• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.8 no.3
• /
• pp.292-296
• /
• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study was conducted to assess the potential of St. John's Wort (Hypericum perforatum) to prevent obesity and abnormalities in lipid metabolism induced by ovariectomy in a rat model without stimulatory activity on uterus. MATERIALS/METHODS: Ovariectomized (OVX) rats were treated for 6 weeks with 70% ethanol extracts of Hypericum perforatum [HPEs: whole plant (WHPE) and flower and leaves (FLHPE)], ${\beta}$-estradiol-3-benzoate at a dose of $50{\mu}g/kg/day$ (E2) or vehicle (distilled water). RESULTS: As expected, OVX increased body weight gain and adiposity and showed higher food efficacy ratio. OVX also increased the serum cholesterol as well as insulin resistance, while reducing uterus weight and uterine epithelial proliferation rate. HPEs (WHPE and FLHPE) showed estrogen-like effect on body weight gain, adipose tissue weight and food efficacy ratio in OVX rats. HPEs prevented hypercholesterolemia induced by OVX more effectively than E2. E2 increased uterus weight and epithelial proliferation rate in OVX rats, while HPEs maintained them at the level of the sham-operated animals. CONCLUSIONS: Our finding demonstrates that HPEs can be considered as an effective agent to prevent OVX-induced obesity without stimulatory activity on uterus.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.17 no.8 s.88
• /
• pp.1034-1038
• /
• 2007

Hypericin (HyH) is a substance which is isolated a medicinal herb, Hypericum perforatum L., commonly known as St. John's Wort. Hypericum erectum is a long-lived herb that is distributed in Korea. Cloned HyH genes H. erectum of were conformed by sequencing. The cDNA Hyp-1 sequence has 732 bp with an open reading frame of 567. Thus coding for a protein of 152 amino acid residues. A BLAST re-search using the deduced nucleotide sequences in HyH gene produced significant alignments with the H. perforatum. Sequences in HyH gene showed significant homology with Rubus idaeus putative allergen Rub-i-1 mRNA, Protein sequence comparisons revealed significant homology between Hyp-1 and the phenolic oxidative coupling protein hyp-1 of H. perforatum (98%). Additionally, Hyp-1 showed sig-nificant homology with various other classes of allergens, including Pru-av-1 (62%) from Prunus avium and allergen Bet-vl-Sc3 from Betula pendula (60%). Thus, the result of this study may offer an important information to establish an assay system for chemicals of the herbal medicines for H. erectum as well as H. perforatum.

• 한국약용작물학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2011.09a
• /
• pp.174-175
• /
• 2011

• Applied Biological Chemistry
• /
• v.48 no.1
• /
• pp.65-69
• /
• 2005

The physiological activity of St. John's wort extracts were examined. Total phenol contents in the ethanol extracts $(246.0{\pm}10.5\;{\mu}g/ml)$ with St. John's wort leaf was higher than that in water extract $(237.4{\pm}13.2\;{\mu}g/ml)$. The electron donating ability in the water extracts and in the ethanol extracts were 95.0% and 95.2% respectively. Antioxidant protection factor of the ethanol extract was higher than that of the water extract. The water extract from St. John's wort leaves did not show an antimicrobial activity against Helicobacter pylori, but the ethanol extract revealed high antimicrobial activities such as 11 mm of clear zone in $100\;{\mu}g/ml$ of phenol content and 13 mm of clear zone in $150\;{\mu}g/ml$ of phenol content. The hot water extract showed an angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitory activity of 19.2%. The xanthin oxidase inhibitory activity of hot water and ethanol extract were very high, amounting to 84.8% and 100% respectively. The results suggested a possibility for developing the phenol compounds in St. John's wort as anti Helicobacter pylori, anti-oxidant and anti-gout agents.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.12 no.4
• /
• pp.304-308
• /
• 2004

Immune enhancing activities of water and ethanol extracts of Hypericum perforatum L. (HP) were examined. HP extracts inhibited the growth of human hepatocarcinoma, human gastric cancer cell and human breast cancer cells in concentration-dependent mammers over a concentration range of $0.05{\sim}1.0\;mg/ml$, showing inhibiton of more than 80% with the concentration of 1.0 mg/ml. However, HP the same concentration. Overall selectivity of the extracts on the three human cancer lines was over 3.5, which is higher than those from the conventional herbs. The growth of human immune B and T cells was enhanced up to 1.4 to 2.0 folds by the addition of the extracts for 4 days, compared to controls. Ethanol extracts of HP after 6 days incubation increased the secretions of tumor necrosis factor-alpha $(TNF-{\alpha})$ from T cells and interleukin-6 (IL-6) from B cells to 6.7 pg/cell and 6.8 pg/cell, respectively. These results suggest that HP has a potent immune enhancing effect.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
• /
• v.9 no.5
• /
• pp.459-465
• /
• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECFTIVES: The effect of St. John's Wort extract (SJW) on MG-63 cell proliferation and trabecular bone loss induced by ovariectomy was examined. MATERIALS/METHODS: Proliferation, expression of estrogen receptor (ER) ${\alpha}$ and ER ${\beta}$, and gene expressions of osteoprotegerin (OPG), osteocalcin (OC) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were examined in MG-63 cells treated with or without SJW. Ovariectomized rats were treated with SJW at the dose of 100 or 200 mg/kg/day, ${\beta}$-estradiol-3-benzoate (E2), or vehicle only (OVX-C), and sham operated rats were treated with vehicle only (Sham-C). Serum ALP and C-telopeptide (CTX), and femoral trabecular bone loss were examined. RESULTS: SJW increased MG-63 cell proliferation and expression of ER ${\alpha}$ and ER ${\beta}$, and positive effect was shown on gene expressions of ALP, OC and OPG. SJW also showed estrogen like effect on bone associated with slowing down in trabecular bone loss. Histopathology by H&E showed rats treated with SJW displayed denser structure in metaphyseal region of distal femur compared with rats in OVX-C. SJW was shown to reduce serum CTX in OVX rats. CONCLUSION: The present study provides new insight in preventing estrogen deficiency induced bone loss of SJW and possibility for its application in bone health supplement.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
• /
• v.13 no.4
• /
• pp.141-145
• /
• 2005

The genetic relationships of Hypericum erectum, H. ascyron and H. perforatum Thunb. by RAPD using total 46 primers were analysed 30 primers among primers tested showed the amplification band in all. The amplified DNA fragment ranged from 0.25 to 6.6 kb in size. The 411 bands (34.4%) among 1194 bands derived from 30 primers were polymorphic, and 13.7 bands per primer were observed. The phenograms for six analyzed individuals by RAPD markers were not matched well with those of the result by morphological characters. They were clustered monophyletic at the similarity coefficient value ranged from 0.24 to 0.96.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
• /
• v.25 no.2
• /
• pp.158-164
• /
• 2017

Methylglyoxal (MGO) is a highly reactive metabolite of glucose which is known to cause damage and induce apoptosis in endothelial cells. Endothelial cell damage is implicated in the progression of diabetes-associated complications and atherosclerosis. Hypericin, a naphthodianthrone isolated from Hypericum perforatum L. (St. John's Wort), is a potent and selective inhibitor of protein kinase C and is reported to reduce neuropathic pain. In this work, we investigated the protective effect of hypericin on MGO-induced apoptosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Hypericin showed significant anti-apoptotic activity in MGO-treated HUVECs. Pretreatment with hypericin significantly inhibited MGO-induced changes in cell morphology, cell death, and production of intracellular reactive oxygen species. Hypericin prevented MGO-induced apoptosis in HUVECs by increasing Bcl-2 expression and decreasing Bax expression. MGO was found to activate mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs). Pretreatment with hypericin strongly inhibited the activation of MAPKs, including P38, JNK, and ERK1/2. Interestingly, hypericin also inhibited the formation of AGEs. These findings suggest that hypericin may be an effective regulator of MGO-induced apoptosis. In conclusion, hypericin downregulated the formation of AGEs and ameliorated MGO-induced dysfunction in human endothelial cells.