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Insomnia is a very common health problem affecting approximately 10-30% of the population in Western countries and approximately 23% of Korean adults.1-4 Medications based on chemical hypnotics, such as benzodiazepines, have the following adverse effects: diurnal ‘hangover’ effects, dependence, addiction, withdrawal symptoms, and subsequent drug-resistance.5 The demand for complementary and alternative medicines for treating insomnia is increasing, not only because patients wish to avoid the aforementioned adverse effects, but also because herbal/natural products are readily available and require no prescription from a doctor, in contrast to chemical drugs.6-8 Cynanchum wilfordii Hemsley (C. wilfordii)(Asclepiadaceae) is a perennial herb, whose roots have been widely used in Korea for treating insomnia, anxiety, anemia, senescence, and various geriatric diseases.9,10 However, despite its wide use in Korea, no objective studies evaluating its efficacy in treating or preventing insomnia exist. Therefore, in the present study, we evaluated C. wilfordii extract’s effects on the sleep-wake cycle in rats and compared it to valerian extract, an herbal product in widespread use for treating insomnia, to evaluate its possibilities as a natural hypnotic. Received: February 18, 2011 Revised: March 23, 2011 Accepted: April 1, 2011

A grilled-type shrimp flavor was developed through the Maillard reaction to reduce or mask fish odor or off-flavor in seafood. Model systems were created by using enzymatic hydrolysate of shrimp and adding precursors to increase flavor quality and stability. Amino acid precursors such as cysteine and methionine, sugar precursors such as glucose, xylose, ribose, and sucrose, and one particular compound of glucosamine were tried and their flavor qualities were tested by sensory evaluation. Also, the optimum reaction condition was investigated using the pH values of pH 5, 6, 7, and 8 with reaction times of 1 hr, 2 hr and 3 hr after the best precursors were determined. The best condition of the precursors for grilled-type shrimp flavor was the mixtures of methionine, threonine, xylose, and glucosamine. The optimum reaction condition was at pH 8.0 and 2 hr reaction time.

Aim of the study Many medicinal plants have been used for treatment of insomnia in Asia. However, scientific evidence and precise mechanism for their sedative-hypnotic activity have not been fully investigated. Thus, we investigated the binding activity of the oriental plant extracts (mainly from Korea and Japan) to the well-known molecular targets for sleep regulation, GABA A and 5-HT 2C receptors. Following the binding assay, sedative-hypnotic effects of the extracts with high affinity were examined in an animal model of sleep. Materials and methods Aqueous and ethanol extracts of 15 medicinal plants were tested for binding at the benzodiazepine site of GABA A receptor and 5-HT site of 5-HT 2C receptor. The sedative-hypnotic effects of selected extracts were evaluated by measuring the sleep latency and sleep duration during pentobarbital-induced sleep in mice after oral administration of extracts. Results In the GABA A assay, the ethanol extracts of licorice and danshen displayed concentration-dependent, high affinity binding, whereas in the 5-HT 2C assay, the ethanol extracts of ginseng and silk tree showed high affinity. Among these extracts we tested previously uncharacterized licorice and silk tree for hypnotic effects. We found the ethanol extracts of licorice and silk tree significantly decreased sleep latency and increased sleep duration in pentobarbital-induced sleep. Conclusions We demonstrate for the first time that licorice and silk tree have the sedative-hypnotic activity possibly by modulating GABA A and 5-HT 2C receptors. We propose that licorice and silk tree might be effective candidates for treatment of insomnia.

This study was conducted to investigate the optimal conditions of collagen extraction from scales of yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) using surface response methodology. Four independent variables of NaOH concentration and pretreatment fime in alkali pretreatment and enzyme concentration and treatment time in enzyme hydrolysis were used to predict a model equation for the collagen yield. The determinant coefficient (R 2 ) for the equation was 0.906. The values of the independent variables for the maximum yield were 0.32 N NaOH, 16.38 h alkali pretreatment time, 0.18% enzyme concentration, and 31.02 h enzyme treatment time. In the physicochemical properties of tuna scale collagen, sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of tuna scale collagen showed the same migration distances as that of calf skin collagen. The amide A, I, II, and III regions of tuna scale collagen in Fourier transform infrared measurements were shown in the peaks of 3,414 cm -1 , 1,645 cm -1 , 1,553 cm -1 , and 1,247 cm -1 , respectively. The amount of imino acids in tuna scale collagen was 18.97% and the collagen denaturation temperature was 33°C. The collagen solubility as a function of NaCl concentration decreased to 4% NaCl (w/v) and the collagen solubility as a function of pH was high at pH 2-4 and sharply decreased from pH 4 to pH 7. Viscosity of the collagen solution decreased continuously until 30°C and this decreasing rate slowed in the temperature range of 35-50°C.

Processing of collagen from yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares) abdominal skins was optimized by response surface methodology and central composite design. The values of independent variables at optimal conditions were NaOH concentration: 0.5 N, NaOH treatment time: 36.2 hr, pepsin concentration: 1:4.9 ratio (0.245%, w/v), and digestion time: 48.1 hr, respectively. The collagen content estimated under optimal conditions was 33.1%, and the actual experimental collagen content was 32.3%. Physicochemical properties of collagen from yellowfin tuna abdominal skin were investigated by amino acids analysis, SDS-PAGE, FT-IR, viscosity and denaturation temperature. Amino acids content of the collagen was 21.0%. SDS-PAGE pattern of the collagen showed two different -chain (- and - chain), -component and -component. The spectrum of FT-IR of the collagen showed wavenumber at 3,434, 1,650, 1,542 and representing the regions of amide A, I, II and III, respectively. Relative viscosity of the collagen decreased continuously on heating up to , and the rate of decrease was retarded in the temperature range of . Denaturation temperature (Td) of the collagen solution (0.06%, w/v) was and was lower than calf skin collagen ().

High prices, overfishing, and contamination have limited the availability of natural caviar as a food product. We attempted to apply encapsulation by calcium-alginate gel membranes to caviar analog preparation in an effort to produce a high-quality replacement for natural caviar. Physical conditions of stirring speed and gelation time as the independent variables for gelation were optimized by response surface methodology. Sphericity , diameter , membrane thickness , rupture strength , and rupturing deformation were used as the dependent variables to compare characteristics of the capsules for caviar analogs with natural caviar. The values of the independent variables as evaluated by multiple response optimization were (278 rpm) and (12.2 min), respectively. Predicted values of the four dependent variables were . Membrane thickness was eliminated from the dependent variables for multiple response optimization because it could not be measured with an image analyzer. The experimental values prepared under the optimal conditions for verification nearly coincided with the predicted values and satisfied the conditions of natural caviar.

Fucosterol (2), oxygenated fucosterol, 24-ethylcholesta-4,24(28)-dien-3,6-dione (3), β-sitosterol (1), and daucosterol (4) were isolated from ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fraction of Osmanthus fragrans var. aurantiacus flower by repeated silica gel, octadecyl silica gel, and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. The sterol structures were determined based on spectroscopic methods including nuclear magnetic resonance, infrared spectroscopy, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, and electron ionization mass spectrometry. Fucosterol (2), oxygenated fucosterol, and 24-ethylcholesta-4,24(28)-dien-3,6-dione (3) are representative sterols mainly isolated from marine algae, but rarely found in land plants. This is the first reported isolation of these sterols from O. fragrans var. aurantiacus. Interestingly, the oxygenated fucosterol (3) isolated inhibited the in vitro growth of the HCT-116 human colon cancer cell line with higher cytotoxic effects than doxorubicin, a well-known cytotoxic drug.