• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.1282-1284
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• 2006

In the course of search for hepatoprotective agents from oriental traditional medicines, one compound was isolated from the MeOH extract of the fruits of Schizandra chinensis, and its structure was determined as gomisin J(1). The evaluation for hepatoprotective activity of isolated compound 1 on drug-induced cytotoxicity was conducted, and compound 1 showed protective effect with an EC$_{50}$value of 86.0 ${\pm}$ 5.3 ${\mu}$M against tacrine-induced cytotoxicity in Hep G2 cells. One of the well-known hepatoprotective agents, silybin, used as a positive control, and the hepatoprotective effect of compound 1 is similar with that of silybin (EC$_{50}$ value = 90.5 ${\pm}$ 9.8 ${\mu}$M).

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.166-170
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• 2006

In this study, we investigated whether schizandrin, schizandrin-A, gomisin-A and uridine affect mucin secretion from cultured airway epithelial cells and compared the potential activities of these agents with the inhibitory action on mucin secretion by poly-1-lysine (PLL) and the stimulatory action by adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Confluent primary hamster tracheal surface epithelial (HTSE) cells were metabolically radiolabeled using $^3H-glucosamine$ for 24 h and chased for 30 min in the presence of varying concentrations of each agent to assess the effects on $^3H-mucin$ secretion. The results were as follows: schizandrin-A and uridine increased mucin secretion at the highest concentrations ($2{\times}10^{-4}\;-\;10^{-3}M$). We conclude that schizandrin-A and uridine can stimulate mucin secretion via direct effect on airway mucin-secreting cells and suggest that these agents be further investigated for the potential use as mucoregulators during the treatment of chronic airway diseases.