The bacterial strain isolated from Kimchi showed antibacterial activity against Micrococcus luteus IAM 1056. The selected strain was identified as Lactococcus lactis by 16S rRNA nucleotide sequence analysis and named as Lactococcus sp. KD 28. The treatment of culture supernatant with proteinase K removed antibacterial activity, indicating its proteinaceous nature, a bacteriocin. This bacteriocin was sensitive to hydrolytic enzymes such as α-chymotrypsion, trypsin, proteinase K, lipase, α-amylase and subtilisin A. The bacteriocin was highly thermostable and resistant to heating at 80℃ for up to an hour but 50 % of the total activity was remained at 100℃ for 30 min. The pH range from 2.0 to 8.0 had no effect on bacteriocin activity and it was not affected by solvents such as acetonitrile, isopropanol, methanol, chloroform and acetone up to 50% concentration. The bacteriocin showed antibacterial activity against M.

Extracts of Platycodon grandiflorum have been reported to show anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-metastatic, and hepato-protective effects. This study was designed to evaluate T-cell activation and M1/M2 differential macrophage activation by extracts of P. grandiflorum or P. grandiflorum containing various medicinal herbs. Using real-time RT-PCR, we analyzed expression levels of c-fos, and CD40L (T-cell activation markers) in splenocytes and iNOS, Ym1, and ARG1 in RAW 246.7 cells after treatment of CC (hot water extract of P. grandiflorum), MAEK (hot water extract of P. grandiflorum [82%] and six different plants), and HWAL (hot water extract of P. grandiflorum [7%] and eight different plants. The results showed that MAEK significantly elevated the expression of T-cell activation markers of splenocytes, with the c-fos gene activated more than 10-fold and the CD40L gene activated more than 6-fold. Although CD40L was significantly increased by CC and HWAL, the increase was only about 2-fold. In addition, CC and HWAL did not significantly activate the expression of the c-fos gene. On the other hand, CC elevated the M1 activation marker iNOS, and HWAL elevated the M2 activation marker Ym1 and ARG1 gene expression. In conclusion, MAEK could be used as an immune stimulant because of its ability to activate T cells (elicited c-fos and CD40L gene expression), whereas HWAL could serve as an anti-inflammatory agent because of its differential activation of M2 macrophages.Key words : Anti-inflammation, immune activation, macrophages, Platycodon grandiflorum, splenocytes *Corresponding authors

This study was attempted to investigate antioxidant activities of water and ethanol extract from Rosa multiflora (RM) by in vitro assays measuring 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity, 2,2'-azino-di-2-ethyl-benzthiazoline sulphonate (ABTS) radical scavenging activity, reducing power activity, nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging activity, total phenol and total flavonoid content. The water and ethanol extracts from RM scavenged the DPPH radical and ABTS radical in a dose-dependent manner at the concentration range from 10 to 500 μg/ml. The DPPH radical scavenging activity of water extract was higher than that of ethanol extract. IC50 of DPPH radical scavenging activity of water and ethanol extract were 79.73 μg/ml and 145.85 μg/ml. The reducing power activity of water extract was higher than that of ethanol extract. The nitric oxide (NO) radical scavenging activity of the RM extract was similar to their DPPH radical scavenging activity. IC50 of ABTs radical scavenging activity of water and ethanol extract was 79.82 μg/ml and 159.03 μg/ml. The reducing power activity of water extract (0.775) was higher than that of ethanol extract (0.568). Total phenolic content of water extract (140.74 mg/g) was higher than that of the ethanol extracts (37.83 mg/g). Total flavonoid content of water extract (45.31 mg/g) was higher than that of the ethanol extracts (42.68 mg/g). This results suggest that water extract of RM may be useful as potential antioxidant sources.