition, we examined the inhibitory effect on the glycosylation of tyrosinase. As a result, NGC and NGB inhibited the activity of α-glucosidase in vitro and the glycosylation of tyrosinase in B16-F1 melanoma cells. From these results, we concluded that NGC and NGB could be used as active ingredients for skin whitening.

In this study, we investigated the effects of longterm exposure to ionic liquid (IL) on Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 (MR-1). MR1 was acclimated through repeated exposure to IL. The acclimated strain was named as S. oneidensis SH-1 (SH-1) and compared with MR-1 in various aspects including morphology, cell surface hydrophobicity (CSH), motility, and fatty acid. Compared to the MR-1, SH-1 showed elongated cell shape on scanning electron microscopy. Upon exposure to IL, hydrophobicity of SH-1 (28.2%) was higher that of MR-1 (3.3%). In contrast, motility of SH-1 (7 mm) was lower than that also of MR-1 (22 mm), and branched chain fatty acid of SH-1 was lower than that of MR-1, 27.6% and 41.1%, respectively.