• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.41 no.2
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• pp.241-247
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• 2020

Objectives: This study aims to present the case of poisoning associated with Phytolacca radix. Case Presentation: A 61-year-old male with nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and abdominal pain after ingesting about 10 centimeters of Phytolacca radix visited Korean medicine hospital. He began to show symptoms one hour after eating the plants. Methods: The patient was diagnosed with poisoning by Phytolacca radix. The patient received acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine treatment including Glycyrrhizae radix. laboratory test including complete blood count, biochemistry was also conducted. Results: Treatment, including acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine, improved his symptoms. His symptoms subsided within two hours. The laboratory test conducted on the next day show a slight increase in his white blood cell, blood urea nitrogen, urine ketone levels. There was no damage to the liver or kidneys. Conclusions: This report demonstrates the need for caution when consuming wild plants, which could lead to serious adverse effects. Patients should be alerted to the indiscriminate ingestion of wild plants. Further research on how to treat poisoning in Korean medicine needs to be considered to confirm these findings.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Clinical Toxicology
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.27-30
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• 2004

Phytolaccaceae had been used as a pharmaceutical drugs or food in Korea. Nowadays, it is rarely used due to its toxicity, and then, case reports as to poisoning also are rare. Recently, Authors experienced a case of an occurrence in a group intoxication after ingestion of roots of phytolacca american a misidentifying as arrowroot. We report this case with review of phytolacca radix poisoning.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.311-315
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• 2002

Cellular death by apoptosis is an active process, depending on gene transcription and protein synthesis. It was reported that nitric oxide can induce apoptosis in several cancer cell-lines. We studied effects of Phytolacca esculentum van Houtt (Phytolaccaceae) Radix water extract (PRE) on the proliferation of transplanted-L1210 cells in mice. When PRE (500 mg/kg) was administered orally once a day for 7 days after transplantation of L1210 cells to mice, DNA fragmentation of transplanted-L1210 cells was induced and mitochondrial transmembrane potential of those cells was reduced. Additionally, DNA fragmentation of L1210 cells was induced by the treatment of PRE in vitro. Also, DNA fragmentation of L1210 cells was enhanced by co-culture with the peritoneal macrophages obtained from PRE-administered mice and was partly inhibited by L-NMMA in vitro. PRE enhanced the production of nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-α from peritoneal rnacrophages. These results suggest that PRE induces apoptosis of transplanted-L1210 cells via directive action on L1210 cells and stimulation of nitric oxide and tumor neaosis factor-α from macrophages.