• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.252-259
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• 2008

The chloroform extract of Croton roxburghii (Family: Euphorbiaceae) was evaluated for its antipyretic effects in Brewer's yeast induced hyperthermia in rats. The anti-inflammatory effect of the Croton roxburghii was also evaluated by using carrageenan, dextran, histamine, serotonin induced rat paw oedema and cotton pellet induced granuloma (chronic) models in rats. The chloroform extract of Croton roxburghii (CECR) exhibited significant anti-pyretic and anti-inflammatory effect at the dose 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg. Maximum inhibition (55.32%) was notedat the dose of 200 mg/kg after 3 h of drug treatment in carrageenan induced paw oedema, whereas the Indomethacin (standard drug) produced 61.33% of inhibition. The extract exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity in dextran induced paw edema in a dose dependent manner. In the chronic model (cotton pellet induced granuloma) the CECR (200 mg/kg) and Indomethacin (10 mg/kg) showed decreased formation of granuloma tissue by 52.32% and 56.32% respectively. The extract also exhibited a significant antipyretic response in Brewer's yeast induced pyrexia in rats. Thus, the present study revealed that the CECR exhibited significant antipyretic and anti-inflammatory activity in the tested animal models.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.48-58
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• 2005

The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of nicorandil on arterial blood pressure and vascular contractile responses in the normotensive anesthetized rats and to establish the mechanism of action. Nicorandil (30~300 ${\mu}g/kg$) given into a femoral vein of the normotensive anesthetized rat produced a dose-dependent depressor response. These nicorandil-induced hypotensive responses were not affected by pretreatment with atropine (3.0 mg/kg, i.v.) or propranolol (2.0 mg/kg, i.v.), while markedly inhibited in the presence of chlorisondamine (1.0 mg/kg, i.v.) or phentolamine (2.0 mg/kg, i.v.). Futhermore, after the pretreatment with 4-aminopyridine (1.0 mg/kg/30 min, i.v.) or glibenclamide (50.0 ${\mu}g/kg$/30min) into a femoral vein made a significant reproduction in pressor responses induced by intravenous norepinephrine. In he isolated rat aortic strips, both phenylephrine (10$^{-5}$ M)- and high potassium (5.6 ${\times}\;10^{-2}$ M)-inducedcontractile responses were dose-dependently depressed in the presence of nicorandil (25~100 ${\mu}M$). Collectively, these experimental results demonstrate that intravenous nicorandil causes a dose-dependent depressor action in the anesthetized rat at least partly through the blockade of vascular adrenergic ${\alpha}_1$-receptors, in addition to the well-known mechanism of potassium channel opening-induced vasorelaxation.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.37 no.2
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• pp.119-126
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• 2007

Tablet splitting is used in pharmacy practice to adjust the dose to be administered. However, it also causes several problems such as undesirable effect for sustained release or enteric-coated dosage form, inaccuracy of dose, and pharmacist's safety by splitting hazardous drugs. This study investigated the current status of oral dosage form splitting for patients older than 19 years by analyzing Korea National Health Insurance Claims Database. Out of oral solid drugs prescribed (N=1,486,584) 9.8% of them included tablets (or capsules) split. There were some splitting cases even in sustained release (4.9%), enteric-coated forms (1.3%) and hazardous drugs (2.7%) that were selected by NIOSH (The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health). The most frequently split drugs were antihistamines, neuropsychotics and steroids. In case of digoxin and warfarin, unit doses in a domestic market were not diverse compared to foreign markets. Guidelines for splitting oral solid dosage forms, approval of diverse doses and conducting dose-response studies for the commonly splitting ingredients on Korean people are needed for the saff and effective use of oral solid drugs.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.3 no.4
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• pp.433-438
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• 1999

Two components of the neuroendocrine-hormonal response to long-term treatment of acarbose, adipose tissue-derived leptin and central neuropeptide Y (NPY), were investigated in the ICR mice on a high- carbohydrate diet. Acarbose, administered 5 or 50 mg per 100 g diet for four weeks, dose dependently suppressed body weight gain. The body weight gain was reduced along with the amount of daily food intake in 50 mg acarbose-treated group at $7^{th}\;and\;28^{th}$ day. 5 or 50 mg acarbose treatment administered for four weeks reduced leptin mRNA levels to 62% and 77% of the control group, demonstrating that the amount of leptin mRNA in adipocytes correlates with body weight. As dose of acarbose increased, leptin mRNA level also increased, suggesting that potent inhibition of ${\alpha}-glycosidase$ by a higher dose of acarbose furthers the enzyme activity and leptin gene consequently. On the other hand, central expression level of NPY gene was increased significantly compared with the control group at the same amount of acarbose administered, reflecting that leptin and NPY operate in a negative-feedback circuit to regulate body fat stores.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.1107-1117
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• 1990

The regulatory role of the post \ulcorner1-and \ulcorner2-adrenoceptors on cardiac function, particularly in coronary flow rate, was investigated in the isolated rat heart treated with 10-6 M propranolol. When introduced into the left atrium of the heart, phenylephrine[10-7-10-2 M] decreased coronary flow rate and increased mean coronary resistance in a dose related fashion, but did not affect heart rate. Methoxamine also elicited the increment of coronary resistance and the decrement of coronary flow rate, though the effects of methoxamine were weaker than those by phenylephrine. The effect of phenylephrine was inhibited by 1\ulcornerM prazosin and shifting the dose-response curve to the right. The effects of clonidine, a selective \ulcorner2-adrenoceptor agonist, were studied in the heart taken from reserpinized rats. Clonidine increased coronary resistance, decreased heart rate and coronary flow rate with a dose-dependent manner. These effects were abolished by 10-6 M yohimbine, a selective \ulcorner2-antagonist, and were not affected by 10-6M prazosin. Clonidine also decreased coronary flow and increased mean coronary resistance in electric paced heart. These effects were inhibited by rawoulscine, a selective ca-antagonist. These results indicate that the stimulation of both post \ulcorner1-and \ulcorner2-adrenoceptor causes coronary vasoconstiction. And it is inferred that this model of sympathomimetics-induced coronary vasospasm may provide a useful tool for investigating spasmolytic agents which are of benefit in the treatment of variant angina.

• Molecular & Cellular Toxicology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.165-171
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• 2009

Biomarkers indicating past exposure to radiation have not yet been entirely satisfactory. In this study, we validated several genes reported as radiation response genes, as biomarkers to detect past exposure to radiation in occupationally exposed workers, especially workers in the medical field. A total of 54 radiation workers in hospital were investigated for radiation exposure dose. Their average radiation dose of recent one year was 1.09 mSv ($\pm$1.63) with a 10.63 mSv ($\pm$12.91) cumulative dose. The results of the multiple regression analysis for the various variables indicate that the Hsc70 (P=0.0292) and ORAL (P=0.0045) may be candidate biomarkers for the recent 1 year radiation exposure in radiation workers, whereas AEN (P=0.0334) and PGAMI (P=0.0003) might be for cumulative exposure.

• Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics
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• v.57 no.9
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• pp.379-383
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• 2014

Recombinant growth hormone (GH) is an effective treatment for short children who are born small for gestational age (SGA). Short children born SGA who fail to demonstrate catch-up growth by 2-4 years of age are candidates for GH treatment initiated to achieve catch-up growth to a normal height in early childhood, maintain a normal height gain throughout childhood, and achieve an adult height within the normal target range. GH treatment at a dose of $35-70{\mu}g/kg/day$ should be considered for those with very marked growth retardation, as these patients require rapid catch-up growth. Factors associated with response to GH treatment during the initial 2-3 years of therapy include age and height standard deviation scores at the start of therapy, midparental height, and GH dose. Adverse events due to GH treatment are no more common in the SGA population than in other conditions treated with GH. Early surveillance in growth clinics is strongly recommended for children born SGA who have not caught up. Although high dose of up to 0.067 mg/kg/day are relatively safe for short children with growth failure, clinicians need to remain aware of long-term mortality and morbidity after GH treatment.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.4 no.4
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• pp.354-363
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• 1996

This study was conducted to investigate the repeated dose toxicity of DA-9601, an antiulcer agent of Artemisia app. extract, in rats. DA-9601 was administered orally once a day for 4 weeks to 10 males and 10 females per group at doses of 0(vehicle control), 125, 500 or 2000 mg/kg/day. Throughout the study, no treatment-related deaths and clinical signs were observed. In female rats receiving 125 mg/kg of DA-9601, water consumption increased slightly on day 4, 11 and 25. Hematological examination showed a decrease of MCV and an increase of PLT in male rats at the doses of 500 and 2000 mg/kg groups. Blood biochemistry revealed slight decreases of cholesterol, BUN and Na in male rats and decreases of total bilirubin and creatinine and slight increases of globulin and Cl in female rats. The organ weights at the end of 4 weeks showed slight changes in some organs of treated groups. But, all these changes were not considered to be of toxicological importance, because they did not show dose-response relationship and relevance to gross and microscopic findings. Histopathologically, abnormal treatment-related changes were not observed in any organ and target organs were not detected. On the basis of these results, the NOAEL(no-observed-adverse-effect level) of DA-9601 was estimated to be more than 2000 mg/kg/day under the conditions tested.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.339-348
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• 2004

Paecilomyces sinclairii was administered ad libitum feeding at percentage levels of 0, 1.25, 2.5, 5 and 10 percentage (calculated about 8 g/kg)/feeder for a period of 3 months. There was no observed clinical signs or deaths related to treatment in all groups tested. Therefore, the approximate lethal dose of P. sinclairii was considered to be higher than 8 g/kg in rats. Mild decreases in body weight gain were observed dose-dependently in P. sinclairii treated groups in dose response manner after 2 weeks. Interestingly, the weight of abdominal adipose tissues surrounding epididymides were greatly reduced by this Dongchunghacho, in parallel with the mild increase in body weight gain. However, the absolute weight change of other organs was not observed. There were not significantly different from the control group in urinalysis, ocular examination, hematological, serum biochemical value and histopathological examination. From these results, it is concluded that the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) of P. sinclairii is less than 1.25% (1 g/kg) in rats in the present study.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.471-477
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• 1998

Cyclosporin A (CsA), a widely used immunosuppressant, is well known to cause nephrotoxicity and hypertension as major side effects. The present study was aimed at investigating the effects of CsA-pretreatment on the activities of cytosolic guanylate cyclase (cGC) in relation to the alteration of relaxant responses in the rat thoracic aorta. CsA $(10\;{\mu}M)-preincubation$ for 90 min significantly attenuated the vasodilatation induced by sodium nitroprusside (SNP), a cytosolic guanylate cyclase activator, shifting the dose-response curve to the right. The increase in cGMP contents induced by SNP was markedly attenuated by CsA. SNP ($1\;{\mu}M{\sim}\;mM$) increased the cGC activity dose-dependently, and the increase was completely abolished by CsA. CsA attenuated the SNP-induced cGC activation dose-dependently. The abolishing effect of CsA-pretreatment on the SNP-induced cGC activation was not affected by washing the preparation, suggesting that the inhibition is irreversible. When CsA was added simultaneously with SNP, cGC activation was not attenuated. 1-(5-isoquinolinylsulfonyl)-2-methyl piperazine (H-7), a protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, decreased SNP-induced cGC activation and blocked the CsA-attenuation of cGC activation. These results suggest that CsA directly inhibits cGC participating in the CsA-induced impairment of vasodilatation, and that PKC is involved in the inhibitory action of CsA on cGC.