We conducted two randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind studies of Lactobacillus plantarum No. 14 (LP14) in female students with seasonal allergic diseases. We also examined the mitogenic activity and cytokine inducibility of LP14 using Peyer's patch cells and mesenteric lymph node cells of swine. For subjects who took 8.7×10(8) of LP14, a significant improvement in ocular symptom-medication score was observed. In the placebo group, the T helper type 1 (Th1)/T helper type 2 (Th2) ratio tended to decrease after a 6-week intake period, while in the LP14 group, the percentage of Th1 cells significantly increased. Post-intake eosinophil counts significantly increased in comparison to those at intake cessation in the placebo group, but it appeared to be suppressed in the LP14 group. There were no changes in fecal microflora. LP14 strongly induced the gene expression of Th1-type cytokines. This study indicates the clinical effects of LP14 on seasonal allergic diseases.

D-Xylose (1 M), glycine (0.1 M), and sodium hydrogencarbonate (0.1 M) were dissolved in aqueous 60% ethanol at pH 8.1 and left at 26.5°C for 2 days in a dark room under nitrogen displacement. Blue pigment was isolated and purified from the blue solution by anionic exchange and gel filtration chromatographies. Blue pigment which was designated Blue-M1 (blue Maillard reaction intermediate-1) was identified as 5-{[1,4-(dicarboxymethyl)-5-(2,3-dihydroxypropyl)-2-pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrolyl]methine}-1,4-(dicarboxymethyl)-2-(1,2,3-trihydroxypropyl)-pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrroly-lium. Blue-M1 is supposed to be a dimer of yellow colored pyrrolopyrrole-2-carboxaldehyde compounds. Blue-M1 that reacts readily to yellow compounds has a polymerizing activity, suggesting it is an important Maillard reaction intermediate through the formation of melanoidins.

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A system using immobilized enzyme according to Oki et al., [Biol. Pharm. Bull. ,-(3) +*2.ῌ+*21 (,***)], which mimics the small intestinal membrane, was applied to the screening of several kinds of vegetables, fruits and herbs in terms of their inhibitory e#ects on a-glucosidase (AGH). AGH was partially purified from hog intestinal membrane by salting out, followed by immobilization on CNBr-activated Sepharose .B as a matrix. As substrate, p-nitrophenyl-aD -glucopyranoside (PNPG) was employed, producing p-nitrophenol (p-NP) by enzymic hydrolysis. Seven vegetables (Japanese radish, cabbage, onion, Chinese cabbage, tomato, cucumber, and carrot), / fruits (mandarin, apple, watermelon, melon, and grapefruit) and. herbs (Italian parsley, rucola, mache, and dill) were subjected to evaluations of the inhibitory e#ect on AGH. All of the test samples exerted an inhibitory e#ect on immobilized AGH (iAGH). Raw Chinese cabbage and boiled tomato among vegetables, mandarin among fruits and dill among herbs exerted the strongest inhibitory e#ect on iAGH.

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