• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.235-239
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• 2000

The effects of several compounds related to signal transduction cascade were determined to induce the production of alizarin and purpurin in the hairy root culture system of Rubia cordifolia var. pratensis. It was found that out of five tested compounds jasmonic acid(1 mg/l) and methyl jasmonate(1 mg/l) stimulated strongly the biosynthesis of the pigments while linolenic acid(1 mg/l) induced no significant increase of the product. Yeast extract(600 mg/l) and arachidonic acid(1 mg/l) showed relatively mild inducing effects on production of alizarin. The effects of jasmonic acid and methyl jasmonate were reduced by treatment with cycloheximide(2.8 mg/l).

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.137-141
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• 1992

The cells of Rubia cordifolia var. pratensis were transformed by Agrobactrium tumefaciens strain 11157. Surface-sterilized young leaves and stems of the plants were cocultivated with bacterial suspensions. Crown galls induced from stems were cultured with variation of culturing conditions and compared with untransformed cells. The growth rates and production of anthraquinone pigments of cells were remarkably improved by transformation. Furthermore, hairy roots were induced by inoculation or cocultivation with Agrobacterium rhizogenes strains.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.1231-1234
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• 2006

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.58-66
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• 2009

Allergic conjunctivitis is the most common allergic disease. These diseases are severe & frequent which requires search of new treatments. The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of Tinospora cordifolia (TC), Rubia cordifolia Linn. (RC) on experimentally induced allergic conjunctivitis in rats. In this study, dried water soluble extracts of TC and RC. (250 and 500 mg/kg, p.o. for 7 days) were evaluated for their antiallergic activity in Wistar rats. They were tested for inhibition of egg albumin-induced vascular permeability, inhibition of histamine release from the rat conjunctiva as well as in histamine content in tears. TC and RC showed significant (P < 0.05) inhibition in vascular permeability, inhibition in histamine release from the rat conjunctiva which is reflected by reduced level of histamine content in tears. The activities were found to be comparable to azelastine hydrochloride. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect on egg albumin-induced experimental allergic conjunctivitis in rat may be due to the antihistaminic activity of TC and RC. Our studies provide evidence that TC and RC may be beneficial in the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.1-13
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• 2009

Medicinal herbs are significant source of synthetic and herbal drugs. In the commercial market, medicinal herbs are used as raw drugs, extracts or tinctures. Isolated active constituents are used for applied research. For the last few decades, phytochemistry (study of plants) has been making rapid progress and herbal products are becoming popular. According to Ayurveda, the ancient healing system of India, the classical texts of Ayurveda, Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita were written around 1000 B.C. The Ayurvedic Materia Medica includes 600 medicinal plants along with therapeutics. Herbs like turmeric, fenugreek, ginger, garlic and holy basil are integral part of Ayurvedic formulations. The formulations incorporate single herb or more than two herbs (poly-herbal formulations). Medicinal herb contains multitude of chemical compounds like alkaloids, glycosides, saponins, resins, oleoresins, sesquiterpene, lactones and oils (essential and fixed). Today there is growing interest in chemical composition of plant based medicines. Several bioactive constituents have been isolated and studied for pharmacological activity. R. cordifolia is an important medicinal plant commonly used in the traditional and Ayurvedic system of medicine for treatment of different ailments. This review illustrates its major constituents, pharmacological actions substantiating the claims made about this plant in the traditional system of medicine and its clinical applications.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.155-163
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• 1993

21plants, which collected from Korea and Japan, were applied to antitumor and cytotoxic screening tests against sarcoma 180 a ascitec in mice. The results are summariged as follows : 1) The total packed cell volume method has been used for the antimeoplastic screening for from natural higher plants in Korea. By this method, we have found out that Selaginella involves, Patrinia hispida, Archyranthes japonica and Solanum nigrum having significant activity and also Cydonia sinensis and Rubia akane showed slight activity to antitumor 2) The total packed cell volune method has been used for the antineoplastic screening for from natural higher plants in Japan. Among the 21 tested plants, lsodon japonicus having strong antitumor activity and also Torilis japonica, Aralia elata, Leonurus sibiricus and Rubia cordifolia showed significant activity to anticancer tumor while Forsythia spp and Solanum nigrum showed slight activity to antitumor. 3) Among the 21 tested Korea plants, lsodon excisus and Forsythia Koreana showed strong antitumor activity by the V79 cytotoxic cell screening test.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.2753-2758
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• 2012

Rubia cordifolia Linn, which belongs to the Rubiaceae family, is a well-known herb used in Ayurvedic medicine. In the present study, we investigated the influence of a methanolic extract (RC) on the induction of apoptosis in HEp-2 (human laryngeal carcinoma) cell line, as evidenced by cytotoxicity, morphological changes and modification in the levels of pro-oxidants. Inhibition of cell proliferation and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release increased in a time and dose-dependent manner. Further, reduced glutathione (GSH), glutathione transferase (GST) and protein levels decreased and lipid peroxidation increased significantly on RC treatment in a dose dependent manner when compared to controls. Based on the results we determined the optimal dose as 30mg/ ml and the apoptotic effect of RC extract (30 mg/ml) on HEp-2 cells was confirmed by fluorescent microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) based on morphological and ultrastructural changes. RC extract suppressed the proliferation of HEp-2 oral cancer cells inducing apoptotic cell death in vitro. These results point to potential of RC extract as an agent for the treatment of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2009

To understand cytotoxic activity of Rubia cordifolia L. (Rubiaceae), which has been used as a traditional oriental medicine, the mechanism underlying cytotoxic effect of its extract on human acute Jurkat T cells was investigated. The methanol extract of roots (3 kg) of R. codifolia was evaporated, dissolved in water, and then extracted by dichloromethane. The substances in the chloroform extract showing the most cytotoxic activity were further purified by a series of preparative HPLC. The extracted active substance (65 mg) was designated as CCH1. When Jurkat T cells were treated with CCH1 at concentration ranging from 0.5 to 2.0 ${\mu}g$/ml, apoptotic phenomena of cells companying several subsequent biochemical reactions such as mitochondria cytochrome c release, activation of casapase-8, -9, and caspase- 3, degradation of PARP and DNA fragmentation occurred via mitochondria-dependent pathway. However, abrogation of apoptosis was observed in an ectopic expression of Bcl-xL, which is a suppressor for mitochondrial cytochrome c release. These results demonstrate that the cytotoxicity of CCH1 against Jurkat T cells is attributable to apoptosis mediated by mitochodria-dependent death-signaling regulated by Bcl-xL. In addition, the CCH1 is more potent to leukemia Jurkat T cell than to human peripheral blood monocyte cells (PBMC).

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.33 no.2 s.129
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• pp.144-150
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• 2002

The methanol extracts of 132 herbal medicines were screened for the inhibitory activity against heparinase enzyme from Flavobacterium heparinum. Eleven medicinal plants, Amomum xanthiodides, Agrimonia pilosa, Paeonia lactiflora, Rubia cordifolia, Sanguisorba officinalis, Torrega grandis, Morus alba, Gleditsia sinensis, Crataegus pinnatifida, Cornus officinalis, Paeonia japonica showed potent inhibition on heparinase activity. The active substituents of those herbal medicine could be extracted into butanol fraction and the inhibitory compounds of Morus alba are now isolating.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 1993

Many plants collected at Japan, China, Korea, Imdonesia and South America were applied to antitumor and / or cytotoxic screening tests against Sarcoma 180 ascites in mice and / or V-79, KB, P388 cultured cells. On the course of these screening tests, alcoholic extracts of Forsythia viridissima (Oleaceae), Eurycoma longifolia(Simaroubaceae), Rubia cordifolia and R. akane(Rubiaceae), Cissampelos pareira and Abuta concolor (Menispermaceae), Nardostachys chinensis (Valerianacese), Mansoa alliaceae (Bignoniaceae), Casearia sylvestris (Flacourtiacear), Maytenus ilicifolia (Celastraceae), Hedychium coronarium (Zingiberaceae), Croton palanostigma(Euphorbiaceae), Cocculus trilobus(Menispermaceae), Ginkgo biloba(Ginkgoaceae), Alpinia galanga and Cucculus zanthorrhiza(Zingiberaceae), Evodia rutaecarpa(Rutaceae), and Periploca sepium(Asclepiadaceae) showed significant activity and their active principles were clarified. In this paper, a few antitumor substances in above plants are introduced.