• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.740-746
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• 2004

In order to identify the anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties of natural herbal extracts, widely used in the Korean traditional medicine, an in vitro screening system was designed using pGL3, a luciferase reporter vector, and the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and cyclooxygenase (COX)-II as target genes. The promoter regions of each gene was generated by PCR using the human chromosome as template DNA, and inserted into pGL3 vector with Kpnl and Hindlll. The final construct was transfected into human myleomonocytic leukemia cells (U937) that could be differentiated and activated by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Using this system, we tested the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of several herbal extracts being regarded to have the medicinal effects of diminishing the body heat and complementing Qi. The well-known chemicals of PD98059 and berberine chloride were used as controls of the transcriptional inhibitors of TNF-α and COX-II, respectively. Among them, Salvia miltiorrhiza (Dan-Sam) was found to exhibit the significant medicinal properties of anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects.