Gastroprotective Effects of Fermented Gold Kiwi (Actinidia chinenesis L.) Extracts on HCl/EtOH-Induced Gastric Injury in Rats
, Na-Yong Lee 2, Hyun-Jeong Oh 2, Hyuck-Se Kwon 2 and Jungkee Kwon 1,*
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Line 48-51: I suppose the authors mean the kiwi fruit. As previously mentioned, kiwi is a plant.
Line 77: Please add information on the number of repetitions of the production of fermented golden kiwi extract (FGK). In what or what FGK extracts were ground into powder? What conditions were used to store the prepared FGK powders?
Line 93-94: Organic acids (citric acid, malic acid, and quinic acid) and carotenoids (β-carotene, lutein) contents were…
Line 94: How was the sample prepared for HPLC analysis, what was the sample amount to be analyzed?
Line 100: What was the sample amount to be analyzed?
Line 102: …..1.2 mL of 1 mol/L NaOH was added.
Line 103 and 109: How the results of the analyzes were expressed?
Line 106: What was the sample amount to be analyzed?
In my opinion, subchapters 2.5. and 2.6. should be transferred via subchapter 2.4. Experimental animals
Line 220: Could a correlation coefficient be given?
Figure 3: I propose to separate the photo and the two charts separately, which will make it possible to present them side by side (charts).
Line 316-318: Were significant differences obtained with each of the applied doses of FGK?
Line 346: ……effects of kiwi puree fermented powders produced by using beneficial bacteria in gastritis experimental models.
Discussion: I propose to supplement the discussion about the doses of FGK powder used in the experiment.
Author Response
Thank you so much for your valuable comments.
Please find my response to each comment.
I’ve revised my manuscript according to the reviewer’s comments
Also, this is the answer to Line 77 (new manuscript line 79) part of the review.
The extraction process was not carried out separately using a solvent in this experiment.
This experiment used gold kiwi fruits after a process of fermentation of the raw material using lactic acid bacteria.
Then a freeze-drying process was carried out to powder, and this experiment used it.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
This is an interesting study and the authors have done extensive experiments. However, some major issues need to be resolved because the results and discussion are not well represented.
Introduction and Material & Methods
- Please check the spelling used in some words (line 26, line 148, line 228,…)
- Please check the font used for the entire manuscript.
- Too frequent use of the word “after” (line 98-103). Please change the word accordingly.
- Please check the repetitive error for “2.5” (line 120-121)
- Include the technique the gastric tissue biopsy in the methodology (line 161)
- Please standardise the use of word “hour” or “h”
Results
- Change the colour of all the histograms so that the SEM is clearly visible.
- Please rewrite the sentence “Free radicals alter lipids, proteins, and DNA” to be more meaningful and grammatically correct.
- Include the N=? for all the Figures.
- Please show the actual photo of the Western Blot in Figure 5A.
- No dose-dependent was observed for IL-6. Rewrite the sentence at line 308.
Discussion
- Why the concentration of FGK used are different for some of the experiments? Please explain
- Please rewrite the discussion section because this section is very weak and there is no detailed explanation for most of the tests performed. Give all the possible reasons for the findings in each experiment.
Author Response
On behalf of the authors, I would like to thank you for providing us the opportunity to improve our manuscript.
We appreciate the careful reading of our manuscript as well as commenting for a better manuscript.
We have responded to all comments point-by-point following this letter.
The Western blot, band image was adjusted only image contrast to emphasize the difference in significance between groups.
The image of the manuscript is the actual photo.
We have highlighted all the changes using the revised manuscript and listed the page and line numbers where the changes have been made in our response to your comments.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
The presented paper concerns the fermented extract of gold kiwi and it potential protective role in gastic ulcers. The topic is very interesting and has a perspective for the future, thus the article is worth publishing. The experiments are well-planned, described and discussed. I have only few question and suggestions, which may improve the paper:
- I would recommend the HPLC conditions to be described not in a form of a table, which is a little bit unclear for the reader, in my opinion it would be better to present it as a text
- as far as the HPLC analytical conditions are concerned, the authors did not indicate whether the conditions were developed by the authors or were they described previously elswhere. In the fist option, the validation parameters should be included, in the second option the appropriate citation should be added
- in the presented tables and figures the authors used some abbreviations, like FGK etc., which are of course explained in the manuscript, but they should be also explained in the table or figure legends - as the general rule is that the table or figure legend should be clear for the reader, without searching in the text
- what solvent was used for the preparation of the extract
After those minor revisions the article could be published, in my opinion.
Author Response
Dear. Reviewer,
On behalf of the authors, I would like to thank you for providing us the opportunity to improve our manuscript once again.
We appreciate the careful reading of our manuscript as well as commenting and suggesting for a better manuscript.
We hope that you agree with our manuscript that has been not only thoroughly revised but also strengthened by your comments.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 4 Report
Title: Add the word ‘fermented’ in the title.
Abstract: Please add a line on why gold kiwi needs to be fermented. Is the FGK acidic? If so, why FGK managed to reduced total acidity?
Introduction:
Line 62: Why not using Jeju gold kiwi since the lactic acid bacteria was obtained from it. Please justify this in the introduction.
Materials and methods:
Line 97: Please check the symbol beta in the table.
Line 97: Individual phenolic acid analysis not done? In the into, phenolic acids were first mentioned as the bioactive component in kiwi.
Line 133: Please add the animal ethics approval number. Was the approval obtained prior to the study? Ok, this was mentioned in Section 6.
Line 159: check typo error in the table.
Results:
Line 215: Is there any significant differences for the results?
Discussion:
Is there any human study done on similar topic? ie using different kind of fruits? Please discuss more on human study if there is any.
Conclusion:
Ok
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
On behalf of the authors, I would like to thank you for providing us the opportunity to improve our manuscript once again.
We appreciate the careful reading of our manuscript as well as comments and suggestions for a better manuscript.
We have responded to all comments point-by-point in the letter.
In addition, in the case of related human research, human studies are being considered after this study has been conducted in nonclinical experiments. Based on this research, we will make efforts to make it a good follow-up study.
We hope that you agree with our manuscript which has been not only thoroughly revised but also strengthened by your comments.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 2 Report
Line 219...please put a spacing for Figure 1. The manuscript has been perfectly edited and well written