• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.128-133
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• 2021

The Coumarin (1,2-benzopyrone) is the main secondary metabolite of Mikania laevigata Sch. Beep ex Baker and Mikania glomerata Spreng., which are popularly known as guaco. These plants have been used mainly in traditional medicine in the treatment of respiratory diseases because their bronchodilator effect. However, there are around 200 species of Mikania, which are quite similar in appearance. From these, only M. leavigata and M. glomerata have high concentrations of coumarins. In this line, the falsification of products Mikania based has been frequent. In this sense, this work demonstrated the application of the easy, fast, e not destructive method based in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in quantitative mode (qNMR) for the determination of coumarin in both commercial and homemade guaco products. Thus, in the first step the compounds were extract from guaco leaves and syrups using chloroform (CHCl₃), with or without ultrasound. About the method, was linear with a R² = 0.9947 for 1,2-benzopyrone, with detection and quantification limits with were 0.11 and 0.36 mg mL^-1 respectively. In the same line, the method was safe with RSD <0.3% and with recovery ranging from 93-101%. To confirm the applicability of the method, in the last step was applied to 10 real samples (6 from leaves and 4 from syrups). The content of the coumarin in the leaf extract ranged from 0.62 to 1.30 mg mL^-1. For syrups I, II and IV, the content of coumarin was in accordance with the manufacturers. However, for de Syrup III, the concentration was 155% higher. In summary, the qNMR is a rapid method with minimal sample preparation that can be used to quantify coumarin in home-made plant extracts as well as in commercial samples as syrup for instance. This method is applicable for quality control of different plants-based products.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2021

Objectives: Pastinaca sativa (parsnip), is a plant with nutritional and medicinal properties which has been used in all over the world and study about it is rare. In Persian Medicine parsnip is named as zardak and has many uses such as laxative, libido enhancer, kidney stone crusher and diuretic. Because the wide traditional usage of parsnip, in this review the composition and pharmacological properties of this plant are discussed. Methods: Some data base such as Cochrane, Scopus, PubMed were searched up to 2018 for studies about Pastinaca sativa. In this review study after consider to exclusion criteria, all of the English review and clinical trial were included. Results: Finally, 46 articles were selected for extraction data about the parsnip. Data extraction based on these studies the most important active ingredients of parsnip include coumarins, furanocoumarins, polyacetylenes, essential oils and flavonoids. Different studies determined that Pastinaca sativa has pharmacological effects in CNS, respiratory, gastrointestinal, liver, skin, cardiovascular and urogenital diseases. Conclusion: The most important active ingredients in Pastinaca sativa are furanocoumarins, flavonoids and polyacetylenes, and it has many pharmacological properties, including anti-inflammatory, antispasmodic, vasodilator, antifungal, antimicrobial and antidepressant. A main mentioned side effect of parsnip is phototoxicity that was usually reported in direct skin contact. However, family and Some properties and compounds of Pastinaca sativa and Daucus carota are similar but carrots are very popular nowadays. Due to abundant active components and few clinical studies of parsnip, more Studies are recommended to evaluate the effects of it.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.30 no.11
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• pp.990-998
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• 2020

This study was conducted to evaluate the hair-growth promotion effect in C57BL/6 mice of a new substance mixed with Allium cepa (red)-bioconversion extract and Angelica gigas Nakai. The ethanol extract of Allium cepa (red) was bioconverted through the use of the Bacillus subtilis KJ-3 (BS3) strain, which was named Red-BCQ. The quercetin content of Red-BCQ increased by about 7.4-fold after bioconversion. Angelica gigas Nakai extract (Agnex) contains a large amount of coumarins such as decursin (D) and decursinol angelate (DA). A 1 mg portion of Agnex contained 0.4146 mg of D and 0.3659 mg of DA. Minoxidil has been known to promote hair growth. In this study, the hair-growth promotion effects of Red-BCQ, Agnex, and a mixture of both Red-BCQ and Agnex were compared with 5% minoxidil. Twenty-five mice were divided into five experimental groups including saline (CON), 5% minoxidil (PCON), Red-BCQ (RA), Agnex (AG), and a Red-BCQ-Agnex mixture (RAG)-treated group. Samples were administered orally once a day at a fixed time for 4 weeks. Hair growth was monitored by photograph at 7, 14, 21, and 28 days. We also observed 5α-reductase, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), γ-glutamyl transpeptidase (γ-GT), insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, antioxidant enzyme, and the hair follicles of the skin tissue. In all the results, the RAG-administered group showed greater antioxidative and hair-growth promotion effects than the other groups. These data suggest that RAG has potent stimulating activity on hair growth in C57BL/6 mice.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.32 no.9
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• pp.734-741
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• 2022

Currently, around 40 million people worldwide are living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection making HIV a critical global health risk. Present therapies for HIV infection consist of drug cocktails that target different steps of the HIV life cycle to prevent infection, replication, and release of the virus. Due to its mutating nature, drug resistance coupled with side-effects of long-term drug use, novel strategies, and pharmaceuticals to treat and manage HIV infection are constant needs and continuously being studied. Plants allocate a major repertoire of chemical diversity and are therefore regarded as an important source of new bioactive agents that can be utilized against HIV. Since the early 1990s, upon recommendations of the World Health Organization, numerous studies reported phytochemicals from different structural classes such as flavonoids, coumarins, tannins and terpenes with strong inhibitory effects against HIV infection. The present review gathered and presented recent research (2021-present) on plant extracts and phytochemicals that exhibit anti-HIV properties with the aim of providing insights into future studies where ethnomedical and underutilized plant sources may yield important natural products against HIV. Considering the relation and importance of HIV treatment with current viral infection risks such as SARS-CoV-2, screening plants for anti-HIV agents is an important step towards the discovery of novel antivirals.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.49 no.3
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• pp.277-283
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• 2023

Fraxinus rhynchophylla Hance (F. rhynchophylla) is a traditional medicinal plant that has been widely used in East Asia and has been used for chronic bronchitis, bacterial dysentery and improved eyesight. F. rhynchophylla contains various type of coumarins such as esculin, esculetin, fraxin and fraxetin. Esculetin possesses versatile activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, anticancer properties and improvement of atopic dermatitis. However, there is no research on the process of increasing active components in F. rhynchophylla. The objectives of the present study were to apply biotransformation technology to F. rhynchophylla for increasing the content of esculetin, and enhancing anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. F. rhynchophylla extract (FRE) treated with viscozyme L (FRE-VL) showed 3.1 times higher content of esculetin than FRE, and exhibited effects such as increased anti-inflammatory activity and DPPH radical scavenging activity. Based on the these results, it is concluded that biotransformed FRE-VL could be potentially applicable as a new active ingredient in the cosmetic field.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.49-58
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• 2024

Elaeocarpus sylvestris var. ellipticus is an evergreen tree of the family Elaeocarpaceae, which is a plant that grows naturally only in subtropical regions due to its vulnerability to cold. E. sylvestris has been reported to have flavonoids, coumarins, and polyphenols, and it is reported that these components have antibacterial and antioxidant effects. In this study, a roasting technique was introduced to increase the physiological activity of E. sylvestris, and antioxidant, total phenol, and total flavonoid content were measured after confirming changes in the ingredients of roasted E. sylvestris extracts and fractions. We analyzed the extracts before and after roasting and found an increase in the content of four components (brevifolin, ellagic acid, quercetin, and kaempferol), with the roasted extracts showing better antioxidant activity. The optimal roasting condition was confirmed to have the best antioxidant effect when roasting at 200 ℃ for 30 min, and the total phenol and total flavonoid content were also confirmed to be the best. E. sylvestris extract produced under optimal roasting conditions has been confirmed to exhibit improved antioxidant effects, and it is believed that it can be used as a cosmetic and food material in the future.

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.48 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2005

Pathogens, insects and weeds have significantly reduced agricultural productivity. Thus, to increase the productivity, synthetic agricultural chemicals have been overused. However, these synthetic compounds that are different from natural products cannot be broken down easily in natural systems, causing the destruction of soil quality and agricultural environments and the gradually difficulty in continuous agriculture. Now agriculture is faced with the various problems of minimizing the damage in agricultural environments, securing the safety of human health, while simultaneously increasing agricultural productivity. Meanwhile, plants produce secondary metabolites to protect themselves from external invaders and to secure their region for survival. Plants infected with pathogens produce antibiotics phytoalexin; monocotyledonous plants produce flavonoids and diterpenoids phytoalexins, and dicotylodoneous plant, despite of infected pathogens, produce family-specific phytoalexin such as flavonoids in Leguminosae, indole derivatives in Cruciferae, sesquitepenoids in Solanaceae, coumarins in Umbelliferae, making the plant resistant to specific pathogen. Growth inhibitor or antifeedant substances to insects are terpenoids pyrethrin, azadirachtin, limonin, cedrelanoid, toosendanin and fraxinellone/dictamnine, and terpenoid-alkaloid mixed compounds sesquiterpene pyridine and norditerpenoids, and azepine-, amide-, loline-, stemofoline-, pyrrolizidine-alkaloids and so on. Also plants produces the substances to inhibit other plant growths to secure the regions for plant itself, which is including terpenoids essential oil and sesquiterpene lactone, and additionally, benzoxazinoids, glucosinolate, quassinoid, cyanogenic glycoside, saponin, sorgolennone, juglone and lots of other different of secondary metabolites. Hence, phytoalexin, an antibiotic compound produced by plants infected with pathogens, can be employed for pathogen control. Terpenoids and alkaloids inhibiting insect growth can be utilized for insect control. Allelochemicals, a compound released from a certain plant to hinder the growth of other plants for their survival, can be also used directly as a herbicides for weed control as well. Therefore, the use of the natural secondary metabolites for pest control might be one of the alternatives for environmentally friendly agriculture. However, the natural substances are destroyed easily causing low the pest-control efficacy, and also there is the limitation to producing the substances using plant cell. In the future, effects should be made to try to find the secondary metabolites with good pest-control effect and no harmful to human health. Also the biosynthetic pathways of secondary metabolites have to be elucidated continuously, and the metabolic engineering should be applied to improve transgenics having the resistance to specific pest.