• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.344-348
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• 1995

Preliminary screening test of modulators for multidrug resistance with 400 medicinal plants was carried out by using human multidrug resistance cell line, KB-V1. Among active medicinal plants, the unripe fruits of Evodia officinalis showed a potent modulating activity of MDR. From MeOH extract of this plant, we isolated two indole alkaloids, rutaecarpine (1) and evodiamine (2), by repeated silicagel column chromatography. Rutaecarpine increased the cytotoxicities of vinblastine and taxol against multidrug resistance cells, but evodiamine showed no modulating activity in spite of its potent cytotoxic activities.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.136-144
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• 1997

Cigarette smoking is known to suppress both 1-methy14-phenyl-155,Ltetrahydropy-ridine (MPTP)-induced parkinsonism and idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). However, the precise mechanism underlying its protective action against PD is not clearly elucidated yet. In order to find possible clue on the mechanism of protective action of smoking, we investigated the inhibitory effect of cigarette smoke components on rat brain mitochondria1 monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B), responsible enzyme for the activation of MPTP to its toxic metabolitesr and identified the components having an inhibitory potency on this enzyme from cigarette smoke. Total 31 eligible constituents including nicotine were selected from cigarette smoke condensates via solvents partitioning and silica gel chromatographic separation, and inhibitory potencies of 19 components on MAO-B were determined. Hydroquinone and methylcatechol, the phenolic components, showed the strongest inhibitory potencies on MAO-B activity in the components tested. 3,4-Dihydroxybenzylamino, myosmine and indole in basic fracton, eugenol in phenolic fraction, and farnesol in neutral fraction also inhibited the enzyme activity dose-dependently. Among tobacco alkaloids tested only myosmine was effective for the inhibition of this enzyme. These results suggest that the decrease in MAO-B activity by such components derived from cigarette smoke seems to be related to the suppression of MPTP-induced neurotoxicity and to the less incidence of Parkinson's disease in smokers than in nonsmokers.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.40 no.5
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• pp.599-602
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• 2008

Vincamine, one of the major indole alkaloids in vincaminor (Vinca minor L.) is commonly used for treating cerebrovascular diseases. The antioxidant activity of vincaminor extracts and vincamine were measured by 1.1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and lipid malonaldehyde (MA) assay. Vincaminor leaves were pulverized and extracted with various solvents such as water, methanol, and ethanol. The antioxidant activities of the extracts varied in accordance with solvents and assays. In DPPH assay, the water extract showed the highest antioxidant activity. In lipid MA assay, However, the ethanol extract inhibited MA formation from cod liver oil by 82% at the level of 5,000 ${\mu}g/mL$. Vincamine in the extract was analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatogram and the concentration of vincamine was 0.419$\pm$0.005 ${\mu}g/mL$.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.71-80
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• 2012

Vinca alkaloids produced from Catharanthus roseus are one of the most important natural product drugs in treatments of human cancers. These anticancer drugs are derived from coupling of the two monomeric indole alkaloids, catharanthine and vindoline. In order to investigate vindoline biosynthesis, tabersonine-$CD_3$ 1a is synthesized to use as a deuterium labeled precursor, which is distinguished clearly from the natural counterpart. We show that these deuterium labeled tabersonine 1a are successfully incorporated into the vindoline biosynthetic pathway to yield three deuterated vindoline intermediates. 16-Hydroxytabersonine-$CD_3$ (m/z 356) 2a, 16-Methoxytabersonine-$CD_3$ (m/z 370) 3a, 16-Methoxy-2,3-dihydro-3-hydroxytabersonine-$CD_3$ (m/z 388) 4a are produced from the cell suspension culture measured by UPLC/MS at 5 and 13 days after feeding tabersonine. The conversion rates from 1a to 2a and 2a to 3a are fast, whereas that from 3a to 4a is much slower. This indicates that the rate determining step among the first three vindoline biosynthesis is the last step. As a result of the slow conversion rate from 3a to 4a, the accumulation level of 16-Methoxytabersonine-$CD_3$ 3a is significantly increased up to 13 days. The accumulation ratio among 2a, 3a and 4a is 1, 2 and 0.1 at 5 days. However, the peaks of desacetoxyvindoline-$CD_3$ 5a, deacetylvindoline-$CD_3$ 6a and vindoline-$CD_3$ 7a are not found from the cell extracts even after 13 days of incubation which may indicate no presence of their corresponding enzymes.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1096-1103
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• 2019

Neuroinflammation is mediated by the activation of microglia and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Therefore, the inhibition of neuroinflammation may be an effective solution to treat these brain disorders. Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis is an insect belonging to the order Coleoptera and inhabits Korea, China, Japan and Siberia. P. brevitarsis seulensis is an edible insect that can be consumed as a protein source for humans. It has been reported that P. brevitarsis seulensis contains useful bioactive substances for hepatoprotection and improving blood circulation, such as indole alkaloids. Microglia cells are the main source of proinflammatory cytokines and nitric oxide (NO) in the central nervous system, which Perform neuroimmune, inflammatory, and other neurobilogical functions. In this study, we investigated the anti-neuroinflammatory effects of P. brevitarsis seulensis ethanol extract (PBE) in activated microglia cells treated with lipopolysaccgarude (LPS, 100 ng/ml). As a result, PBE significantly inhibited NO production without cytotoxicity and decreased the expression levels of inducible NO synthase and cyclooxygenase-2. In addition, the production of inflammatory cytokine secreted by LPS was also reduced by PBE. These results suggest that PBE could be a good source of functional substances to prevent neuroinflammation and neurodegenerative diseases.