• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.38 no.6
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• pp.549-553
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• 1995

Ethanol concentration in blood, brain and liver of rats was shown to be effectively lowered by arrowroot flower extract. The lowering effect for ethanol concentration in blood was maximum when measured after 1 hour from ethanol feeding. Hot water extract was more effective than 80% ethanol extract. The treatment of extract at 10 min. before ethanol feeding gave a better result than that at 10 min after or 1 hour before ethanol feeding. The ethanol concentration in brain and liver was lowered as found in the blood ethanol concentration. Acetaldehyde was not detected either in blood or the tissues. The optimal amount of the Puerariae flos was 55.7 mg/kg body weight. The newly developed analytical method using dichloromethane as extracting solvent was proven to be very effective in terms of speed and simplicity.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.34 no.4
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• pp.710-718
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• 2002

It is reported that Pueraria Radix contains phtoestrogens whereas flower, and bud of Pueraria lobata Ohwi were not known. In the present study, we determined the amount of phytoestrogen in each portion of P. lobata Ohwi and carried out therapeutic effects of osteoporosis. The amounts of genistein, daidzein, and formononetin in Pueraria Radix (PR), Pueraria Flos (PF), and young Pueratia Folium (PL) were quantitated using a HPLC system. Proliferation of osteoblast and growth inhibitory effect on osteoclast were measured in order to screen their effects on osteoporosis. Proliferation of osteoblast-like cells (Saos-2) was analyzed by both MTT methods and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) assays. Growth inhibitory effect on osteoclast was also detected as Tartrate resistant acid phosphatase (TRAP) assay. Ovariectomized rat as an in vivo animal model was selected and administrations of PR were 1 g/kg/day (PR-1) and 5 g/kg/day (PR-5) for 9 weeks, respectively. Trabecular bone areas (TBAs) of tibia and lumbar were analyzed usibg histomorphological methods. Results show that PR contains the highest level of daidzein ($10435{\pm}2143\;mg/kg$ of dried herb) and stimulated ALP activity, approximately 160% of the control. Growth inhibitory effect on osteoclast by both PR and daidzein were almost identical with control although $IC_{50}$ of genistein was $5.81{\times}10^{-7}$ M. Increases in body weight of OVX rats were suppressed by administration of PR but wet weights of uterus in PR-5 group were increased (p<0.05). Plasma ALP and HDL-cholesterol levels were decreased following ages (p<0.01), and LDL-cholesterol level was also decreased in PR-5 group at 20 week of age (p<0.01). TBAs of tibia and lumbar in PR-1 and PR-5 groups were higher than those of the control although the values were less than those of the sham group (each p<0.01) In conclusion, administrations of PR prevented loss of TBAs of tibia and lumber in OVX rats, while PL and PF did not (p<0.01).

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.620-624
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• 2016

The Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway is mandatory in adipogenesis. In this study, we investigated the applicability of functional materials for the treatment of obesity by examining Wnt/β-catenin pathway reporter activity related to adipocyte differentiation inhibiting with korean native plant extracts. The luciferase activity of HEK 293-TOP cells increased the reporter activity approximately 152% and 130% by treatment with Sanguisorba officinalis and Thuja orientalis, respectively. Ricinus communis were represented about 90% higher activity, two samples(Rosa rugosa and Sophorae Flos) showed 80% higher activity than the control. Three samples of plant extracts (Zanthoxylum piperitum, Pueraria thunbergiana, Solanum nigrum) were about 70% higher activity compared with the non-treated control. Cytotoxicity of plant extracts was not detected in the rat neural stem cells. These results suggest that the selected eight plant extracts are safe compounds. Our findings indicate that Wnt/β-catenin pathway reporter activity could be used for high throughput screening system. In addition, the plant extracts selected as candidates for adipocyte differentiation inhibiting may be potential therapeutic agents for obesity, it will be exploring the possibility of developing an anti-obesity materials through further experiments with selected plant extracts.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.417-420
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• 2005

To investigate the anti-obesitic effect of FD extract which consisted of Mori radicis Cortex, Hoelen, Pueraria radix, Schizonepetae spica, Carthami Flos, Bupleuri radix and Saposhnikoviae radix in high-fat diet-fed female lean Zucker rats. Obesity was induced by feeding high-lipid diet contained $3\%$ corn oil and $1\%$ cholesterol for 8 weeks, in which FD extract was added to the diet for treatment group. The rats fed on the high fat diet showed increased gain of body weights, leading to enhanced feed efficiency ratio. Moreover high-fat diet induced hepatic lipid peroxidation and hyperlipemia. The body weight, food efficiency ratio and lipid peroxidation in the liver was decreased as compared with the rats fed on the high fat diet by FD extract. With all such changes, the blood biochemistry about lipid was, if anything, risen. These results suggest that FD extract was supposed to have effective ingredients for improving obesity for controlling adipose tissue.