Brining Property and Antimutagenic Effects of Organic Chinese Cabbage Kimchi

Brining property and antimutagenic effects of organically cultivaged Chinese cabbage kimchi (OC kimchi) and common Chinese cabbage imchi (CC kimchi) were studied. The salt absorption rate of leaves was faster than that of stems of the Chinese cabbages. Due to the large portion of leaf in organic Chinese cabbage, organic Chinese cabbage(OC) was much faster in terms of salt absorption rate than common Chinese cabbage(CC). The antimutagenic effects of methanol extracts of CC kimchi and OC kimchi were studied against aflatoxin B1(AFB1) using Ames test on Samonella typhimurium TA 100 and N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) using SOS chromotest. Methanol extract from 6 -day fermented OC kimchi at 15 $^{\circ}C$ showed 80% inhibition rate against the indirect mutage, aflatoxin B1 induced mutagenicit where as that from 6-day fermented CC kimchi at 15 $^{\circ}C$ showed 54% inhibition rate in the Ames test. Methanol extracts from 6-day fermented CC kimchi and OC kimchi showed 27 % and 58 % inhibition rate against direct mutagen , N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine induced mutagenicity, respectively in SOS chormotest, thus OC kimchi exhibited higher antimutagenic activity than kimchi.