The objective of this study was to evaluate the anti-inflammation effect of extract of Carthamus tinctorious seed, on skin obtained from Gyeong buk, Korea. Regulatory mechanisms of cytokines and nitric oxide (NO) involved in immunological activity of Raw 264.7 cells. Tested cells were pretreated with 70% ethanol extracted of Carthamus tinctorious seed and further cultured for an appropriated time after the addition of lipopolyssacharide (LPS). During the entire experimental period, 5, 10, 25 and 50 µg/ml of Carthamus tinctorious seed showed no cytotoxicity. In these concentrations, ethyl acetate layer of ethanol extracted Carthamus tinctorius seed (CT-E/E) inhibited the production of NO and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), tumor necorsis factor-a (TNF-a), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), interleukin-6 (IL-6) expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2). At a 50 µg/ml level of CT-E/E, PGE2, iNOS and COX-2 inhibition activity were shown 60%, 38%, and 42%, respectively. In addition, CT-E/E reduced the release of inflammatory cytokines including TNF-a, IL-1β and IL-6. These results suggest that Carthamus tinctorious seed extracts may be a potential anti-inflammatory therapeutic agent due to the significant effects on inflammatory factors.Key words : Anti-inflammatory, cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), PGE2, cytokines, Carthamus tinctorious seed *Corresponding author *Tel：+82-53-810-0320, Fax：+82-53-801-0399 *E-mail : bio115@kotmin.kr This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

The objective of the present study was to evaluate the skin whitening effect of the extracts of 3 herbs, Ligularia fischeri, Solidago virga-aurea and Aruncus dioicus, which were collected from Ullung island.Tyrosinase inhibition activities were 33% in pre-fermented extracts and 45% in post-fermented ones. When tyrosinase activities in B16F10 murine melanoma cells were tested, activities in pre-and post-fermented extracts were 41 and 56.5%, respectively. Thus, the post-fermented extracts might have greater skin whitening effects. The protein expression of MITF, TRP-1, TRP-2, and tyrosinase, which are all skin-whitening related transcription factors, showed that both pre-and post-fermented herbs inhibited protein biosynthesis in B16F10 melanoma cells. Post-fermented herb extracts especially showed a greater decrease of protein expressions. The expression of MITF, a regulatory transcription factor, was also decreased by both extracts but was greater in the post-fermented ones. From the results, it can be concluded that the 3 herb extracts from Ullung island may inhibit melanin biosynthesis by the suppression of MITF activity in a signaling pathway. Results indicate that the post-fermented herbs tested in the present study had skin whitening activities and can be used as functional ingredients for food and cosmetic compositions.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the antiaging effect in the fibroblasts by using the extracts and fractions of Nymphoides peltata for the development of new functional cosmetic materials. The anti-aging effects of the extracts and fractions of N. peltata were measured using CCD-986sk cells. Ethyl aceate (EA) fraction inhibited UVB-induced reactive oxygen species expression by more than 50%, and n-butyl alcohol (BuOH) fraction increased expression of pro-collagen mRNA by more than 50% at 25 µg/mL. In addition, EA and BuOH fractions inhibited MMP-1 protein and mRNA expression in a concentration-dependent manner, BuOH fraction inhibited MMP-1 mRNA expression by more than 40% at 10 µg/mL. Especially, the high efficacy of EA and BuOH of the N. peltata was confirmed. Therefore, the EA and BuOH of N. peltata are expected to be useful as anti-aging materials in cosmetics field.

In this study, the whitening activity of Nymphoides indica extract in B16F10 cells were measured. Inhibition rate of tyrosinase from mushroom was 42% at 1,000 μg/mL. And inhibition of tyrosinase and melanin biosynthesis in B16F10 cells were 26 and 25% at 5 μg/mL, respectively. The expression levels of cAMP and protein kinase A (PKA), which are higher levels of melanin-related factors, were found to be decreased in a dosedependent manner. In addition, the expression rate of protein and mRNA of tyrosinase, tyrosinase related protein 1 (TRP1), tyrosinase related protein 2 (TRP2) and microphthalmia associated transcription factor (MITF). In this study, it was confirmed that the N. indica extract effectively inhibited the activity of tyrosinase, TRP1, TRP2 and MITF as well as the activity of PKA by effectively inhibiting cAMP. Therefore, it was confirmed that the N. indica extract has high value as a functional material.

Three isolates, E. faecium P1, P2 and P3, from intestinal drugs of three phamaceutical companies, four clinical vancomycin resistant isolates, E. faecium V1, V2, V3 and E. faecalis V4, and three isolates, E. faecalis DW01, DW07 and DW14, from infant feces were tested for the presence of virulence genes, ace, agg, esp, efaA, gelE, sprE, vanA and vanB as well as fsrABC, regulatory genes of gelE and sprE, cylMBA, cytolysin activation genes and cpd, cob and ccf, pheromone genes by PCR and for their phenotype activities such as protease, biofilm formation, cell clumping and hemolysis. The genes encoding cell surface adherence proteins, ace, agg, esp and efaA, were predominantly amplified from the vancomycin resistant strain V4 and the fecal isolates DW01, DW07 and DW14. Both protease and biofilm formation activity were detected only from E. faecalis V4 from which the PCR products of gelE and spreE as well as fsrABC were amplified. The pheromone genes were amplified from the V4, DW01, DW07 and DW14 strains and these strains showed clumping activity. Biofilm formation was observed from the strains DW01, DW07 and DW14, all of which produced PCR products of pheromone, and V4 as well. Whole cytolysin regulator genes were amplified from DW01, DW07 and DW14 and β-hemolysis activity was detected from these strains. Any virulence genes or activities except the pheomone gene ccf were not detected from the pharmaceutical isolates, E. faecium P1, P2 and P3.