From the stem bark of Tilia koreana Nakai(Tiliaceae) friedelin, taraxeryl acetate, epi-friedelanol, hydrocarbons and ${\beta}-sitosterol$ were isolated and characterized by spectral data.

Antioxidant activity of diarylbutane type lignans was evaluated in TBA-reactant assay to elucidate the structure-activity relationship. The antioxidant potency of lignans increased with increasing the number of hydroxyl groups, with the exception of macelignan(I), which showed a more potent activity than demethyl meso-dihydroguaiaretic acid(III).

This study was conducted to further characterize mucilages from Dioscoreae Rhizoma, which have been known to be proteoglycans. We chose the two types of yams, Dioscorea batatas Dec. (club-like) and D. japonica Thunb. (cane-like). Repeated gel filtration of a dialyzed water extract of each fresh yam on Bio-gel P-100 and then Sephadex G-150 columns completely separated the mucilage from protein. Furthermore, gel filtration of a water extract from each yam processed by steaming and drying on the Bio-gel P-100 column gave only one polysaccharide peak without protein. These results revealed that the mucilages of yams were only composed of polysaccharide. Then we assessed some properties of the mucilages under three kinds of criteria: a complex-forming capacity between mucilage and alcian blue, mannose content in the mucilage, and viscosity. The complex-forming capacities of two types of fresh yams were closely similar with each other, but the processing of two types of the fresh yams greatly lowered the complex-forming capacity and viscosity.

Crude Aconiti Tubers were irradiated with microwave for 5 or 10 min with or without $NaHCO_3$. Ten min-irradiation reduced the contents of aconitine and mesaconitine to the level of those of commercially available processed Aconiti tuber power which is prepared with the high pressure-high temperature technique. The contents of benzoylaconine of the 10 min-irradiated Aconiti tubers were also comparable to those of commerciallized processed Aconiti tuber powder. However, irradiation with 1% $NaHCO_3$ soln. resulted in the drastic reduction of all the three above alkaloids.

Taxonomic relationships between some inulin containing plants such as Platycodon and Codonopsis have been investigated comparing their contents of inulin crystals, resin, as well as TLC patterns of saponins and acetylenes. Although Platycodon and Codonopsis have been known to be close in anatomic characters, the present results showed that there were significant differences between not only in the genus but also in the species.

Chichul-Tang, a combined preparation of crude drug, which was composed of Atractylodis Rhizoma alba and Ponciri Fructus, has been used widely for digestive disorder. Each herb extract of Atractylodis Rhizoma and Ponciri Fructus, the mixture of both herb extracts were examined for the effects on isolated smooth muscle, intestinal propulsion, anti-cathartic action and gastric secretion. The results were summarized as follows: Chichul-Tang showed the inhibitory effects of the convulsion of smooth muscle. Anti-cathartic effect was shown and gastric secretion was inhibited.

This study was undertaken to test the effects of Daturae Flos(DF) and Daturae Semen(DS) on the cellular and humoral immune responses, and the functions of the cells involved in immunoinflammation. Both extracts decreased the activity of superoxide dismutase, and the decrease was greater in the mouse group which was treated with DS. Both extracts decreased the phagocytic activity as measured by assessing the number of the latex particle within the phagocyte after incubation of peritoneal macrophages with fluorochrome-labelled latex particle and decreased natural killer cell activity as measured by enumerating the viable YAC-1 cells after treatment of target cells with splenic natural killer cells. Both extracts also decreased the cell-mediated immunity in vivo as assessed by measuring the ear thickness after sensitization and challenge with dinitrofluorobenzene, however, had no effects on the humoral immune responses as measured by checking hemolysin and hemagglutinin titers after immunization with sheep red blood cells(SRBC). Extracts of Semen caused decrease in the number of rosette forming cells between the splenic cells and SRBC. The results of this study suggested that both Daturae extracts could depress the immunoinflammation by affecting the various cell types involved in inflammation.