Yang-Kyun Park

Glasswort (Salicornia herbacea L.) is a halophyte plant known to contain high contents of minerals and phytochemicals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of fermented glasswort on gut health in D-galactose (D-gal)-induced aging rats. Forty rats were randomly divided into five groups: control (CON), D-gal alone (CD), D-gal plus fructooligosaccharide as a positive control (FOS, 400 mg/kg), D-gal plus low dose fermented glasswort (LGW, 10 mg/kg), and D-gal plus high-dose fermented glasswort (HGW, 20 mg/kg). Each treatment was orally administered to rats of each group for eight weeks. All groups except for the CON group (treated with saline) were intraperitoneally injected with D-gal (150 mg/kg). Our results showed that butyric acid among short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), goblet cells of colon, and thickness of mucus layer in colon were increased in fermented glasswort groups. In addition, fermented glasswort reduced levels of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS, a related oxidative stress marker) and expression levels of inflammation-related proteins such as IL-1β. These results suggest that fermented glasswort can improve age-related gut health.

Fruit used in the common human diet in general, and kiwifruit and persimmon particularly, displays health properties in the prevention of heart disease. This study describes a combination of bioactivity, multivariate data analyses and fluorescence measurements for the differentiating of kiwifruit and persimmon, their quenching and antioxidant properties. The metabolic differences are shown, as well in the results of bioactivities and antioxidant capacities determined by ABTS, FRAP, CUPRAC and DPPH assays. To complement the bioactivity of these fruits, the quenching properties between extracted polyphenols and human serum proteins were determined by 3D-fluorescence spectroscopy studies. These properties of the extracted polyphenols in interaction with the main serum proteins in the human metabolism (human serum albumin (HSA), α-β-globulin (α-β G) and fibrinogen (Fgn)), showed that kiwifruit was more reactive than persimmon. There was a direct correlation between the quenching properties of the polyphenols of the investigated fruits with serum human proteins, their relative quantification and bioactivity. The results of metabolites and fluorescence quenching show that these fruits possess multiple properties that have a great potential to be used in industry with emphasis on the formulation of functional foods and in the pharmaceutical industry. Based on the quenching properties of human serum proteins with polyphenols and recent reports in vivo on human studies, we hypothesize that HSA, α-β G and Fgn will be predictors of coronary artery disease (CAD).

The current study attempted to understand the interaction profiles of phytoconstituents in new and traditionally used fruit cultivars with human serum albumin (HSA) in the context of predicting the biological role under in vivo conditions. Therefore, polyphenols, flavonoids, flavanols, tannins, vitamin C, secondary metabolites and their antioxidant capacities of organic kiwifruit Actinidia (A.) eriantha cv. Bidan (AEB) and A. arguta cv. Cheongsan (AAC), as new cultivars grown in Korea, and widely consumed A. deliciosa cv. Hayward (ADH) and Diospyros kaki Thunb. cv. Fuyu (DKF) were determined and compared. All investigated fruits showed relatively high antioxidant capacities. To complement the bioactivity of these fruits, the binding properties between extracted polyphenols and HSA were determined by 3D-fluorescence spectroscopy and docking studies. The most bioactive was AEB with the highest percentage of binding, following by AAC, ADH and DKF. Our study for the first time unveils the differential binding properties of kiwifruit and persimmon phytoconstituents with HSA. Although cultivars possess virtually the same phytoconstituents, presence of one unique compound significantly alters the binding properties of HSA. The results of fluorescence quenching and molecular docking showed that these fruits possess multiple properties, which have a great potential to be used in industry with emphasis on the formulation of functional foods and medicinal applications.

We investigated the antihypertensive effects of Artemisia scoparia (AS) in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). The rats were fed diets containing 2% (w/w) hot water extracts of AS aerial parts for 6 weeks. The AS group had significantly lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure levels than the control group. The AS group also had lower angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) activity and angiotensin II content in serum compared to the control group. The AS group showed higher vascular endothelial growth factor and lower ras homolog gene family member A expression levels in kidney compared to the control group. The AS group had significantly lower levels of plasma lipid oxidation and protein carbonyls than the control group. One new and six known compounds were isolated from AS by guided purification. The new compound was determined to be 4′-O-β-D-glucopyranoyl (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methylbut-2-enyl benzoate, based on its nuclear magnetic resonance and electrospray ionization-mass spectroscopy data.