• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.215-220
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• 2008

Hypolipidemic effect of Insamsansa-eum (ISE, Ren-Shen-Shan-Zah-Yin in Chinese) consisted of Red ginseng (RG; the steamed root of Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer) and Crataegii fructus (CF, the fruit of Crataegus pinnatifida BGE) is used frequently in China and Korea as a herbal medicine to treat arteriosclerosis, was investigated. Treatment of ISE significantly reduced blood triglyceride (TG) and total cholesterol (TC) levels in Triton WR-1339-induced hyperlipidemic mice and serum TG levels in corn oil-induced hypertriglyceridemic mice. ISE significantly lowered the high blood TG and TC levels as well as body and epididymal mass weights in hyperlipidemic mice induced by long-term feeding of a high-fat diet and increased blood HDL cholesterol level. ISE and its ingredients, RG and CF, inhibited pancreatic lipase and HMG-CoA reductase activities. Of its ingredients, RG reduced the blood TC level and HMG-CoA reductase activity more than CF. CF reduced blood TG level and pancreatic lipase activity more than RG. These finding suggest that the antihyperlipidemic effect of ISE may be due to synergistic inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase and pancreatic lipase by RG and CF, and that ISE may be effective hypolipidemic agents.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.260-264
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• 2008

To find the antidiabetic activity of the tripterpenoid-rich fractions of Rubus coreanus (TRF-cor) and R. crataegifolius (TRF-cra) leaves or its main component niga-ichigoside $F_1$ (Niga-$F_1$), anti-hyperglycemic and antihyperlipidemic effects were investigated in the diabetic rat model induced by streptozotocin (STZ). Treatments of rats with 200 mg/kg of the TRF-cor, TRF-cra (each, p.o.) or 20 mg/kg of Niga-$F_1$ significantly inhibited the increase of blood glucose concentration about 44.8%, 28.7% or 20.6%, respectively, in the diabetic rats. In addition, treatments with those fractions inhibited the increase of serum concentrations of triglyceride, total cholesterol or LDL-cholesterol caused by STZ. The inhibitory rate on atherogenic index (AI) values of the TRFcor (200 mg/kg), TRF-cra (200 mg/kg) or Niga-$F_1$ (20 mg/kg)-treated groups were decreased about 55.7%, 36.3% or 22.6%, respectively, comparable to STZ-treated group. In the oral glucose tolerance test, treatment of TRF-cor or TRF-cra inhibited the increase of blood glucose concentration in the STZ-induced rats. Administration of 20 mg/kg of Niga-$F_1$ (p.o.) also exhibited similar effects with the effects of both TRFs at 200 mg/kg dose (p.o.). These results support that the triterpenoids, in particular Niga-$F_1$, are contributed to the antidiabetic effects of R. coreanus or R. crataegifolius.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.80-87
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• 2010

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis on the MeOH extract of Ligularia stenocephala leaves identified six caffeoylquinic acids, viz. 3,4-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, 3,5-di-O-caffeoyl-mucoquinic acid, 3,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, 4,5-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid, 5-O-caffeoylquinic acid, and 3-Ocaffeoylquinic acid using standard compounds, and determined the quantity of each extract. Percentage of total caffeoylquinic acids of the MeOH extract and its BuOH fraction were calculated as $67.83{\pm}3.79%$ and $94.52{\pm}1.84%$, respectively. Since the caffeoylquinic acid-rich MeOH extract exhibited a potent peroxynitrite-scavenging effect in vitro ($IC_{50}=0.87{\pm}0.33\;{\mu}g/ml$ (mean $\pm$ SEM)), the experiment was designed to identify whether or not that extract has an anti-obesity effect on rat obesity induced by high fat diet. Oral administration of the MeOH extract and its BuOH fraction abundant in caffeoylquinic acid decreased the rat body weight to the level of untreated group and decreased abdominal fat pad weight. The atherogenic index and thiobarbituric acid-reactive substance (TBARS) values were restored by treatment, indicating that the caffeoylquinic acid-rich extract probably inhibited hyperlipidemia and oxidative stress caused by high fat diet. These results suggest that L. stenocephala in vegetable form or its caffeoylquinic acid-rich fraction (BuOH fraction) as an agent can be used for treatment or prevention of obesity.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.26-31
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• 2010

High performance liquid chromatographic method with diode-array detection (HPLC-DAD) has been performed for the simultaneous determination of four marker constituents, paeoniflorin, trans-cinnamic acid, schisandrin and glycyrrhizin in traditional herbal medicinal preparation, So-Cheong-Ryong-Tang (SCRT). The presence of paeoniflorin, trans-cinnamic acid, schisandrin and glycyrrhizin in this decoction was ascertained by retention time, spiking with each authentic standard, UV spectrum and ESI mass spectrum. All four compounds showed good linearity ($r^2$ > 0.998) in a relatively wide concentration ranges. The RSD for intra-day and inter-day precision was less than 3% and the limits of detection (LOD) were less than 30 ng. The mean recovery of each compound was 94.1-113.0% with RSD values less than 3.0%. These results suggest that the developed HPLC method is simple, effective and could be readily utilized as a quality control method for commercial SCRT products.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.257-262
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• 2013

Osteoporosis is a disease of bones that leads to an increased risk of fracture. In osteoporosis, the bone mineral density is reduced, bone microarchitecture deteriorates, and the amount and variety of proteins in bone are altered. $It^{\circ}{\emptyset}s$ caused by the imbalance between born resorption and born formation. Recently natural products from plants have been extensively studied as therapeutic drugs to treat and prevent various diseases. Wheat bran is the hard outer layers of wheat grain and produced as a by-product of milling in the production of refined grains. In oriental medicines, Bu So Maek (Tritici Immaturi Semen) with wheat bran has been used as bronchitis, sedatives and anti-sweating effects. However effects of wheat bran butanol fraction (WBB, 50 ${\mu}g/ml$) in osteoclast differentiation remains unknown yet. Thus we investigated the effects of WBB on RANKL induced osteoclast differentiation. WBB inhibited osteoclast differentiation by downregulating the RANKL-induced activations of MAP kinases. Moreover mRNA expression of osteoclast-mediating molecules such as c-Fos, NFATc1 and DC-STAMP were attenuated by WBB during osteoclast differentiation. The finding of this study show that WBB and its components might prevent osteoclast-related bone loss.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.19-22
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• 2006

Planting of peony, a perennial herb is usually planted in fall but the planting time can be postponed to next spring for other benefit such as land use, labour diversification and etc. This study was carried out to know the effect of planting time in spring on growth and yield of peony. Sprouting date in first year growth was earlier as planting time was later. Planting on March 10 showed best both top part and root growth and planting after that time resulted in worse growth. In planting on April 10, missing plant rate was 24% and accordingly root yield decreased to 43% comparing with that of March 10. Planting on March 10 resulted in thick and large number of root and so yield per l0a was 635 kg, the highest value among the other planting time in spring. The paeoniflorin content was not different significantly by planting time. These results suggested that March 10 was most appropriate for planting time in spring.

• Korean Journal of Microbiology
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.230-233
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• 2002

Superoxide is involved in causing inflammation, cancer, and arteriosclerosis in many cases. Taking antioxidant material can be helpful in preventing the diseases. Natural food such as barley, wormwood, sea tangle, and soybean contain antioxidant ingredients. Antioxidant activity increase was determined by fermenting them with microorganism. To determine the activity, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) solution was used. When barley, wormwood, sea tangle, and soybean were fermented with Bacillus lichenifomis Bl, antioxidant activities of each fermented product increased 2.6, 1.6, 2.7, and 1.7 folds, respectively. Also, absorbance of fermented soybean was higher than that of soybean at the range of 250~290nm, which might be involved in differences of antioxidant activity of the two. Paraquat suppressed Esherichia coli DH5$\alpha$ growth by making superoxide inside the strain. However, when ethanol extract from fermented soybean was added into the GM (glucose-mineral) media containing the strain, its growth was recovered, suggesting that ethanol extract can move across E. coli, and can function as anti-oxidant material in vivo. Thus, it will be possible to develope antioxidant material from fermented soybean which can be taken orally.

• Journal of Microbiology
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.248-255
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• 1999

We have analyzed the MRE3/REC114 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, previously detected in isolation of mutants defective in meiotic recombination. We cloned the MRE3/REC114 gene by complementation of the meiotic recombination defect and it has been mapped to chormosome XIII. The DNA sequence analysis revealed that the MRE3 gene is identical to the REC114 gene. The upstream region of the MRE3/REC114 gene contains a T_4C site, a URS (upstream repression sequence) and a TR (T-rich) box-like sequence, which reside upstream of many meiotic genes. Coincidentally, northern blot analysis indicated that the three sizes of MRE3/REC114 transcripts, 3.4, 1.4 and 1.2 kb, are induced in meiosis. A less abundant transcript of 1.4 kb is detected in both mitotic and meiotic cells, suggesting that it is needed in mitosis as well as meiosis. To examine the role of the MRE3/REC114 gene, we constructed mre3 disruption mutants. Strains carrying an insertion or null deletion of the MRE3/REC114 gene showed slow growth in nutrient medium and the doubling time of these cells increased approximately by 2-fond compared to the wild-type strain. Moreover, the deletion mutant (${\delta}$mre3) displayed no meiotically induced recombination and no viable spores. The mre3/rec114 spore lethality can be suppressed by spo13, a mutation that causes cells to bypass reductional division. The double-stranded breaks (DSBs) which are involved in initiation of meiotic recombination were not detected in the analysis of meiotic chromosomal DNA from the mre3/rec114 disruptant. From these results we suggest that the MRE3/REC114 gene product is essential in normal growth and in early meiotic stages involved in meiotic recombination.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.158-165
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• 2012

A UPLC method for the simultaneous determination of seven compounds was established for the quality control in H. cordata. The UPLC was performed on a $C_{18}$ HSS T3 $2.1{\times}100$ mm, 1.8 ${\mu}m$ column during a 13 minute gradient elution of 0.2% aqueous acetic acid and acetonitrile with the flow rate of 0.2 mL/min at $30^{\circ}C$. The UPLC method was validated according to the ICH guideline of analytical procedures with respect to precision, accuracy, and linearity. The limit of determination and quantitation for the seven compounds were 0.01-0.09 and 0.03-0.28 ${\mu}g/mL$, respectively. The calibration curves of all seven compounds showed good linearity ($r^2$ > 0.999). The intra-day and inter-day the RSD values used to evaluate the precision of analysis were less than 0.9%. The recoveries of quantified compounds ranged from 98.63 to 103.85%. The developed UPLC method was found to be effective, convenient and sensitivity for quantitative analysis of seven compounds in H. cordata. This work could be provided a baseline source for quality control of H. cordata.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.153-157
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• 2012

Obesity, which is characterized by excessive fat accumulation in adipose tissues, occurs by fat absorption by lipase and sequential fat accumulation in adipocyte through adipocyte differentiation. Thus, inhibition of pancreatic lipase activity and adipocyte differentiation would be crucial for the prevention and progression of obesity. In the present study, we attempted to evaluate anti-adipogenic activity of several algae extracts employing preadipocytes cell line, 3T3-L1 as an in vitro assay system. The effects on pancreatic lipase activity in vitro were also evaluated. Total methanolic extracts of Cladophora wrightiana and Costaria costata showed significant inhibitory activity on adipocyte differentiation as assessed by measuring fat accumulation using Oil Red O staining. Related to pancreatic lipase, C. wrightiana and Padina arborescens showed significant inhibition. Further fractionation of C. wrightiana, which showed the most potent activity, suggested that $CHCl_3$ and n-BuOH fraction are responsible for adipocyte differentiation inhibition, whereas n-BuOH and $H_2O$ fraction for pancreatic lipase inhibition. Our study also demonstrated that n-BuOH fraction was effective both in early and middle stage of differentiation whereas $CHCl_3$ fraction was effective only in early stage of differentiation. Taken together, algae might be new candidates in the development of obesity treatment.