Masashi Hosokawa

Japanese edible brown seaweeds, Eisenia bicyclis (Arame), Kjellmaniella crassifolia (Gagome), Alaria crassifolia (Chigaiso), Sargassum horneri (Akamoku), and Cystoseira hakodatensis (Uganomoku) were assayed for total phenolic content (TPC), fucoxanthin content, radical scavenging activities (DPPH, peroxyl radical, ABTS, and nitric oxide), and antioxidant activity in a liposome system. Among the solvents used for extraction, methanol was the most effective to extract total phenolics (TPC) from br

The apoptosis-inducing effect of fucoxanthin on human leukemic HL-60 cells was investigated. Fucoxanthin, which was obtained from the brown alga Undaria pinnatifida, inhibited the proliferation of HL-60 cells and induced DNA fragmentation on agarose gel electrophoresis, a typical characteristic feature of apoptotic cells. The results of sandwich ELISA using anti-biotin-antibody and anti-DNA-antibody also demonstrated DNA fragmentation in accordance with the increase in fucoxanthin concentration

The modifying effects of dietary feeding of conjugated linolenic acid (CLN) isolated from the seeds of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia) on the development of azoxymethane (AOM)-induced colonic aberrant crypt foci (ACF) were investigated in male F344 rats to predict its possible cancer chemopreventive efficacy. The effect of CLN on the proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) index in colonic ACF was also examined. Rats were given subcutaneous injections of AOM (20 mg/kg body weight) once a we

ABSTRACT In order to utilize upstream chum salmon as a component of nutraceutical food, their defatted muscle proteins were hydrolyzed with 5% thermolysin. The resulting hydrolysate showed high inhibitory activity against angiotensin I‐converting enzyme (inhibitory concentration 50 = 27.9 protein μg/mL) in vitro. A significant reduction of systolic blood pressure was observed when 500 and 2000 mg/kg of body weight were orally administered into spontaneously hypertensive rats. Angiotensin I‐conve

Phospholipase D (PLD)-mediated transphosphatidylation of squid skin lecithin with L-serine was examined to prepare docosahexaenoic acid-containing phosphatidylserine (DHA-PS). When a biphasic system with organic solvent and 0.2 M acetate buffer (pH 5.5) was used, PS synthesis was significantly affected by the amount of 3.4 M L-serine-containing acetate buffer. L-Serine concentration in the acetate buffer and choice of organic solvent were also crucial. In a typical reaction with 0.8 unit of PLD