Biological activities of extracts from gamma-irradiated Aralia elata cortex

Gamma irradiated-treatment of natural medicinal plants can be used to improve extraction transference number and for qualitative improvement of color when applied to functional material exploration. This study investigated the biological activities of Aralia elata cortex extracts upon gamma irradiation. In addition, different physical techniques [photostimulated luminescence (PSL) and thermoluminescence (TL)] were used for irradiation identification of Aralia elata cortex. In PSL analysis, non-irradiated (0 kGy) sample showed a negative result of 400 photon counts (PCs), whereas irradiated (5, 10, and 30 kGy) samples showed positive results of 90,100.00, 312,614.33, and 321,661.67 PCs, respectively. In the TL method, growth curve showed very unusual behaviors around 200°C upon natural-irradiation of the non-irradiated (0 kGy) sample and around 150~250°C for the irradiated (5, 10, and 30 kGy) samples. The TL ratio was 0.1 in non-irradiated samples at 0.011, whereas the values of irradiated samples (5, 10, and 30 kGy) were 0.1 at 1.105, 1.009, and 2.206, respectively. For phenolics of gamma-irradiated Aralia elata cortex, water and 50% ethanol extracts had the highest amounts, 17.30±0.40 mg/g and 18.87±0.46 mg/g at 10 kGy irradiation, respectively. The inhibitory activities of angiotensin-converting enzyme and xanthin oxidase were higher in both irradiated water and 50% ethanol extracts than in non-irradiated ones. For pancreatin α-amylase and α-glucosidase inhibitory activities, water and 50% ethanol extracts containing 200 μg/mL of phenolics showed high inhibitory activities of 60~100% at all irradiation doses (0~30 kGy). This result confirmed that Aralia elata cortex extracts have greater anti-diabetic effects than acabose as a diabetic remedy. Gamma-irradiated Aralia elata cortex extracts are useful as a functional material with anti-diabetic effects. Thus, Aralia elata cortex extracts can be used as a functional material with various biological activities, and gamma-irradiation can be used to amplify biological activities in plants.