• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.64-64
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• 2003

It is thought that highly reactive oxygen radicals generated at the ischemia-reperfusion in case of strokes play an important role in damaging the brain. We examined the neuroprotective effects from the several medicinal herbs in the transient ischemic rat model and compared their effects with the free radical scavenging activities. Transient ischemia was induced by intraluminal occusion of the right middle cerebral artety for 120 min and reperfusion was continued for 22 h in rats. The free radical scavenging properties of medicinal herbs were examined in vitro by determination of the interaction with the 1,l-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) stable free radical. Aqueous extracts of 11 medicinal herbs (200 mg/kg) were orally administered, promptly prior to reperfusion and 2 h after reperfusion. Total infarction volume in the ipsilateral hemisphere of ischemia reperfusion rats was significantly lowered by the treatment of 7 medicinal herbs (Sophora flavescens, Lycopus lucidus, Sanguisorba officinalis, Caesalpinia sappan, Albizia julibrissin, Rubia akane, Psoralea corylifolia, Prunella vulgaris). However, all of these medicinal herbs did not show antioxidative activities. These results suggest that neuroprotective effects of several drugs are not always correlated with their antioxidative properties.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.293-296
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• 2003

Prunellae Spica is a flower petal of Prunella vulgaris var. lilacina used for treatment of lymphoma, breast cancer, hepatitis and pathological fluid related diseases in oriental medicine. We tried to evaluate the mechanism of Prunellae Spica in the treatment of cancer. The ethyl acetate layer of Prunellae Spica showed a good cytotoxicity on U937 cells with IC50 of 8 ug/ml. It induced apoptosis in U937 dose-dependently by cell cycle analysis following PI staining. We also confirmed it induced DNA fragmentation in U937 cells from the concentration of 10 ug/ml. From western blot assay we observed the ethyl acetate layer of Prunellae Spica downregulated procaspase-3 and cleaved PARP in a dose dependent manner, whereas it didn't affect bax and bcl-2. Taken together, these results indicate the ethyl acetate layer of Prunellae Spica can induce apoptosis in U937 cells suggesting it can be potently applied to cancer.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.16-21
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• 2005

Nitric Oxide (NO), derived from L-arginine, is produced by two types (constitutive and inducible) of nitric oxide synthase (NOS: cNOS and iNOS). The NO produced in large amounts by the iNOS is known to be responsible for the vasodilation and hypotension observed in septic shock, cancer metastasis and inflammation. The inhibitors of iNOS, thus, may be useful candidates for the treatment of inflammatory diseases accompanied by the overproduction of NO. We prepared alcoholic extracts of herbal drugs which have been used for the treatment of inflammation in oriental medicine. We have screened the inhibitory activity of NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages after the treatment of these extracts. Among 82 kinds of extracts of herbal drugs, 35 extracts showed the potent inhibitory activity of NO production above 50% at the concentration of $50\;{\mu}g/mL$. The inhibitory activities of NO production were also evaluated for several solvent fractions at two different concentrations. Especially, hexane and EtOAc fractions of Alpinia officinarum, Angelica gigas, Ostericum koreanum, Saussurea lappa, Torilis japonica, and hexane fractions of Agrimonia pilosa, Machilus thunbergii, Hydrangea serrata, Magnolia obovata, Prunella vulgaris, Tussilago farfara, and EtOAC fractions of Perilla frutescence showed a significant activity at 10 and/or $25\;{\mu}g/mL$. In Western blot analysis, the hexane fractions ($5\;{\mu}g/mL$) of Magnolia obovata and Saussurea lappa, and EtOAc fractions ($20\;{\mu}g/mL$) of Hydrangea Serrata, Perilla frutescence and Torilis japonica inhibited the expression of iNOS protein in LPS-activated macrophages. These plants may be promising candidates for the study of the activity-guided purification of active compounds and might be useful for the treatment of inflammatory diseases and endotoxemia accompanying overproduction of NO.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Environmental Restoration Technology
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.110-120
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• 2009

The hipped roof on the research building, which was constructed 51.9m above sea level on a hillock by Korea National University of Education in June 1999, is composed of four inclined planes which are 12m in breadth, 8m in length and have a 30 degree gradient. For the roof vegetation, the yellow earth collected from around the building was laid on top. It was designed to supply the soil on the slope with water for a considerable period by making rainfall pool at the edges. In order to prevent the soil on the slope from being swept away, 31 sorts of grass seeds were imported from Germany and sown in the soil. At the present day, 10 years after the seeds began to sprout and inhabit the settled slope, 30 individual plant species were identified in the period between April 2008 and March 2009. Out of 31 species were seeded on the slanted, soiled roof, only 8 were still alive. It was confirmed that the Artemisia Princeps var, Chrysantheum, Prunella Vulgaris and Lespedeza Cuneata have been the major species inhabiting the east, west, south and north inclined planes respectively. The Phragmites Communis was inhabiting the edge of the roof where the water supply was adequate, while the Dianthus Barbatus was primarily inhabiting the south-east side of the roof. As a whole, 26 identifiable plants and 4 unidentified plants were observed on the inclined planes of the hipped roof. In consideration of the plant distribution on the slope, it was confirmed that the selection of seeds may have had an effect on the slope vegetation. As for the yellow earth laid on the roof, it was discovered that about 2~3cm thickness around the ridge was swept away, but the rest of the slope was in relatively good condition. Accordingly, it has been proven that vegetations can be applied to hipped roofs by using ordinary plants without any special structural measures.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.61-65
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• 2000

It was investigated 91 families, 305 genera, 470 species, 1 subspecies, 30 varieties, 2 forma and total 503 taxa of herbal resources plants in Chollabuk-do area in this study. Among them 45 taxa belong to Compositae, 30 taxa belong to Rosaceae and 23 taxa belong to Leguminosae in order were occurred frequently. In general the herbal resources plants were distributed abundantly in Togyusan, Naejangsan, Changansan and Taedunsan area. Comparatively high frequent species was surveyed as follows: Schizandra chinensis, Cimicifuga heracleifolia, C. simplex, Asarum sieboldii, Arisaema amurense var. serratum, Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum, Prunella vulgaris var. lilacina and Veratrum patulum etc. There was growing 30-50 individuals of Codonopsis lanceolata in 5m$\times$5m quadrat, 90 Chrysanthemum zawadskii var. latilobum plant in 1m$\times$1m and 100 Polygonatum odoratum var. pluriflorum plant in 1m$\times$1m quadrat from Togyusan quantitatively. Rare and herbal worth species were observed to distribute such as Gastrodia elata in Naejangsan and Togyusan and Acanthopanax senticosus in Mandoksan, Chinan-gun, respectively. Cultivating species in the farm now and/or favorable species in the future will be recommended here, for example, Codonopsis pilosus, A. senticosus, G. elata, Rubus coreanus, C. lanceolata and Pleuropterus multiflorus.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.34 no.4 s.135
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• pp.335-338
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• 2003

It is thought that highly reactive oxygen species generated after strokes plays a key role in damaging the brain. We examined free radical scavenging activity and neuroprotective effects of several medicinal herbs in a rat model of transient ischemia. Free radical scavenging property of medicinal herbs was examined in vitro using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl stable free radical. Transient ischemia was induced by intraluminal occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery for 120 min, followed by reperfusion for 22 hr in rats. Aqueous extracts of 8 medicinal herbs (200 mg/kg) were orally administered twice to transient ischemic rat prior to reperfusion and 2 hr after reperfusion. Total infarction volume in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the ischemia-reperfusion was significantly decreased in 7 groups treated with Sophora flavescens, Lycopus lucidus, Sanguisorba officinalis, Caesalpinia sappan, Albizia julibrissin, Rubia akane, Psoralea corylifolia, or Prunella vulgaris. However, neuroprotective effects of these medicinal herbs were not correlated with their antioxidative activities. These results suggest that these medicinal herbs exert neuroprotection via antioxidative as well as unknown mechanism.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.599-607
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• 2009

Prunellae Spica is the spike or whole plant of Prunella vulgaris Linne, which has been used for clearing heat from the liver, brightening the eyes and treating headache in traditional oriental medicines. This study was conducted to evaluate the inhibitory effects of the aqueous extract of Prunellae Spica (PSE; PS extract) on the production of NO and PGE2 in LPS-activated Raw 264.7 cells. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay, and all three doses of PS extract (0.03, 0.1 and 0.3 mg/ml) had no significant cytotoxicity during the entire experimental period. The cells were treated with 1 ${\mu}g/ml$ of LPS 1 h before adding PS extract, and increased NO and PGE2 production were detected in LPS-activated cells compared to control. However, these increases were dose-dependently attenuated by treatment with PS extract. The inhibition of NO by PS extract was due to the suppression of iNOS expression via inhibition of $NF{\kappa}B$ nuclear translocation and proteolytic degradation of $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$. The decreased level of PGE2 was derived from inhibition of COX-2 activity, but expression of COX-2 protein was not affected by PS extract. Moreover, PS extract reduced the elevated production of IL-${\beta}$ and IL-6 by LPS. These results demonstrate that PS extract has inhibitory effects on the production of NO and PGE2 as a consequence of the reduction of proinflammatory cytokines, especially IL-${\beta}$ and IL-6 in LPS-activated Raw 264.7 cells.

• Korean Journal of Weed Science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.164-172
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• 1993

About 196 weed species composed of 31 annuals, 38 biennials and 127 perennials belonging to 53 families were identified from 90 buryingplaces in Kyungpook province on June and September, 1992. Compositae was the most widely occuring family covering 34 species, followed by 27 species in graminae, 17 species in leguminosae, and 10 species in rosaceae, 8 species in liliaceae ranunculaceae, 7 species in caryophyllaceae cruciferae, 6 species in labiate polygonaceae, 4 species in crassulaceae cyperaceae, and the rest 41 families having 1 to 3 species. The dominant weed species occured in the buryingplaces based on importance value and frequency were Imperata cylindrica, Artemisia princeps, Viola mandchrica, Erigeron annuus, Erigron canadensis, Rubus parvifolius and Prunella vulgaris.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.545-551
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• 1994

Ethanol extract of barks, roots, stems, leaves and seeds of 49 species of plants were examined their growth inhibition by disk method on Listeria monocytogenes ATCC 19111, ATCC 19112, ATCC 19113, ATCC 19114 and ATCC 15313. The extracts exhibited comparatively strong growth inhibition were compared their activity with broth culture containing different concentration of the extracts. L. monocytogenes ATCC 19111 was inhibited by Siegesbeckia pubescens Makino and Morus alba Linne (Ma) extracts. L. monocytogenes ATCC 19112 and ATCC 19114 were inhibited by Ma extract. ATCC 19113 was inhibited by Sophora flavescens AITON and Ma extract. ATCC 15313 was inhibited by Foeniculum vulgare Gaertner, Prunella vulgaris Var lilacina Nakai and Ma extract. Ma extract showed comparatively good inhibition effect for 5 strains of L. monoytogenes. 500 ppm of Ma extract almost inhibited the growth of all L. monocytogenes tested.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.63-73
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• 2017

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze recent clinical studies on treatment for precocious puberty. Methods 28 clinical studies from January 2009 to December 2016 about precocious puberty from the China Academic Journal (CAJ), China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI), were selected and reviewed: 22 case control studies and 6 case series. Results The main traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment was the herbal decoctions and granules. The frequently used herbs were root of Bupleurum falcatum (柴胡), fruit of Prunella vulgaris var. aleutica (夏枯草), root stem of Anemarrhena asphodeloides (知母), dried fungus nucleus of Poria cocos (茯苓), Rehmannia glutinosa var. purpurea (生地黃), peony Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews (牧丹皮), bark of Phellodendron amurense (黃柏), roots of a plant Paeoniae lactiflora (白芍藥). On the other hand, the main western medicine (WM) for precocious puberty was Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRHa). Total effective rate of the TCM group was 62.96-100%, that of the WM group was 36.6-93.3% and that of the TCM-WM group was 77.8-93.75%. Conclusions Traditional Chinese medicine has been shown as an effective treatment for precocious puberty. These research results can be utilized in other clinical studies and in treatment of precocious puberty.