• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.63-73
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• 2001

Objectives : The objective of the current study is to determine the protective effect of Ukyium(Yougui-yin) on the apoptosis induced by zinc. Methods : Zinc is known to generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), including superoxide anion ($O_2$) and hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$), which eventually contribute to cytotoxicity in a variety of cell types. We investigated the viablity of cells, $H_2O_2$ generation, chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation in Hoechst dye staining and $IkB-{\alpha}$ degradation in C6 glial cells of $ZnCl_2$ between pretreatment- and not pretreatment-group with Ukyium. The former methods were researched by Time- and Dose-dependent manners. Results : We demonstrated that pretreatment with Ukyium prevented zinc-induced cell death of C6 glial cells and apoptotic characteristics including chromatin condensation and nuclear fragmentation. Ukyium also prevented $H_2O_2-induced$ cell death. We further confirmed that Ukyium decreased zinc-induced generation of $H_2O_2$ and inhibited degradation of $IkB-{\alpha}$ by zinc in C6 glial ceHs. Conclusions : These data indicated that Ukyium (Yougui-yin) prevents zinc-induced apoptotic death of C6 glial cells via inhibition of ROS generation, such as $H_2O_2$ as well as inhibition of $IkB-{\alpha}$ degradation.