• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.5
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• pp.347-353
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• 2018

There are some controversies about the safety of herbal medicine. In order to examine the safety of herbal medicine, this study investigated the level of liver function test(AST/ALT) in patients taking herbal medicine for more than 6 months We checked liver function in 121 patients who took herbal medicine for more than 6 months. AST/ALT were measured before treatment and every 3 months (from 3 month to 9 month). In 121 patients taking herbal medicine for more than 6 months, mean AST level after 6 months was lower than before treatment and mean ALT level after 6 months was lower than before treatment. In 20 patients with abnormal AST/ALT before herbal treatment, 18 patients's AST/ALT changed to normal after 6 month herbal treatment. 2 patients's AST/ALT was slightly higher than normal. One woman patient met the criteria for herb-induced liver injury(HILI) with RUCAM scores 4 after taking herbal medicine for 6 months. Although her RUCAM score decreased to zero after taking herbal medicine for 9 months. This study suggests that long-term herbal medicine for 6 months or longer is very unlikely to injury liver function. Individual-specific liver damage may occur, it can be recovered.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.109-113
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• 2010

Objectives: Liver function tests are used as screening tests for liver injuries, but their inaccuracy on positive predictive values can result in numerous false positive results. We investigated the incidence of liver function test abnormalities of patients who came to an oriental medicine hospital, in order to present a practical way to rule out false positive results for other studies designed to investigate the safety of Korean herb medicine. Methods: We analyzed the medical records and liver function test results proceeded at admission of all in-patients admitted to Jaseng Oriental Medicine Hospital, from July 2008 to June 2009. Results: Among 1,117 inpatients, 941 executed liver function tests on admission, and 40 were excluded due to their diagnosed liver disease. 747 (82.9%) of 901 enrolled patients were within the normal range of all liver function tests, and 140 (15.5%) and 14 (1.6%) were classified as "abnormalities of liver tests" and "liver injury" respectively, according to the CIOMS (Council for International Organizations of Medical Sciences) criteria. Conclusions: According to the results, among the outcomes of liver function tests proceeded among the patients admitted to the oriental medicine hospital, excluding who were diagnosed with liver disease, 17.1% showed abnormality. This means simple liver function test results are not sufficient in determining liver toxicity of Korean herb medicine (KHM).

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.61-68
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• 2022

This study aimed to investigate the hepatoprotective activities of the sea cucumber products, including extracts and hydrolysates, in vitro and in vivo. Dried sea cucumber, produced on the western coast of Korea, was boiled in water or 70% ethanol at 85℃ or 100℃ for 18 or 24 h, respectively, to extract bioactive compounds. The enzymatic hydrolysates were prepared by reacting the dried sea cucumber with pepsin or neutral protease (PNL) under optimal enzyme conditions. The anti-inflammatory effect of the samples was investigated using RAW 264.7 cells treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The amount of nitric oxide (NO) was produced from the cells treated with LPS and each sample was compared. Therefore, the pepsin hydrolysate treatment decreased NO production compared to LPS sole treatment. Furthermore, the effects of the samples on cell injury in the hepatic cell line and bisphenolA-induced hepatic injury mouse model were investigated. The water extracts and the pepsin hydrolysates of sea cucumber significantly inhibited cell injury generated in the hepatocytes without cytotoxicity (p < 0.05), whereas the ethanol extracts were cytotoxic. However, these results indicate that the extracts and the enzymatic hydrolysates derived from sea cucumber can be used as beneficial materials for inhibiting liver damage.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.53-65
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• 2023

Objectives : Present study investigated the hepatoprotective effects and the optimal mixing ratio of fermented Schizandrae Fructus Pomace (fSFP) and Hoveniae Semen Cum Fructus (HSCF) extract combination in carbon tetrachloride (CCl₄)-induced acute liver injury mice. Methods : ICR mice were orally administered with 200 mg/kg of fSFP, HSCF and mixtures of fSFP and HSCF [MSH (w:w); 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:6, 2:1, 4:1, 6:1, and 8:1] for 7 consecutive days. Silymarin (100 mg/kg) was administered as a reference drug. 0.5 mL/kg of CCl₄ was injected intraperitoneally to induce acute liver injury. Body weight gain, relative liver weight, serum chemistry, histopathological analysis, and hepatic endogenous antioxidants capacities were observed. Results : All diverse combinations of MSH significantly reduced relative liver weight increase by CCl₄. In addition, MSH administrations significantly decreased the elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase and aspartate aminotransferase activities by CCl₄. Histopathological observation indicated that all MSH treatments significantly reduced the increase of degenerated hepatocytes, inflammatory cell infiltration, and histological activity index score by CCl₄. Moreover, all MSH administrations reduced the elevation of malondialdehyde contents, and ameliorated the reduction of hepatic glutathione contents, superoxide dismutase activity, and catalase activity. Among the various mixing ratio of MSH combinations, MSH 1:1 and 2:1 showed the most potent anti-oxidative stress, and hepatoprotective effect. Conclusion : Present results suggest that 1:1 and 2:1 combinations of MSH is promising herbal formulation with the hepatoprotective effect against oxidative stress.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.6
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• pp.1415-1423
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• 2007

Carbon tetrachloride ($CCl_4$)-induced liver injury depends on a toxic agent that has to be metabolized by the liver NAPDH-cytochrome P450 enzyme system to a highly reactive intermediate. Alternations in the activity of cytochrome P450 enzymes affect the susceptibility to hepatic injury from $CCl_4$. In this study, we evaluated the potential protective activity of the traditional Korean medicinal herb, Corni fructus (CF), against an experimental model of hepatotoxicity induced by $CCl_4$. The CF exhibited a hepatoprotective activity against $CCl_4-induced$ liver damage in Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats, as measured by GOT, GPT, ALP and histological observation. The CF also showed significant decrease of malodialdehyde (MDA) and increase of glutathion (GSH), catalase activity in rat liver homogenate. In addition, the expression of CYP2E1, as measured by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot analysis, was significantly decreased in the liver of CF treated SD rats. But $CCl_4$ and CF has no significant effect on 1A1 and 3A1 isoform of cytochrome P450. Based on these findings, it is suggested that hepatoprotective effects of CF possibly related to antioxidative effects and regulation of CYP2E1 expression.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.04a
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• pp.122-122
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• 2019

Protaetia brevitarsis (PB) extracts has been traditionally used as medicinal stuff to treat blood stasis, occlusion of menstruation, tetanus and liver cancer in Asian countries (Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, India and Myanmar). Especially, Donguibogam, which is traditional korean medicinal book, described the PB extracts as traditional medicine to treat hepatic diseases and vascular disorders. The PB extracts has been considered as highly nutritional food. The major constituents of PB extracts are rich in protein, healthy fats, iron, calcium. Recent studies announced that PB extracts has hepatoprotective effect and anti-microbacterial effect. However, the effect of PB on ulcerative colitis has not been uncovered yet. The aim of this study was to examine the anti-inflammatory effect of PB extracts in dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colitis mice model. Cytotoxicity of PB was determined by MTT assay and the antiinflammatory effect of PB extract was investigated by measuring nitric oxide (NO) production. PB extracts did not show any cytotoxicity. AIso, PB extracts supressed NO production in LPS-stimulated mice peritoneal macrophages. To determine whether PB could be an effective treatment on ulcerative colitis, DSS was administered in BALB/c mice for 10 days. PB extract significantly improved the clinical signs of DSS-induced UC, including body weight loss, colon length shortening, and disease activity index increase, with histological markers of colon injury. These findings indicated the possibility of PB as a therapeutic agent on ulcerative colitis.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2021.04a
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• pp.5-5
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• 2021

Alcoholic and nonalcoholic steaohepatitis is a leading form of chronic liver disease with few biomakers ad treatment options currently available. a progressive disease of NAFLD may lead to fibrosis, cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Recently, we extracted HIMH0021, which is an active flavonoid component in the Acer tegmentosum extract, has been shown to protect against liver damage caused by hepatic dysfunction. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to investigate whether HIMH0021 could regulate steatohepatitis and liver fibrosis during alcoholic or nonalcoholic metabolic process. HIMH0021, which was isolated from the active methanol extract of A. tegmentosum, inhibited alcohol-induced steatosis and attenuated the serum levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) during hepatocellular alcohol metabolism, both of which promote lipogenesis as well as liver inflammation. Treatment with HIMH0021 conferred protection against lipogenesis and liver injury, inhibited the expression of cytochrome P4502E1, and increased serum adiponectin levels in the mice subjected to chronic-plus-binge feeding. Furthermore, in hepatocytes, HIMH0021 activated fatty acid oxidation by activating pAMPK, which comprises pACC and CPT1a. These findings suggested that HIMH0021 could be used to target a TNFα-related pathway for treating patients with alcoholic hepatitis.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.12-17
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• 1999

The youngkaechulgamtang (Y) composed of four herb drugs, including Hoelen (H). Cinnamomi Ramulus (C). Atractylodis Rhizoma Alba (A) and Glycyrrhizae Radix (G). In oriental medicine literatures, Youngkaechulgamtang is described to be effective in headache, inflammation, uremia, gastritis, diarrhea and hypertension. To estimate the clinical effectiveness of Youngkaechulgamtang, several pharmacological experiments were carried out. The results are summerized as follows; On acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity, C+A, Y-G, Y-H, MIX and Y showed the significant elevation of glutathione-S-transferase. But, C+A, Y-G, Y-H, MIX and Y showed the significant suppression of serum aminotransferases. On ANIT-induced cholestasis, U (Ursodesoxycholic acid 50 mg/kg)+$Y_l$ (760 mg/kg) showed the significant increase of bile juice volume. $Y_l,\;Y_2$ (1520 mg/kg), U, $U+Y_l$ showed the remarkable increase of cholic acid. U and $U+Y_l$ showed the significant decrease of total bilirubin. From these results, it is suggest that Y shows liver protective effect against various hepatic injury. Especially, Youngkaechulgamtang was more effective than mixture of 4 ingredients in the elevation of glutathione-S-transferase in acetaminophen-induced hepatotoxicity.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.323-328
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• 2010

Root extract of Lythrum salicaria reported a hepato-protective effect on $CCl_4$-induced liver toxicity of rat was prepared into fractions such as n-hexane up layer (HA), n-hexane down layer (HB), diethyl ether (E), ethylacetate (EA), n-butanol (B) and water (W). Fractions prepared were tested their activities in vitro and in vivo condition. All of the fractions showed effective antioxidant asctivities on DPPH radical and $CuSO_4$-induced oxidation of human low density lipoprotein and E fraction showed the highest inhibitory effect (98.1% at $50\;{\mu}g/m{\ell}$) on linoleic acid autoxidation at $40^{\circ}C$, which was more effective than $\alpha$-tocopherol (82.4%). Five fractions (H = HA plus HB, E, EA, B, and W, 150 mg/kg/day) were fed into Sprague Dawley, male rats for 4 days, which were intoxicated with intra-peritoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride ($1\;m{\ell}/kg$ in corn oil) at the 4th day and were sacrificed in 24 hrs. Serum tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-$\alpha$), a proinflammatory cytokine, elevated with $CCl_4$-intoxication in negative control group ($83\;pg/m{\ell}$) was significantly decreased in E fraction-supplemented group ($18\;pg/m{\ell}$). Cu, Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity increased in negative control group (0.12 U/mg protein) was decreased in E fraction (0.07 U/mg protein). From the results, it is suggested that ether fraction from root extract of L. salicaria would be a potent antioxidant candidate for ameliorating liver injury induced by chemical intoxicant.