• Journal of radiological science and technology
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.321-326
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• 2010

To examine the radioprotective effect of algin-oligosaccharide(AOS), radiation-induced IL(interleukin)-6 in mice treated with 3 Gy whole body irradiation once were examined. In the measurement of irradiation-induced IL-6, in comparison with the irradiation control group, in both small intestine and liver tissues of the group treated with algin-oligosaccharide for 7 days prior to irradiation, was suppressed IL-6 synthesis(p < 0.001). It is considered that the protection against radiation hazard by antioxydative reaction of algin-oligosaccharide results in down control of IL-6 value in experimental groups treated with algin-oligosaccharide. In conclusion, through our study, the fact that algin-oligosaccharide has irradiation protection effects was elucidated, and simultaneously, the possibility of the use of a natural product without chemical toxicity as an irradiation protection agent was confirmed.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 2012

Oxidative stress potentially induces neurotoxicity which is believed to underlie several major age-related diseases of the central nervous system. This study sought to identify the cytoprotective effects of sixty-nine Cambodian plants against glutamate-induced cell death. Cultured HT22 cells were applied as an in vitro model, and neurotoxicity was induced in these neuronal cells by exposure to a determined concentration of glutamate. Sixty-nine plant sources, as Cambodia's indigenous species, were purchased from O'reusey Market, Phnom Penh, and extracted with ethanol. These extracts were screened for cytoprotective effects against glutamate-triggered neurotoxicity in HT22 cells at concentrations of 100 and 300 ${\mu}g/ml$. Of these, eight ethanol extracts, bark of Anacardium occidentale, bark and sapwood of Bauhinia pulla, flowers of Borassus flabellifer, stems and leaves of Coix lacryma-jobi, bark and sapwood of Diospyros nitida, sapwood of Dipterocarpus obtusifolius, stems of Oryza rufipogon, and fruits of Phyllanthus emblica, showed significant cytoprotective effects against glutamate-induced cell damage and degeneration in HT22 cells.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.122-128
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• 2016

This paper reports in vitro cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and adipocyte diffentiation with adipogenic effects of coumarins inophyllum D (1) and calanone (2), and a chromanone carboxylic acid namely isocordato-oblongic acid (3) isolated from Calophyllum symingtonianum as well as a biflavonoid morelloflavone (4) isolated from Garcinia prainiana on MCF-7 breast adenocarcinoma RAW 264.7 macrophages and 3T3-L1 preadipocytes cells, respectively. The cytotoxicity study on MCF-7 cell was conducted by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Meanwhile, the study of anti-inflammatory effects in RAW 264.7 macrophages and adipogenic effects on 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes were conducted through nitrite determination assay and induction of adipocyte differentiation, respectively. In the cytotoxicity study, inophyllum D (1) was the only compounds that exhibited significant cytotoxic effect against MCF-7 cell with $IC_{50}$ of $84{\mu}g/mL$. Further, all by inhibiting the compounds have shown anti-inflammatory effects in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages of nitrite concentration with production. In addition, the compounds also exhibited adipogenic effects on 3T3-L1 pre-adipocytes by stimulating lipid formation. Thus, this study may provide significant input in discovery of the potential effects cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory and adipogenic agents.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2016

Phytochemical investigation of the stems of Pueraria lobata (Wild) Ohwi (Leguminosae), led to the isolation of eighteen known compounds: ${\beta}$-amyrone (1), (+)-pinoresinol (2), (+)-syringaresinol (3) $(+)-syringaresinol-O-{\beta}-{\small{D}}-glucoside$ (4), (+)-lariciresinol (5), (-)-tuberosin (6), naringenin (7), liquiritigenin (8), isoliquiritigenin (9) genistein (10), daidzein (11) daidzin (12) daidzein 4',7-diglucoside (13) 2,4,4'-trihydroxy deoxybenzoin (14), S-(+)-1-hydroxy-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-1-(4-hydroxy-2-methoxy-phenyl)propan-2-one (15), methyl $2-O-{\beta}-{\small{D}}-glucopyranosylbenzoate$ (16), pyromeconic acid $3-O-{\beta}-{\small{D}}-glucopyranoside$ 6'- (O-4''-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzoate) (17), and allantion (18). The chemical structures of these compounds were elucidated from spectroscopic data and by comparison of those data with previously published results. The effects of isolated compounds on mushroom tyrosinase enzymatic activity were screened. The results indicated that, chloroform extract of P. lobata stems turned out to be having tyrosinase inhibitory effect, and only compounds 5, 8, 9, and 11 showed enzyme inhibitory activity, with $IC_{50}$ values of $21.49{\pm}4.44$, $25.24{\pm}6.79$, $4.85{\pm}2.29$, and $17.50{\pm}1.29{\mu}M$, respectively, in comparison with these of positive control, kojic acid ($IC_{50}\;12.28{\pm}2.72{\mu}M$). The results suggest that P. lobata stems extract as well as its chemical components may represent as potential candidates for tyrosinase inhibitors.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.93-101
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• 2016

For efficient quality control of the Samryeongbaekchul-san decoction, a powerful and accurate an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) coupled with electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry (MS) method was developed for quantitative analysis of the thirteen constituents: allantoin (1), spinosin (2), liquiritin (3), ginsenoside Rg1 (4), liquiritigenin (5), platycodin D2 (6), platycodin D (7), ginsenoside Rb1 (8), glycyrrhizin (9), 6-gingerol (10), atractylenolide III (11), atractylenolide II (12), and atractylenolide I (13). Separation of the compounds 1 - 13 was performed on a UPLC BEH $C_{18}$ column ($2.1{\times}100mm$, $1.7{\mu}m$) at a column temperature of $40^{\circ}C$ with a gradient solvent system of 0.1% (v/v) formic acid aqueous-acetonitrile. The flow rate and injection volume were 0.3 mL/min and $2.0{\mu}L$. Calibration curves of all compounds were showed good linearity with values of the correlation coefficient ${\geq}0.9920$ within the test ranges. The values of limits of detection and quantification for all analytes were 0.04 - 4.53 ng/mL and 0.13 - 13.60 ng/mL. The result of an experiment, compounds 2, 6, 12, and 13 were not detected while compounds 1, 3 - 5, and 7 - 11 were detected with 1,570.42, 5,239.85, 299.35, 318.88, 562.27, 340.87, 12,253.69, 73.80, and $115.01{\mu}g/g$, respectively.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.70-75
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• 2016

A phytoformula containing the root barks of Morus alba, the fructus of Schizandra sinensis and the roots of Asparagus cochinchinensis (MSA) was prepared as a potential new herbal remedy, and its therapeutic potential for alleviating inflammatory lung conditions was examined. For in vivo evaluation, an animal model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute lung injury (ALI) in mice was used. With oral administration of 6 - 60 mg/kg, MSA potently and dose-dependently inhibited bronchitis-like symptoms in acute lung injury induced by intranasal treatment of LPS as judged by the number of cells in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and histological observation. The inhibitory potency was comparable with that of dexamethasone. For in vitro assay, the effects on the production of proinflammatory molecules in lung epithelial cells and alveolar macrophages were examined. Although MSA inhibited IL-6 production in IL-$1{\beta}$-treated lung epithelial cells (A549) only at a high concentration ($300{\mu}g/ml$), the formula strongly and concentration-dependently inhibited NO production in LPS-treated alveolar macrophages (MH-S) at $20-300{\mu}g/ml$. Based on all of these findings, the new phytoformula MSA is suggested to have the potential to control inflammatory lung diseases including bronchitis, at least in part, by inhibiting inducible nitric oxide synthase-catalyzed NO production.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.123-127
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• 2007

We investigated effect of small black soybean fraction (SBSF) T cell-mediated responses for tumor surveillance and proliferation in leukemia cells in vitro. Each SBSF butanol fraction (SBSFBu) and SBSF chloroform fraction (SBSFCh) was administered p.o. once a day far 21 days in BALB/c mice and then levels of serum cytokines and subpopulation of lymphocytes were measured. Moreover, SBSF fraction was treated into the cultured various cell lines for proliferation in leukemia cell lines, NO production by RAW264.7 cells, and expression of p53 gene in U937 leukemia cells. These results showed that SBSFBu increased levels of serum IL-4but not IL-2 and IFN-${\gamma}$, and increased expression of CD4$^+$ T cells and CD8$^+$ T cells in splenocytes in vivo, while SBSFCh increased levels of serum IL-2 and IFN-${\gamma}$ but decreased IL-4, and increased CD8$^+$ T cells but not CD4$^+$ T cells. Moreover, both of SBSFBu and SBSFCh inhibited proliferation of HL60, U937, and L1210 leukemia cell lines in a dose-dependent manner, up-regulated NO production by RAW264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, and enhanced expression of p53 gene in U937 leukemia cells. Our findings indicate that SBSFBu and SBSFCh may enhance T cell-dependent immune responses, and that both of SBSFBu and SBSFCh may inhibit proliferation of leukemia cells by up-regulation of NO production and expression of p53 gene.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.378-383
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• 2007

Phenathrene derivatives, such as batatasins, are well-known constituents in Dioscorea Rhizoma. Although phenanthrenes have been reported as representative compounds in this plant, standard markers for quality control have been focused on the polar constituents (saponins and purine derivatives). Herein, simple, rapid and reliable HPLC method was developed to determine 3,5-dimethoxyphenanthrene-2,7-diol (DMP) and batatasin-I (BA-I) as non-polar standard maker compounds of Dioscorea Rhizoma. DMP and BA-I were analyzed under optimized HPLC conditions [column: Columbus $5{\mu}$ C18 100A ($30{\times}4.6mm$ i.d., $5{\mu}m$; mobile phase: $H_2O$ with 0.025% $CH_3COOH$ (v/v) for solvent A and $CH_3CN$ with 0.025% $CH_3COOH$ (v/v) for solvent B, gradient elution; flow rate: 2 mL/min; detection: 260 nm), and each experiment was finished within 13 min. Good linearity was achieved in the range from 0.5 to $10.0{\mu}g/mL$ for each compound, and intra- and inter-day precision were in the acceptable levels. The recovery test were performed with three different Dioscorea Rhizoma samples (D. opposita, D. batatas and D. japonica), and showed its accuracy values in the range of 97.2 - 102.8% for three different concentrations of DMP and BA-I. The content levels of DMP and BA-I were ranged under 0.0020%. These results demonstrated that amounts of DMP and BA-I are easily determined with conventional HPLC-UV-DAD method although the content levels were lower than those of saponins and allantoin in Dioscorea Rhizoma. This HPLC method could be used for quality control of various Dioscorea preparations.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.304-310
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• 2007

Saussurea costus (Falc.) Lipchitz syn S. lappa C. B. Clarke (commonly known as 'Kuth') belonging to the family Asteraceae is a well known medicinal plant which finds wide usage in different indigenous systems of medicine of India, China, Korea & Tibet. In different folk medicines the roots of S. costus are used to treat various disorders like ulcer, stomachache, malaria, leprosy, dysentery and toothache. However due to over exploitation, it has become endangered and has become the concern of different governmental bodies in India. The increasing demand of this endangered Himalayan species has resulted in a situation where it is often substituted, knowingly or unknowingly, by other morphologically similar species. Arctium lappa, belonging to the same family, is one such plant that has often been found to be present in the market samples of 'Kuth'. The present study was thus carried out and morphoanatomical characters, physicochemical as well as chemical parameters were developed for proper identification of roots of S. costus and its differenciation from A. lappa as well as authentication of the commercial market samples. The detailed morphoanatomical studies revealed that roots of S. costus can be distinguished from A. lappa on the basis of some important microscopial characters eg. the schizogenous resin ducts observed in roots of S. costus, were absent in A. lappa.. Besides, the HPTLC fingerprint profile showed a distinct band at Rf. 0.72 in S. costus, which was totally absent in A. lappa and a band at $R_f$ 0.64 in A. lappa which was absent in S. costus Chlorogenic acid, used as a chemical marker for HPTLC analysis, was estimated to be 0.077% in S. costus as compared to 0.107% in A. lappa. Thus these detailed pharmacognostical parameters can be successfully used to distinguish between roots of S. costus and A. lappa.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.311-316
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• 2007

In this study, the twenty-four ethyl acetate extracts of twenty-two medicinal plants, traditionally used in Vietnam as anti-diabetes agents, were investigated for ${\alpha}$-amylase and protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) enzymes inhibitory activity in vitro. The results indicated that, twelve materials (50.0%) showed moderate to strong inhibitory activity in ${\alpha}$-amylase inhibitory activity with $IC_{50}$ values ranging from 2.5 to $48.8{\mu}g/mL$; meanwhile, ten extracts (41.6%) could demonstrate PTP1B activity with $IC_{50}$ values less than $30.5{\mu}g/mL$. Some plants presented interesting activities against both of ${\alpha}$-amylase and PTP1B enzymes such as Catharanthus roseus, Carthamus tinctorius, Momordica charantia, Gynostemma pentaphyllum, Glycyrrhiza glabra, Smilax glabra, Psidium guajava (leave), and Rehmannia glutinosa. The study may provide a proof, at least in a part, for the ethno-medical use in diabetes disease of these plants.