• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.25-40
• /
• 2013

Objectives: The object of this study was to observe the in vitro antibacterial effects of five single(Pulsatillae Radix, Patrinae Radix, Sanguisorbae Radix, Sophorae Flos, and Sophorae Radix) aqueous herbal extracts, traditionally used for treating various gynecological diseases including mastitis in Korea, against Staphylococcus aureus. Methods: Antibacterial activities against Staphylococcus aureus of aqueous extracts of Pulsatillae Radix, PatrinaeRadix, Sanguisorbae Radix, Sophorae Flos, and Sophorae Radix were detected using standard agar microdilution methods. In addition, the effects on the bacterial growth curve were also monitored at Minimal Incubation Concentration(MIC) and $MIC{\times}2$ levels. The effects on the intracellular killing and bacterial invasion of individual test materials were also observed using murine macrophage(Raw 264.7) and human mammary gland carcinoma cell(MCF-7). Results: MIC of aqueous extracts of Pulsatillae Radix, Patrinae Radix, Sanguisorbae Radix, Sophorae Flos, and Sophorae Radix against Staphylococcus aureus were detected as $0.215{\pm}0.107$ mg/ml, $0.273{\pm}0.107$ mg/ml, $0.469{\pm}0.297$ mg/ml, $11.850{\pm}8.406$ mg/ml, and $0.664{\pm}0.546$ mg/ml, respectively. MIC of Ciprofloxacin was detected as $0.469{\pm}0.297{\mu}g/ml$ at same conditions. In addition, all five single aqueous herbal extracts were also showed marked dosage-dependent inhibition of bacterial growth. The effects of intracellular killing with Raw 264.7 and inhibition of bacterial invasion with MCF-7 cells were detected, in the order of Sophorae Flos, Pulsatillae Radix, Patrinae Radix, Sanguisorbae Radix and Sophorae Radix aqueous extracts in the present study. Conclusions: The results obtained in this study suggest that all five single aqueous herbal extracts showed antibacterial effects against Staphylococcus aureus and they also showed dosage-dependent inhibitory effects on the bacterial growth. They showed the significant intracellular killing and inhibition of bacterial invasion effects. It means, all five single aqueous herbal extracts may show potent anti-infectious effects against Staphylococcus aureus for mastitis.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.41-58
• /
• 2013

Objectives: The object of this study was to observe the in vitro anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects of three single aqueous herbal extracts(Trichosanthes Semen, Gardeniae Fructus, and Angelicae Dahuricae Radix), traditionally used for treating various gynecological diseases including mastitis in Korea, against Staphylococcus aureus and lipopolysaccharide(LPS)-activated Raw 264.7 cells. Methods: Anti-bacterial activities of three single aqueous herbal extracts against S. aureus were detected using standard agar microdilution methods. In addition, the effects on the cell viability, $PGE_2$, NO, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 productions of LPS activated Raw 264.7 cells. The anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory effects were compared with lincomycin and piroxicam, respectively in the present study. Results: MIC of three single aqueous herbal extracts against S. aureus were detected as over 25, $4.063{\pm}2.096$ and $1.641{\pm}0.972$ mg/ml, respectively. MIC of lincomycin was detected as $0.469{\pm}0.297{\mu}g/ml$ at same conditions. In addition, $ED_{50}$ against LPS-induced cell viabilities and cytokine releases of three single aqueous herbal extracts were as follows - cell viability: 7.635, 13.761, 6.986 mg/ml, NO production : 4.808, 22.015, 2.949 mg/ml, $PGE_2$ production : 3.040, 4.312, 0.821 mg/ml, TNF-${\alpha}$ production : 9.563, 54.931, 1.240 mg/ml, IL-$1{\beta}$ production : 1.362, 1.801, 0.534 mg/ml, IL-6 production : 0.371, 0.797, 0.202 mg/ml, respectively. $ED_{50}$ of piroxicam against LPS-induced cell viabilities, NO, $PGE_2$, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-$1{\beta}$ and IL-6 were detected as 35.179, 6.552, 1.162, 7.273, 7.101 and 5.044 ${\mu}g/ml$, respectively at same conditions. Conclusions: The results of the study showed anti-bacterial effects against S. aureus in the order of Gardeniae Fructus and Angelicae Dahuricae Radix aqueous extracts, except for Trichosanthes Semen. They also showed anti-inflammatory effects against LPS-activated Raw 264.7 cells in the order of Angelicae Dahuricae Radix, Trichosanthes Semen, and Gardeniae Fructus aqueous extracts. These three herbs are expected to be great substitutes to reduce side-effect of lincomycin and piroxicam, if the amount of those three single aqueous herbal extracts is adjusted appropriately.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.26 no.2
• /
• pp.46-65
• /
• 2013

Purpose: Generally menstrual disorder caused by functional deficiency of ovary is not treated clinically because it manifests as normal process of growth. In this study we collected experimental group having several or severe menstrual disorder and we tried to find out whether there is any relationship between menstrual disorders and the function of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels or not. Methods: First, this study was researched to learn the meaning and the symptoms of 'the emaciation of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels', and to learn the relationship between menstrual disorders and 'the emaciation of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels' through literature review. And we set up a experimental group who have two or more menstrual disorders or severe degree of menstrual disorders(N=97) and control group who don't have menstrual disorders(N=97) as a result of the menstruation survey. Afterwards we conducted the DSOM in both experimental group and control group. Results and Conclusions: The meaning of 'the emaciation of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels' is deficiency of qi and blood from the Thoroughfare and Conception vessels. As a result, the female reproductive system is difficult to be worked properly with deficiency of skin, muscles, bone, and vessels. Symptoms of the emaciation of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels are classified into drying, skinny body, feeling of cold, menstrual disorders, pain and personality traits. In this study, severity of drying, skinny body, feeling of cold, menstrual disorders, pain and personality traits is significantly higher in experimental group than in control group. Like this, symptoms of 'the emaciation of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels' appear with menstrual disorders because disorder of circulation is occurred by qi and blood deficiency of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels. It is appropriate to identify this case as 'the emaciation of Thoroughfare and Conception vessels' pattern and necessary to treat actively through regulating qi and blood in advance.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.82-93
• /
• 2013

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between peripheral blood leukocyte differential - Granulocyte rate, Lymphocyte rate and its calculated Granulocyte/Lymphocyte ratio - and the obstetric variables. Methods: From 270 cases of women who were in the postpartum care center attached to Won-Kwang Korean Medical Hospital, 36 cases met exclusion criteria. On the obstetric variables of 234 cases, peripheral blood leukocyte differential - Granulocyte rate, Lymphocyte rate and its calculated Granulocyte/Lymphocyte ratio - was analyzed. In the postpartum care center, the obstetric variables were asked of 234 cases of women, and who measured leukocyte differential. Results: Mean granulocyte rate and lymphocyte rate of peripheral blood leukocyte differential showed statistically significant difference from those in healthy people and was high. There was statistically significant difference in granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio according to mood of delivery, parity and period passed from childbirth. But whether postpartum women with anemia or not, maternal age and gender of neonate were not associated with granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio, and which was not significantly correlated with gestational age and neonatal birth weight. Conclusions: These findings suggest that activation of the sympathetic nervous system in postpartum women is higher than in healthy people. And granulocyte/lymphocyte ratio was influenced by mood of delivery, parity and period passed from childbirth. In future, more studies or surveys, with less bias, for the relation between peripheral blood leukocyte differential and the obstetric variables are required.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.26 no.4
• /
• pp.66-81
• /
• 2013

Purpose: This study was carried out to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of Ligustri Lucidi Fructus water extract (LF) in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced mouse macrophages RAW 264.7 cell. Methods: Ligustri Lucidi Fructus was extracted with distilled water (2,000 ml) for 2 hours. In order to evaluate cytotoxicity of LF, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was performed. To investigate anti-inflammatory effects of LF, the concentration of nitric oxide (NO) was measured with NO assay, cytokine was measured by Bio-Plex cytokine assay, and intracellular calcium (Ca) was measured with Fluo-4 Ca assay in RAW 264.7 cell. And when p-value is below 0.05, it is judged to have the significant difference statistically (P<0.05). Results: 1. LF showed no cytotoxicity. 2. LF inhibited significantly the production of NO at the concentration of 25, 50 and $100{\mu}g/ml$. 3. LF inhibited significantly the production of interleukin (IL)-4, macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-$1{\alpha}$, granulocyte colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) at the concentration of 25, 50, 100 and $200{\mu}g/ml$. 4. LF inhibited significantly the production of granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) at the concentration of 50, 100 and $200{\mu}g/ml$, the interferon (IFN)-${\gamma}$ at 25, 50 and $100{\mu}g/ml$ respectively. 5. LF inhibited significantly the production of IL-$1{\beta}$ at the concentration of 50 and $200{\mu}g/ml$, the IL-5 at 25 and $100{\mu}g/ml$, the IL-12p70, MIP-$1{\beta}$ at 50 and $100{\mu}g/ml$, the regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secrete d (RANTES) at 100 and $200{\mu}g/ml$ respectively. 6. LF inhibited significantly the production of IL-10, interferon gamma-induced protein (IP)-10 at the concentration of $200{\mu}g/ml$. 7. LF inhibited significantly the production of intracellular Ca at the concentration of 25, 50, 100 and $200{\mu}g/ml$. Conclusions: These results suggest that LF has anti-inflammatory effect and immuno-modulating activity.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.30 no.2
• /
• pp.93-106
• /
• 2017

Objectives: This study is aimed to figure out Korean medicine doctors' recognition of Korean Medicine clinical practice guidelines (CPG) and clinical fields of treating primary dysmenorrhea before developing CPG for dysmenorrhea. Methods: We conducted a questionnaire survey targeting 515 Korean medicine doctors belonging to the Association of Korean Medicine by e-mail and analyzed the answers. Results: 81.2% of the respondents knew the concepts and contents of CPG, and 98.7% agreed about the necessity of CPG. 94.2% were willing to use CPG for dysmenorrhea in learning and treating. Average number of patients visiting the respondents' clinics for dysmenorrhea was 3.9, the main age group was 20s (63.1%), and the treatments the patients given before were mostly Western treatments such as pain killers and hormonal drugs. The respondents answered that they diagnosed patients with dysmenorrhea mainly with pattern diagnosis (41.6%), and treated them with herbal medicine (39.2%), acupuncture (31.6%) and moxibustion (22.6%) for 2-3 months. They answered that the acupoint they use most was San yin jiao, and the prescription was Gui-zhi-fu-ling-wan, They answered that the field considered to need further study was decoction of herbal medicine most (27.4%), and the field considered to need insurance coverage was also decoction of herbal medicine most (40.2%). Conclusions: We figured out Korean Medicine doctors' recognition of CPG, clinical diagnosis, treatment, cost for treating dysmenorrhea, and fields of clinical research and policy they required.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.29 no.3
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2016

Objectives: Cold Hypersensitivity of Hands and Feet (CHHF) has been diagnosed objectively by Digital Infrared Thermal Imaging (DITI) and has been known to be associated with autonomic nervous system (ANS), which can be assessed by Heart Rate Variability (HRV). This study evaluated the correlation between severity of CHHF and HRV variables.Methods: We studied 155 non-menopausal women with CHHF who visited Kyung Hee University Hospital at Gangdong from 01 October 2013 to 30 April 2016. We measured DITI and HRV of each patient. We used DITI to calculate the severity of CHHF with thermal difference between upper arm (L4, 俠白穴) and palm (P8, 勞宮穴) of both hands and anterior thigh (ST32, 伏兎穴) and dorsum of foot (LI3, 太衝穴) of both feet. The correlation between severity of CHHF and HRV variables were analyzed.Results: In time domain analysis, there was significantly positive correlation between the severity of CHHF and both SDNN and RMSSD. In frequency domain analysis, there was significantly positive correlation between the severity of CHHF and TP, HF and HF Norm while there was significantly negative correlation between the severity of CHHF and LF Norm as well as between the severity of cold hypersensitivity of both hands and LF/HF ratio.Conclusions: The more severe CHHF is, the more increased the function of parasympathetic nerve system (PNS) and relatively decreased the function of sympathetic nerve system (SNS) is. Also, it has known that cold hypersensitivity could be caused by deficiency syndrome and qi deficiency has the same ANS tendency as CHHF. Therefore, in practical fields, this result can be helpful in planning treatment and deciding prognosis in respect of deficiency syndrome.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.40-59
• /
• 2020

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of ethanol extracts from Forsythia viridissima Lindley's fructus and Lonicera japonica Thunberg's flos in vitro, which has been frequently used in inflammatory diseases. Methods: In this experiment, the anti-inflammatory effects of ethanol extracts from Forsythia viridissima Lindley's fructus and Lonicera japonica Thunberg's flos were evaluated by checking the following substances of LPS-activated Raw264.7 cell: Prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂), Nitric oxide (NO), Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), inducible Nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), Interlukine-1β (IL-1β), Interlukine-6 (IL-6), Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), Inhibitor of kappa B-α (IκBα), Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB). And additionally measured reactive oxygen species (ROS) and free radicals to check the antioxidant effect of ethanol extracts from Forsythia viridissima Lindley's fructus and Lonicera japonica Thunberg's flos which affect inflammatory responses. Results: As a result of measuring anti-inflammatory efficacy, PGE2, NO, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α production amounts were reduced in the ethanol extracts from Forsythia viridissima Lindley's fructus and Lonicera japonica Thunberg's flos groups compared with the control group, and decreased the amount of COX-2 mRNA, iNOS mRNA gene expression. Expression of MAPK (ERK, JNK, p38) pathway was decreased. Expression of IκBα was increased and NF-κB was decreased. It is demonstrated that ethanol extracts from Forsythia viridissima Lindley's fructus and Lonicera japonica Thunberg's flos, by reducing NF-κB, regulate the expression of the inflammatory genes and reduce the inflammatory mediators. Ethanol extracts from Forsythia viridissima Lindley's fructus and Lonicera japonica Thunberg's flos also decreased ROS production and free radicals, which shown to have antioxidant efficacy and influence anti-inflammatory effects. Conclusions: These data suggest that ethanol extracts from Forsythia viridissima Lindley's fructus and Lonicera japonica Thunberg's flos can be used to treat various inflammatory diseases.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.33 no.3
• /
• pp.20-39
• /
• 2020

Objectives: This study was performed to examine the domestic study trends on premature ovarian failure (POF) treated with Korean medicine. Methods: We investigated the studies on Korean medicine treatment for premature ovarian failure via searching 4 online databases. Results: 13 clinical studies were selected. All studies were the noncomparative studies, and mainly case reports. Studies were publicated from 2001 to 2019 and the number of studies with 1 subject was the greatest (76.9%). In accompanying symptoms, there was a study which did not report entire cases. In the 11 case reports (13 subjects), the most accompanying symptoms was hot flush (69.2%). In treatment of premature ovarian failure, the most used treatment was herbal medicine, which was used in all studies. Acupuncture treatment was used in 6 studies (46.2%) and moxibustion treatment was used in 8 studies (61.5%). The most common acupuncture point was 內關 (SP6) in acupuncture treatment, and was 關元 (CV4) in moxibustion treatment. The duration of treatment was between 1 month and 20 months, the average 7.76 months. Used outcome measurements were hormone test (84.6%), menstruation (76.9%), Visual analog sclale (VAS) (15.4%), ultrasonography (15.4%), Numeral rating scale (NRS), Body basal temperature (BBT) and Kupperman index (7.7%). In total 70 subjects, 13 subjects (18.6%) became pregnancy and 25 subjects (35.7%) had no effect. Follow up was reported in 6 studies, and the average duration of follow up was 141.63 days. Conclusions: Further clinical trials are needed to establish the evidence for Korean Medicine treatment for premature ovarian failure.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.61-76
• /
• 2006

Purpose : This study examined the non-toxic and the anti-oxidative effect of Dioscoreae Rhizoma on PC12 cells. Sanyak(Dioscoreae Rhizoma; chinese yam, shan yao) is well-known for its curing power for kidney, lung, spleen. Tonifies and augments the spleen and stomach. Tonifies the lung gi and augments the kidney yin. Tonifies the kidneys and also stabilizes and binds. it also binds the essence and treats spermatorrhea, frequent urination, and vaginal discharge. We are therefore interested in whether Dioscoreae Rhizoma is capable of causing abnormal apoptosis processes, and whether this condition can be rectified through Dioscoreae Rhizoma herb treatment. Methods : We used aqueous extract to treat PC12 cells with different concentrations treated with a water or a MeOH extract of Dioscoreae Rhizoma (0, x10, x20, x40, x80). The MTT (3, (4, 5-dimethyl-thiazol) 2, 5-diphenyl-tetraxolium bromide) reduction assay was employed to quantify the differences in cell activity and viability. The Bax expression level was monitored using western-blotting techniques. The patterns of the changes in expression were scanned and analyzed. Results : Bax and GSK-3${\beta}$ promotes cell death and down-regulated during the development of the PC12 cells. This is indicated that Dioscoreae Rhizoma is capable of inducing apoptosis in PC12 cells. The induced cell death and significantly inhibited by Dioscoreae Rhizoma, which can be explained by the increase in the inhibition of Bax and GSK-3${\beta}$ expression. It was also shown that Dioscoreae Rhizoma inhibits the release of $H_2O_2$ and prevents lipid peroxidation. Furthermore, the accumulation of wild type Bax protein significantly downregulated in a dose-dependent manner upon treatment with Dioscoreae Rhizoma. Conclusion : In conclusion, Dioscoreae Rhizoma can induce apoptosis via a Bax-dependent pathway or GSK-3${\beta}$ dependent pathway in PC12 cells into anti-oxidant and protective effect.