Onion (Allium cepa) is one of the flavonoids-rich materials in human diet and onion peel, which is the onion byproducts, contains over 20 times more quercetin than the flesh. In this study, to examine the anti-inflammatory effects of onion peel hot water extract (OPHWE), the cell viability, nitric oxide (NO), pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interluekin-6 (IL-6), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and IL-1β, were measured using the murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 cells. The Balb/c mice were used for an in vivo acute toxicity test and ICR mice were used for measurement of inhibition effects of croton oil-induced mouse ear edema. As a result, NO levels decreased in a dose-dependent manner. The production of IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β was suppressed by 38%, 41%, and 34% respectively, compared with that of the LPS only group, without any cytotoxicity. The edema formation in the ICR mouse ear was also reduced compared to that in control. Moreover, there were no mortalities occurred in mice administered 5,000 mg/kg body weight of OPHWE. These results suggest that OPHWE has considerable anti-inflammatory activities and can be regarded as a potent candidate material to treat inflammatory diseases.
Antimicrobial activity of Sargassum thunbergii was determined by paper disc assay and minimum concentration inhibitor (MIC) test. A water extract of S. thunbergii did not show the antimicrobial activity, but an ethanol extract of S. thunbergii (SHE) inhibited Serratia liquefaciens, Salmonella Typhimurium, Pseudomonas aerogenosa and all of the tested gram-positive bacteria at 4 mg/mL. Especially, Bacillus subtilis, Clostridium perfringens and Listeria monocytogenes were susceptible to SHE. As the results of MIC test, SHE inhibited the growth of B. subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes at concentration of 0.1~0.3%, and inhibited C. perfringens at 0.01%. In the thermal and pH stability test for SHE, antibacterial activities of SHE were maintained when the SHE was treated at 121 o C for 15 minutes or under pH 2~8. SHE was partitioned in the order of n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate and butanol. As the results of the MIC test for each obtained fraction, no fraction exhibited higher antibacterial activity than that of the crude SHE. However, a mixture of chloroform, ethylacetate and ethanol fractions showed higher antibacterial activity than SHE.
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