This study was carried out to analyze the effects on antioxidative, antidiabetic, and anti-inflammatory activities of Parthenocissus tricuspidata (PT) stem extracts. The total phenolic contents of hot water and ethanol extracts from PT stems were 61.5 mg TAE/g and 122.1 mg TAE/g, respectively. The antioxidative activities of hot water and ethanol extracts from PT stem were measured by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity and superoxide dismutase (SOD) assay. The DPPH radical scavenging activities of ethanol extract and butanol fraction were approximately 95% and 92% at 1 mg/ml, respectively, and the SOD activities of ethanol extract and butanol fraction were about 91% and 97% at 1 mg/ml, respectively. The DPPH radical scavenging and SOD activities of ethanol extract and butanol fraction from PT stem increased remarkably increased in a dose-dependent manner and were higher than in the hot water extracts. Compared to the acarbose, a known anti-diabetic drug, which was used as a positive control, the α-glucosidase inhibitory capacity of PT stem showed a strong inhibitory rate in ethanol extract and in butanol and hexane fractions. We investigated the effect of hot water extract from PT stem on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in RAW 264.7 cells. Hot water extract from PT stem inhibited LPS-induced NO production up to 40% at a treatment of 1 mg/ml. These results suggest that PT stem extracts have an effect on antioxidative, antidiabetic, and anti-inflammatory activities and thus have great potential as antidiabetic materials and a source for natural health products.

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The purification of immunodominant native protein antigens from the culture filtrates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is needed for the development of new vaccines and immunodiagnostic reagents against tuberculosis. In the present study, we conducted large scale purification of well-known secreted antigens, Ag85 complex, 38-kDa, and MTB12, from the culture filtrate proteins (CFPs) prepared from M. tuberculosis H37Rv grown as a surface pellicle on synthetic Sauton medium. The protein and antigen concentrations of culture filtrates were sufficiently increased after 6 week of culture. The MTB12 antigen was detected as early as 1 week of culture, and Ag85 complex and 38-kDa antigen were detected after 2 and 3 week of culture, respectively, by immunodiffusion with specific antiserum against 100-fold concentrated culture filtrates. For large-scale purification, the six-week-culture filtrates of M. tuberculosis H37Rv diluted 2.5-fold with 20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.3 were subjected to anion-exchange chromatography. The CFPs were eluted with 100 mM NaCl-20 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.3 and concentrated by ultrafiltration. The concentrated CFPs were fractionated with ammonium sulfate, and followed by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and anion-exchange chromatography (FPLC). Eventually, 10 mg of Ag85 complex, 0.56 mg of 38-kDa, and 1.81 mg of MTB12 antigens were purified from 1 liter of the six-week-culture filtrates of M. tuberculosis H37Rv which contained 307.81 mg of protein of culture filtrate.

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This study was investigated to analyze the contents of flavonoid compounds and the effects of fermentation on the physiological activities of medical plants, also known as SanYa (SY). Antioxidative activity of the fermented SanYa (FSY) was measured by using DPPH radical scavenging and SOD-like activity. DPPH radical scavenging and SOD-like activity of FSY were 94.3% and 45.0%, respectively. Nitric oxide (NO) synthesis was increased 11 times through the addition of FSY. However, NO production of the macrophages RAW264.7 cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was reduced to 56% through the addition of FSY. FSY showed fibrinolytic activity and indicated about 69.8% and 73.7% of xanthine oxidase and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory activities, respectively. These results suggested that FSY plays a significant role in fibrinolytic activity and have strong xanthine oxidase and angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory activities.