• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.236-254
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• 1996

This study was carried out to investigate the tracheal muscle relaxation of water extracts of three kinds of Coptis rhizoma and also compare their effects with berberine and palmatine, which are the important alkaloid components of Coptis rhizoma, in isolated rat tracheal smooth muscle. As a result Coptis chinenis showed significant tracheal muscle relaxation on KCI-induced contraction and more markedly on carbachol-induced contraction in dose-dependent manner. Coptis japoinin exhibited also tracheal muscle relaxation on both contraction with slightly weaker activities than those of Coptis chinensts. The activities of the root hair of Coptis chinensis were the most weakest in three rhizomas. Berberine and palmatine had strong tracheal muscle relaxation, especially, on carbachol-induced contraction, however, their activities on KCI-induced contraction were weaker than that of Coptis chinenis. The inhibitory effects of three kinds of Coptis rhizoma on the contraction by KCI and carbachol were investigated to explain the process of their tracheal muscle relaxation. All rhizomas inhibited the contraction by both agents, among them, Coptis japonica showed the most significant effect, so indicating that the tracheal muscle relaxation of Coptis rhizoma may be concerned with the blocking of muscarine receptor and $Ca^{2+}$channel.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.12 no.2 s.20
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• pp.61-65
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• 1976

Coptis rhizoma had been applied in the chines medicine as well as in the folk remidies and it was advocated that coptis rhizoma exerts good therapeutic effect in some case of alimentary disorders and other hypotensive ailments. However the basic pharmacology and the mechanism of hypotensive action are not clear. This experiment was carried out in order to reevaluate the pharmacology, especially hypotensive action of coptis rhizoma and to clarify the mechanism of action, in the rabbits and also $LD_{50}$ of coptis rhizoma was determined using mice as experimental animals. The results of the experiment were as follows. 1) $LD_{50}$ to the mice was 69 mg/kg. 2) Blood pressure manifested gradual responses by the fall of -17, -26, -62 mmHg in proportion to the administration of 3, 5, 10 mg/kg of coptis rhizoma extract respectively. 3) No significant differance was observed in heart rate between the normal control group and the coptis rhizoma extract treated group. 4) Administration of coptis rhizoma extract 5 mg/kg to the rabbit pretreated with atropine or avil did not show any significant difference in the blood pressure compared with that of control group. 5) In the rabbit pretreated with coptis rhizoma extract 5mg/kg, the hypotensive effect of epinephrine was significantly inhibited in comparison with that of normal rabbit.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.111-115
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• 1995

Natural products, total number of 175, were screened to test for their effect on the replication of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). Five of them, such as Eriobotrya japonica, Eugenia caryphyllata, Cuscuta chinensis, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, and Coptis chinensis were shown to be effective in inhibiting the replication of HIV-1 in tissue culture and their selectivity indexes were 42, 40, 14, 18 and 65, respectively. To further fractionate Coptis chinensis, which is shown to be highest anti-HIV-1 activity, methanol extracts of Coptis chinensis were fractionated into methylene chloride at pH3, pH10 and water residue. The selectivity Indexes of CH$_2$C1$_2$(pH 3), CH$_2$C1$_2$(pH 10) and water residue were 50, 22 and 98 respectively. Our results show that the water residue of Coptis chinensis was the most effective for anti-HIV-1 activity.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.46 no.4
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• pp.226-230
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• 2002

The Coptis Rhizome is known for containing a number of isoquinoline type alkaloids. Berberine, coptisine and palmatine are the major constituents of alkaloids. The alkaloids were isolated and determined by forming complex from Coptis japonica (Ranunculaceae). For the determination of these alkaloids, a new spectrophotometric method was developed with a simple and selective sample clean-up using thiocyanatocobaltate[II] complex ion. The absorbance of alkaloidal complex in l,2-dichloroethane solution was measured at 625 nm. A calibration curve for the alkaloids isolated from Coptis Rhizome was linear over the concentration range of 0.2-0.3 mg/mι. The method proved to be rapid, simple and reliable for the isolation and the determination of the alkaloids in Coptis Rhizome.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.5 no.4
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• pp.159-161
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• 1999

The effects of bioactive fractions containing protoberberine alkaloids from Coptis japonica on monoamine oxidase (MAO) activity were investigated. The MAO was obtained from the mitochondrial fraction of mouse brain. The butanol fraction from Coptis japonica was fractionated into separate bioactive fraction (Fr I-IV) by silica gel column chromatography. MAO activity was strongly inhibited by Fr III and IV, which mainly contain protoberberine alkaloids such as berberine, palmatine and coptisine. These results indicated that the protoberberine alkaloids from Coptis japonica had an inhibitory effect on MAO activity.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.196-201
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• 1987

A study was carried out to investigate the possibility of acclimation of Coptis japonica Makino in Korea. Coptis japonica could be grown within 4 years as a medicinal crude drug if it is cultivated in the area of mountain facing north(300m above sea level) with 70% light interception and appropriate soil texture. It is to be noted that the propagation of the plant is more important than the yield of berberine because the berberine contents do not change in different conditions. The results were as follows; 1. The germination rates of the seeds by covering with the pine tree leaves were the highest and averaged 63%. 2. The germination rates of dry seeds were not affected in spite of low temperature and $GA_3$ treatment. 3. The germination rates of the seeds stored in moistured sand were averaged 85%, but in dry state, they were not germinated. 4. The number of leaves and fresh weight of Coptis japonica from the area of mountain facing north were increased significantly. 5. The growth and fresh weight of Coptis japonica were reduced in clay. 6. The best growth was obtained under 70% light interception. It is possible to intercrop between evergreen trees. 7. The foliage dressing did not affect the growth. 8. The number of leaves and fresh weight were increased from the 3rd year, and the average weight of rhizomes was 5.7g in 4th year. 9. The berberine contents of the rhizomes of Coptis japonica under various treatment conditions ranged from 9 to 10%. Coptidis Rhizoma from this study and from Korean market showed much higher berberine contents than those from Japanese market.

• The Korean Journal of Food And Nutrition
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.617-621
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• 2011

$Coptis$ $chinensis$ Franch rhizome is one of the important traditional Korea medicines with anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, anti-hypertensive and anti-cancer properties. The methanol extract of rhizome from the $Coptis$ $chinensis$ rhizome was purified by using preparative centrifugal partition chromatography (CPC) and HPLC method. The optimum two-phase CPC solvent system was composed of n-butanol:acetic acid:water at a ratio of 4:1:5. Berberine (16.8 mg) was successfully isolated by CPC and HPLC. The chemical structure of the compound was identified by (1 H)$^1H$, $^{13}C$-NMR and ESI-MS spectral data analysis.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.384-389
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• 2012

As part of our screening of anticariogenic agents from medicinal plants, the ethanol extracts of 25 herbs widely used in the fork medicine were tested for the antimicrobial activity against a cariogenic bacterium Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175. The ethanol extracts of Coptis chinensis, Sophora flavescens, Glycyrrhiza uralensis, Mentha arvensis, and Saururus chinensis showed antimicrobial activities against S. mutans. The extracts of Coptis chinensis and Sophora flavescens among these medicinal plants showed significant antomicrobial activity against S. mutans. These results suggested that the extracts of Coptis chinensis and Sophora flavescens could be the potential source of antimicrobial agent against S. mutans ATCC 25175.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.12-16
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• 1998

The inhibitory effect of 10 lignan constituents isolated from the rhizomes of Coptis japonica var. dissects on tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophage cell line (RAW264.7 cells) has been studied. Among them, pinoresinol, woorenoside-V and lariciresinol glycoside showed significant inhibitory activities in the range from 37% to 55% at the concentration of $25{\mu}g/ml.$ The results are first report that the lignans isolated from Coptis japonica inhibit TNF- ${\alpha}$${\alpha}$

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.48-53
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• 1997

This study was performed to elucidate the possible antioxidative effects of several wild plant extracts. Wild plants were extracted with methanol or water using general method. In first experiments, antioxidative effects were measured by lipid peroxidation using rat brain homogenate. Coptis japonica extract showed the highest antioxidative activity among the 15 wild plant extracts. In second experiments, rats were fed on the semipurified diets with or without Coptis japonica extracts at the level of 0.5% for 4 weeks. MDA production of liver homogenate were significantly lower in the rats fed Coptis japonica extracts (P<0.05). Cytosolic catalase. GPX, and SOD activities were not changed, whereas the activities of GST and glutathione level were significantly higher in rats fed Coptis japonica extracts (P<0.05). These results suggest that Coptis japonica extract has an antioxidative effect through increasing GST activity and glutathione level and decreasing MDA production.