• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.465-472
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• 2012

We examined plants that were used as temple food in Jeju from May 2011 to January 2012. Thirty-six temples participated in the study, and there were 58 questionnaire respondents. Fifty-seven taxa were used as temple food, which belonged to 27 families, 51 genera, 55 species, and two varieties. The most commonly used family-based taxa were eight species of Compositae, six species of Cruciferae, and four species of Umbelliferae. Ten species of woody plants and 25 species of Jeju native plants were also used as temple food. The most useful part was the leaf, followed by the root, leaflet, and fruit. A patent search showed that most of the surveyed plants were covered by intellectual property rights. Forty-eight species had food-related patents, 34 species had cosmetics-related patents, and 38 species had medicine-related patents. The purchase and procurement of Jeju temple food plants usually depended on the market or plant cultivation rather than the use of the plants. Gathering of wild herbs for temple food has been performed on a limited basis. Therefore, collecting traditional knowledge for the use of Jeju plant resources should be conducted under different conditions rather than through a temple-related study.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.39-43
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• 2012

The knowledge of native wild mushrooms traditionally using in Jeju Island, that have specific native environment and various biodiversity, was investigated. From Jeju and Seogwipo cities including 7 provinces 4 locals, so total 50 villages, data was collected in the entire area and voice of the 93 elderly people between the age of fifty and ninety were recorded. As a result, total 23 native wild mushrooms were used in which 2 species were poisonous mushrooms, 7 species were medicinal mushrooms, 2 species was used for folk religion, 2 species were not used for living but for attention and 12 species were edible mushrooms. Also, a total of 267 cases of traditional knowledge was collected, in which 197 cases were about edible mushrooms for 12 species, 43 cases were about poisonous mushrooms for 2 species, 16 cases were about medicinal mushrooms for 7 species. Interestingly, the fortune for agriculture was told depending on spore mass release of Cyathus stercoreus which grows in animal feces and compost. It is considered as the distinctive traditional knowledge of Jeju Island.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.63-63
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• 2003

Opuntia ficus-indicavar. saboten Makino (Cactaceae) is a tropical or subtropical plant that has been widely used as folk medicine for the treatment of diabetes, asthma, burn, edema and gastritis. The purposes of the present study were to identify antioxidant constituents from fruits and stems of the plant cultivated in Cheju island, Korea, and examine their in vitro neuroprotective activities. Using a chromatographic fractionation method, ten chemical constituents were isolated from ethyl acetate extracts. By means of chemical and spectroscopic methods, those were identified as eight flavonoids such as kaempherol (a), quercetin (b), kaempferol 3-methyl ether (c), quercetin 3-methyl ether (d), narcissin (e), dihydrokaernpferol (f), dihydroquercetin (g) and erioclictyol (h), and two terpenoids such as 3-oxo-${\alpha}$-ionol-${\beta}$-d-glucopyranoside (i) and roseoside (j). Among the isolated compounds, comrounds c~e and h~j were those reported for the first titre from the plant. Compounds b, d and g showed DPPH free radical scavenging activities with IC$\sub$50/ values of 28, 19 and 31, ${\mu}$M respectively. Compounds d and g also inhibited iron-dependent lipid peroxidation with IC$\sub$50/ values of 2.4 and 3.5 ${\mu}$M. In a primary rat cortical neuronal cell culture system, compounds b, d and g inhibited xanthine/xanthine oxidase-induced (IC$\sub$50/ values of 18.2, 2.1 and 54.6 ${\mu}$M) and H$_2$O$_2$-induced (IC$\sub$50/ values of 13.6, 1.9 and 25.7 ${\mu}$M) cytotoxicities. In addition, compounds d and g inhibited NMDA-induced excitotoxicity by 21 and 33%, and only compound d inhibited growth factor withdrawal-induced apoptosis by 31% at a tested concentration of 3 ${\mu}$M. The results suggest that the antioxidant constituents with in vitroneuroprotective activities may serve as lead chemicals for the development of neuroprotective agent.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.44 no.4
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• pp.416-430
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• 2017

The kenaf plant is used widely as food and in traditional folk medicine. This study evaluated the morphological characteristics, functional compounds, and genetic diversity of 32 kenaf cultivars from a worldwide collection. We found significant differences in the functional compounds of leaves from all cultivars, including differences in levels of chlorogenic acid isomer (CAI), chlorogenic acid (CA), kaempferol glucosyl rhamnoside isomer (KGRI), kaempferol rhamnosyl xyloside (KRX), kaemperitrin (KAPT) and total phenols (TPC). The highest TPC, KAPT, CA, and KRX contents were observed in the C22 cultivars. A significant correlation was observed between flowering time and DM yield, seed yield, and four phenolic compounds (KGRI, KRX, CAI, and TPC) (P < 0.01). To assess genetic diversity, we used 80 simple sequence repeats (SSR) primer sets and identified 225 polymorphic loci in the kenaf cultivars. The polymorphism information content and genetic diversity values ranged from 0.11 to 0.79 and 12 to 0.83, with average values of 0.39 and 0.43, respectively. The cluster analysis of the SSR markers showed that the kenaf genotypes could be clearly divided into three clusters based on flowering time. Correlations analysis was conducted for the 80 SSR markers; morphological, chemical and growth traits were found for 15 marker traits (corolla, vein, petal, leaf, stem color, leaf shape, and KGRI content) with significant marker-trait correlations. These results could be used for the selection of kenaf cultivars with improved yield and functional compounds.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.425-430
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• 2012

Rumex acetosa is a perennial herb that is widely distributed across eastern Asia. Although the hot water extract of R. acetosa has been used to treat gastritis or gastric ulcers as a folk medicine, no scientific report exists for the use of this plant to treat gastric ulcers. Hence, the present study was undertaken to assess the anti-ulcer activity of water and 70% ethanol extracts obtained from R. acetosa, using an HCl/ethanol-induced gastric ulcer model in mice. Anti-inflammatory and free radical-scavenging activities of these two extracts were also evaluated and compared. As a result, the administration of R. acetosa extracts significantly reduced the occurrence of gastric ulcers. However, significant differences in protective activity against gastric ulcers were observed between the two samples. In the case of the group pretreated with an ethanol extract dosage of 100 mg/kg, the protective effect (90.9%) was higher than that of water extract (41.2%). Under histological evaluation, pretreatment with R. acetosa extracts reversed negative effects, such as inflammation, edema, moderate hemorrhaging and loss of epithelial cells, presented by HCl/ethanol-treated stomachs. Meanwhile, R. acetosa extracts showed potent DPPH radical-scavenging activity and decreased NO production in a murine macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7, in a dose-dependent manner without affecting cellular viability. The greater anti-ulcer and NO production inhibitory activities exhibited by ethanol extracts compared to water extracts could be ascribed to the higher emodin levels, a major anthraquinone component of this plant.

• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.43-57
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• 2020

Essence of the Hwangchil tree (黃漆樹 Dendropanax morbiferus H.Lév.) has been used for various purposes, like waxing emperor's armors, covering an astrology board, or, during the Silla Dynasty, burying it to block something bad in the soil symbolically. Essence of the Hwangchil tree was known to have remarkable preservation effects such as waterproofing, damp-proofing, rust-proofing, and moth-proofing as well as not being easily peeled off from even soft surfaces like paper. There is a record in Prescriptions for Epidemic diseases of Cows, Horses, Sheep, and Pigs (牛馬羊猪染疫病治療方), published in 1541, of Hwangchil that is local to Jeju Island being used instead of benzoin (安息香), of burning Hwangchil, and of making cows inhale its smoke to prevent plague among them. Along the same lines, there are records in the Local Chronicle of Tamra (耽羅志) and the Book of Earth Geography (輿地圖書) that identify Hwangchil with benzoin. In Seonghosaseol (星湖僿說), a book written by Lee Yik in around 1760, it is acknowledged that Hwangchil could be medicinal herb. In 2000, Ahn Duk-Kyun registered the roots and branches of Hwangchil tree as 'Boncho' (本草 herbal medicine) in the Pictorial Book of Korean Medicinals (韓國本草圖鑑) and presented the method of taking it for medical purpose. Researchers have suggested that Hwangchil essence as well as diverse parts of the plant such as its roots, branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and gum have various meaningful medicinal properties. Regarding the history and recent researches of using Hwangchil tree, it has various medicinal probabilities such as, 'dispersing miasma' (辟邪), 'opening holes' (開竅), 'waking the heart' (醒心), 'smoothing spirits' (安神), 'piercing the block' (疎泄), 'removing the old and welcoming the new' (去故生新). This paper contributes ideas about how to expand the uses of Hwangchil Tree.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.46 no.2
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• pp.118-124
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• 2018

Juglans mandshurica is a fast growing hard species, which is a tree in family of Juglandaceae and has a wide distribution in China, Korea and eastern Russia. Plant materials from J. mandshurica have extensively been used in folk medicines to prevent or cure gastric, esophageal, lung and cardiac cancer. As one chain of our searching for anticomplementary agents from natural sources, two epimeric ellagitannins, [2,3-O-4,4',5,5',6,6',-hexahydroxydiphenoyl (HHDP))-(${\alpha},{\beta}$)-D-glucose] (I) and pedunculagin (II) were purified from 70% acetone extracts of the stem barks of J. mandshurica by Thin Layer Chromatography and Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography approaches. The chemical structures of the isolated compounds were characterized by MS, NMR, and a careful comparation with published literatures. The epimeric ellagitannins I and II exhibited inhibitory properties against a classical pathway of complementary system with 50 % inhibitory concentrations ($IC_{50}$) values of 65.3 and $47.7{\mu}M$, respectively, comparing with riliroside ($IC_{50}=104{\mu}M$) and rosmarinic acid ($IC_{50}=182{\mu}M$), which were used as positive controls. Thus, the work indicated both the two secondary metabolites possess excellent inhibitory activity and might be developed as potential anticomplementary chemicals.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.543-549
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• 2004

Ixeris dentata is a typical oriental herb. It is a widely distributed perennial in Korea, Japan and China, which belongs to the Compositae Family. The whole plant of I. dentata has been used for the treatment of pneumonia, contusion, tumor and hepatitis. It has also been used for the treatment of allergic diseases as a folk therapy in Korea. I. dentata is known to have aliphatics, triterpenoids and sesquiterpene glycosides in its composition. The present study was designed to explore the protective effects of water- and ethanol- extracts from I. dentata on irradiated rodents. For oral administration (twice per day), the extractive powder of I. dentata and the positive control (ascorbic acid) were dissolved at a concentration of 0.5 and 250mg $ml^{-1}$ in saline, respectively. Thirty days after irradiation, the ratio of the weight of the testis to the body weight was lower than 50% in the radiation groups than the control group. The ALP concentrations in the group treated with the water-extracts of the leaf were $79.68\pm{1.39%}$ (p<0.05) of those of the radiation control. Both of the SGOT and SGPT in the group treated with the ethanol-extract of the root were $72.68\pm{0.95}\;and\;77.87\pm{5.74}$ (p<0.05) of those of the radiation control, respectively. The levels of DNA damage induced by gamma radiation decreased in the experimental group to which the extracts of I. dentata were administered before irradiation. In conclusion, these results indicate that the extracts of I. dentata have an excellent ability to reduce the radicals and they have a protective effect on DNA breakage caused by radiation.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.17-24
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• 1983

Buxus leaves(Buxus microphylla var. koreana Nakai) have been used as a folk medicine in treating woman's disease. The chemical constituents, which have teen identified from Buxus sempervirens L. in Europe, are so far known in isolation of buxus alkaloids, cyclobuxine, buxamine, norbuxamine and buxaminol. But But any study on the pharmacological action of Buxus microphylla var. koreana Nakai has not yet teen rallied out, however, active substances have not been identified. As an attempt to isolate the biologically active substances from this plant, the examination of chemical constituents was undertaken. In the experiment, the crystalline component$(C_{10}H_8O_4)$ obtained from Buxus microphylla var. koreana Nakai was identified as a 6-methoxy, 7-hydroxy coumarin by chemical and physical methods. We named this crystal buxuletin. Therefore, we intended to screen the pharmacological action of buxuletin, especially, its diuretic effects in rabbits. Buxuletin was intraveneously injected to the rabbit in the dose of 20 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg and 5 mg/kg. The variations of urine volume and minerals $(Na^+,\;K^+\;and\;Cl^-)$ in urine were measured at an interval of 15 minutes for 4 hours after the treatment of buxuletin. The observed results are as follows: 1) With the administration of buxuletin (20 mg/kg, 10 mg/kg), the remarkable increment of the excreted urine volume was observed during the relatively long period. Excretion rates of urinary minerals $(Na^+,\;K^+\;and\;Cl^-)$ were also increased. 2) In a dose of 5 mg/kg, the slight increment on the diuretic actions of rabbits was observed. From the above results, authors name this crystal buxuletin and buxuletin shows the diuretic action.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.173-178
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• 2009

A variety of herbs and plants have been traditionally used in oriental folk medicine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In our attempt to search for anti-inflammatory agents from natural products, we investigated 64 methanol extracts from 42 medicinal plants belonging to 10 families which were evaluated for inhibitory activities of NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophage RAW 264.7 cells. Among them, 16 extracts exhibited inhibitory activities of NO production ($IC_{50}$ values ranging from 59.6 to 94.7 ${\mu}g/m{\ell}$). Only the extract from aerial parts of Hosta lancifolia (H. lancifolia) did not exert cytotoxic effects at the concentrations tested. The extract from H. lancifolia decreased the mRNA and protein levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and pro-inflammatory cytokines in activated macrophage RAW 264.7 cells in dose-dependent manner. The results suggest that the extract may contain bioactive compounds that suppress expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which may prove beneficial with regard to the development of natural agents for prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases.