• Plant Biotechnology Reports
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2010

Definitive identification of original plant species is important for standardizing herbal medicine. The herbal medicines Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix (Baekshuoh in Korean and Beishuwu in Chinese) and Polygoni Multiflori Radix (Hashuoh in Korean and Heshuwu in Chinese) are often misidentified in the Korean herbal market due to morphological similarities and similar names. Therefore, we developed a reliable molecular marker for the identification of Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix and Polygoni Multiflori Radix. We used random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) analysis of three plant species, Polygoni multiflorum, Cynanchum wilfordii, and Cynanchum auriculatum, to obtain several species-specific RAPD amplicons. From nucleotide sequences of these RAPD amplicons, we developed six sequence characterized amplification region (SCAR) markers for distinguishing Polygoni Multiflori Radix and Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix. Furthermore, we established SCAR markers for the simultaneous discrimination of the three species within a single reaction by using multiplex-PCR. These SCAR markers can be used for efficient and rapid authentication of these closely related species, and will be useful for preventing the distribution of adulterants.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.83-91
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• 2015

Objectives : The present study was conducted to examine whether Cynanchi wilfordii radix (CWR) with or without fermentation has an ameliorative effect on hyperlipidemia in rats.Methods : We analyzed the contents of Conduritol F on Cynanchi wilfordii radix. The experimental animals were divided into six groups; normal diet fed group (N), high cholesterol fed control group (Con), Lovastatin 20 mg/kg (L), CWR-W 300 mg/kg (CWR-W), and CWR-F 300 mg/kg on hyperlipidemia model induced by feeding 1.25% cholesterol. Rats were administrated orally every day for 8 weeks. And lipid profile of serum and weight change were observed.Results : The vehicle displayed a markedly increased body weight and significantly increased liver and epididymal fat weight, however, the administration of CWR improved the body, liver, and epididymal fat weights. All drug treatment reduced significantly the serum level of total cholesterol and LDL-cholesterol elevated by intake of high cholesterol diet. TG displayed a reducing tendency all drug treatment, however, CWR-W decreased significantly. Atherogenic index and cardiac risk factor increased high cholesterol diet fed control group, while the administration of CWR-W and CWR-F decreased significantly. The major index of liver injury such as AST and ALT improved in all drug treatment.Conclusions : These results suggest that CWR extended the effect of lipid enhanced. Therefore CWR with or without fermentation may be useful for therapeutic treatment of clinical conditions associated with hyperlipidemia. Finally, these require more investigations about the action mechanism of CWR in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.1954-1958
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• 2014

The feasibility of incorporating Cynanchi wilfordii powder as a value-added food ingredient in convenient food products was investigated using yanggaeng as a model system. C. wilfordii powder was incorporated into yanggaeng at 0, 2, 4, 6, and 8% weight amounts based on total weight of cooked white bean and C. wilfordii powder. pH increased significantly, and moisture content ranged from 45.40% to 47.40% with increasing levels of C. wilfordii powder (P<0.05). In terms of color, lightness, redness, and yellowness increased significantly (P<0.05) with increasing levels of C. wilfordii powder. Hardness significantly decreased with higher amounts of C. wilfordii powder (P<0.05). Total polyphenol content and DPPH radical scavenging activity were significantly influenced by addition of C. wilfordii powder, and they increased significantly as C. wilfordii powder concentration increased (P<0.05). Finally, consumer acceptance test indicated that the highest levels of C. wilfordii powder (8%, w/w) had considerable adverse effects on consumer preferences in general. In contrast, yanggaengs with moderate levels of C. wilfordii powder (2%, w/w) are recommended (with respect to overall preference score) to take advantage of the functional properties of C. wilfordii powder without sacrificing consumer acceptability.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.166-176
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• 1993

This study was attempted to investigate the acute toxicity in mice, the subacute toxicity in rats of Cynanchi wilfordii Radix extract, the effect on transaminase activities, hematological parameters, leukocyte parameters in serum of subacute-toxicated rats. In acute toxicity test, the death rate was not observed in 50, 100, 200, 300 mg/kg(i.p.), one tenths to two tenths in 300, 500, 1000, 1500 mg/kg(p.o.) for two weeks. In subacute test, rats were all died in 300 mg/kg(p.o.) during 4 weeks, in 500, 1000 mg/kg(p.o.) during three weeks. The cause of death believed to be stomach ulcer. The activities of S-GOT and S-GPT were significantly increased in all sample-treated groups, when compared with the normal groups. A number of WBC and neutrophil belong to hematological parameter were significantly increased, lymphocyte was decreased in all sample-treated group, when compared with normal group. The hemolytic action on water extract, saponin and alcohol extract showed very low activities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.564-572
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• 2015

Nutritional compositions, volatile compounds, and sensory attributes of Cynanchi wilfordii Radix were analyzed in order to examine its practical utilization as a food resource. In the proximate analysis, protein and lipid contents were shown to be 14.6 and 5.0 mg/100 g, respectively, in C. wilfordii Radix. Potassium was the most predominant mineral (809 mg/100 g), as determined by inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry in parallel with microwave acid digestion. Total phenolic content was found to be 410 mg/100 g. Further, arginine and linoleic acid were the most abundant amino acid and fatty acid of C. wilfordii Radix, respectively. To examine its functional properties, classical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) analysis was performed. As a result, the concentration of C. wilfordii Radix required to scavenge 50% of DPPH radicals was 1.16 mg of dried material. Lastly, in olfactory and sensory tests, ${\beta}$-eudesmol (woody odor) was the major flavor compound responsible for the bitter taste and sensory attributes of C. wilfordii Radix. Taken altogether, the above results provide important preliminary results for utilization of C. wilfordii Radix as a food resource.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.42-52
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• 2003

Objective: For designing an optimal countermeasure against ageing and ageing related disease, it is necessary to understand the ageing mechanism and other reactive species. Free radicals are associated with the mechanisam of biological ageing and age-related diseases. This study was performed to identifiy the scavenging effect of Radix Cynanchi Wilfordii Herbal-Acupunture Solution(RCWHA) on Nitric Oxide(NO), 1, 1-diphenyl-2-picryl-hydrazyl(DPPH) and Interleukin-4(IL -4). Methods: The activity to scavenge DPPH radicals and NO was observed in vitro, We evaluated the antioxidant activity of RCWHA by using DPPH or NO free radical method. Also the inhibitory effect on IL-4 in RCWHA was observed in vitro, Results: The followings are the summary of the results; (1) There is a significant scavenging effect of RCWHA on NO in 0.1mg/ml and 10mg/ml group after 24hrs. (2) There is no significant scavenging effect of RCWHA on DPPH. (3) There is a significant scavenging effect of RCWHA on IL-4 in $10{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ and $100{\mu}g/m{\ell}$ group. Conclusions: These findings indicate that RCWHA can be used as antioxidant or antiimflamatory drug. But further study is needed about the effect of RCWHA.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.49 no.1
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• pp.55-64
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• 2018

Recently, it has been a big issue to distinguish the dried roots of Cynanchum wilfordii and C. auriculatum in health functional food market. The original plant species of Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix belong to the Asclepiadaceae family is differentially described in the national pharmacopoeia of Korea, China and Japan. Owing to the morphological similarities of the dried roots of this plant to those of C. auriculatum, which is often misidentified in Korean herbal medicine marketplace, distinguishing these two species is exceedingly difficult. The purpose of this study was to compare the conventional-PCR with the real-time PCR for detection of C. wilfordii and C. auriculatum DNA. We also tried to realize a quantitative real-time PCR assay using species-specific matK primers, which allowed us to estimate the ratio of C. willfordii and C. auriculatum using varying ratios of mixed genomic DNA template from the two species. The differentiation of intentional and unintentional mixture in this study would be applied to food safety management and can be helpful for protection of consumer's right and cultivators.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.49-58
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• 2019

Objectives : Obesity is a public health concern associated with chronic diseases including hyperlipidemia, diabetes, fatty liver, atherosclerosis and cancer. As several anti-obesity drugs have been limited owing to their side effects, the development of new anti-obesity drugs through herbal medicines has been increasing. Cynanchum Wilfordii Radix (CW) traditionally is consumed for various health benefits including immune enhancing, anti-inflammation and anti-tumor activities. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the effects of CW on High fat diet (HFD)-induced obese mice. Methods : The mice were randomly divided into four groups (n=7). The mice were respectively fed a normal diet (ND), a high-fat diet (HFD), HFD plus CW (50 mg/kg/day), HFD plus CW (100 mg/kg/day). All groups were assayed for body weights, food efficiency ratio, blood biochemistry parameters, and organic tissue weights. Results : HFD-fed mice showed an increase in the body weight and serum biochemistry parameters levels (total cholesterol and triglycerides) as well as organic tissue weights. However, the administration of CW to obese mice induced a reduction in their body weight, food efficiency ratio, blood biochemistry parameters and weight of liver and fat compared with the HFD fed mice. Additionally, we observed that CW inhibited the lipid accumulation in liver and serum lipid parameter induced by HFD. Conclusions : Taken together, the findings of this study suggest that CW may be a potential agent for use in the treatment of obesity and obesity-related metabolic diseases.

• Food Science and Preservation
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.432-437
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• 2016

The objective of this research was to investigate the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Jeok Hasuo (Polygonum multiflorum Thunb., PM) and Baek Hasuo (Cynanchi wilfordii Radix, CW) root extracts. Total phenolic contents of PM and CW root extracts were determined and the antioxidant activities of the root extracts were determined by scavenging activity of diphenylpicrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals. The antimicrobial activities against Staphylococcus aureus and Propionibacterium acnes were determined and expressed as the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). The disc diffusion method was also used to determine the zone of inhibition. The butanol extracts of PM and CW roots exhibited greater total phenolic contents (1,212.6 and 1,454.5 mg/g GAE, respectively) than those of ethanol and water extracts. The ethanol (89.0%) and butanol extracts (88.9%) of PM exhibited significantly greater DPPH radical scavenging activities than that of water extracts (73.1%) (p<0.05). Only ethanol extract exhibited an MIC of 0.8 mg/mL against both bacteria. Zones of inhibition started to form when the concentration of extract was greater than 5 mg/disc. The diameters of the zone of inhibition of PM and CW were measured to be 8.9 and 9.2 mm against S. aureus and P. acnes, respectively, exhibiting the greatest antimicrobial activities among the extracts. This research demonstrated that the PM and CW root extracts possessed not only antioxidant activity but also strong antimicrobial activity against skin-related bacteria.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.374-379
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• 2017

Hair loss affects interpersonal relationships and causes psychological stress. In this study, we investigated the antioxidant activity of Cynanchi Wilfordii Radix (CWR) and its effects on dermal papilla (DP) cells. Antioxidant efficacy was examined by ABTS assay. To confirm the effect on cell activity, MTS assay was performed and cell count was directly measured by hemocytometer. The mRNA expression of genes involved in hair formation and hair loss formation was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR. CWR has a strong antioxidant activity. Cell viability of DP cells was increased to 118.5% by treatment of 0.5 mg/ml CWR for 24 hours, but the effect on the cell number was insignificant. These results suggest that CWR increases mitochondrial activity without promoting cell proliferation. Treatment of DP cells with 0.5 mg/ml CWR resulted in 48.5% reduction of mRNA expression of type 2 $5{\alpha}$-reductase, a major cause of male hair loss. In addition, mRNA expression of bone morphogenetic pretein (BMP), fibroblast growth factor (FGF)7, and FGF10, which are closely related to hair growth, was also decreased. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) acts as a cause of hair loss. The excellent antioxidant efficacy of CWR is thought to be able to effectively remove ROS. The dihydrotestosterone produced by type 2 $5{\alpha}$-reductase in DP cells is a potent inducer of male pattern hair loss. The inhibitory effect of type 2 $5{\alpha}$-reductase mRNA on DP cells induced by CWR may induce a positive therapeutic effect of male pattern hair loss.