• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.28-40
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• 2000

Objectives : This study was purposed to investigate the effect of honey bee venom aqua-acupuncture on decreased immune response by its production from Korea, North America and China. Methods : ICR-mouse was exposed with four minute sublethal 60Co- $\gamma$ -ray irradiation onto the body and got a series of each country's 0.1 ml honey bee venom aqua-acupuncture to Choksamni(ST36) every other day for three times. Thereafter the numbers of WBC, delayed type hypersensitivity, hemagglutinin titers, hemolysin titers, quantitation of T-cell and B-cell, lymphocyte transformation, natural killer cell activity, interleukin-2 productivity and interferon productivity were measured. Results : The numbers of WBC, delayed type hypersensitivity, hemagglutinin titers, hemolysin titers, quantitation of T-cell and B-cell and lymphocyte transformation were increased respectively with statistical significance in Korean, North American and Chinese honey bee venom aqua-acupuncture groups as compared with the control group. The natural killer cell activity was increased with statistical significance in Korean honey bee venom aqua-acupuncture group, and Interleukin-2 productivity and interferon productivity were not shown any statistical significance in all experimental groups as compared with the control group. Conclusions : According to the results, honey bee venom aqua-acupuncture has significant effect on decreased immune response, and Korean bee venom can be substituted for North American and Chinese one.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.41-50
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• 2002

Objective : To study anti-inflammatory, analgesic effect and molecular biological mechanism of honey bee venom for aqua-acupuncture, human mast cell line(HMC-1) and human glioma cell line(HS683) were treated with bee venom. Methods : Cell viability of bee venom was tested by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) asssay. To explore whether anti-inflammatory, analgesic effects of bee venom are associated with the control of gene expression, quantitative RT-PCR analysis of inflammation and pain related genes was performed. Results : The MTT assay demonstrated that cell viability was not decreased by treatment with 10-9 ug/ml bee venom in comparison with 10-2, 10-3, 10-4, 10-5, 10-6, 10-7, 10-8, 10-9, 10-10 and 10-11 ug/ml. sPLA2 and COX-l were down-regulated by treatment with 10-9 ug/ml bee venom in HS683 Cell line in comparison with control. COX-2 was up-regulated by treatment with 10-9 ug/ml bee venom in HS683 Cell line and HSP-2 was up-regulated by treatment with 10-9 ug/ml bee venom in HMC-1 Cell line in comparison with control. sPLA2, COX-1 and COX-2 showed no significant regulation in HMC-1 Cell line and cPLA2 also showed no significant regulation in both HMC-l and HS683 Cell line between control and bee venom treated group.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.57-62
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• 1992

Bee Venom therapy, as bee honey has long contributed to human life as a valuable fancy food since human history began. It can be found in the literature back up to a thousand years as a form of therapy for management of apin of various origin. Even to the present, there are some physicians and medical personnel who believe in the effects of bee sting therapy throughout the world. However Bee Venom therapy remains somewhat controversial and there are very few controlled studies available to guide clinical practice. We administered apitherapy(Bee venom therapy) against pain of musculoskeletal origin in thirty one patients from october 1988 to october 1990 and got successful results in seventy one percent of patients. Our results suggest that Bee Venom therapy can be one of the methods for conquering pain caused by true inflamation.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.7-11
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• 2015

Objectives: Bee venom (BV) is a complex mixture of proteins and contains proteins such as phospholipase and melittin, which have an effect on blood clotting and blood clots. The mechanism of action of honey bee venom (HBV, Apis mellifera) on human plasma proteins and its anti-thrombotic effect were studied. The purpose of this study was to investigate the anti-coagulation effect of BV and its effects on blood coagulation and purification. Methods: Crude venom obtained from Apis mellifera was selected. The anti-coagulation factor of the crude venom from this species was purified by using gel filtration chromatography (sephadex G-50), and the molecular weights of the anti-coagulants in this venom estimated by using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Blood samples were obtained from 10 rabbits, and the prothrombin time (PT) and the partial thromboplastin time (PTT) tests were conducted. The approximate lethal dose (LD) values of BV were determined. Results: Crude BV increased the blood clotting time. For BV concentrations from 1 to 4 mg/mL, clotting was not observed even at more than 300 seconds, standard deviations $(SDs)={\pm}0.71$; however, clotting was observed in the control group 13.8 s, $SDs={\pm}0.52$. Thus, BV can be considered as containing anti-coagulation factors. Crude BV is composed 4 protein bands with molecular weights of 3, 15, 20 and 41 kilodalton (kDa), respectively. The $LD_{50}$ of the crude BV was found to be $177.8{\mu}g/mouse$. Conclusion: BV contains anti-coagulation factors. The fraction extracted from the Iranian bees contains proteins that are similar to anti-coagulation proteins, such as phospholipase $A_2(PLA_2)$ and melittin, and that can increase the blood clotting times in vitro.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.47-53
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• 2011

Objectives: This study was performed to analyse the effects of Sweet Bee Venom(SBV-purified melittin supported by G&V Co., the major component of honey bee venom) on the respiratory system in rats. Methods: All experiments were conducted at Biotoxtech Company, a non-clinical studies authorized institution, under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice(GLP). Male rats of 5 weeks old were chosen for this study and after confirming condition of rats was stable, SBV was administered in thigh muscle of rats in 0.175, 0.35 and 0.7 mg/kg dosage. And checked the effects of SBV on the respiratory system using the whole body plethysmography. And respiratory rate, tidal volume and minute volume of rats were checked after administered SBV (melittin). Results: 1. In the measurement of respiratory rate, there were not observed any significant differences compared with control group. 2. In the measurement of tidal volume, there was not observed any significant differences compared with control group. 3. In the measurement of minute volume, 0.35mg/kg dosage group showed significant differences compared with control group. But we estimated that this result was caused by individual differences. Conclusions: Above findings suggest that SBV seems to be safe treatment in the respiratory system of rats. And further studies on the subject should be conducted to yield more concrete evidences.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.115-123
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• 2007

The therapeutic effect of honeybee venom collected using be venom collector on bovine mastitis was investigated. Mastitic cows from four farms were selected in the Yang-pyeong areas. Chronic mastitic cows were injected with the various concentrations of honey-bee venom per day. There was a significant difference in the reduction rates of somatic cell counts (SCC) according to treatment concentration and method of bee venom. The milk SCC were significantly decreased in all concentrations of bee venom 3 days after treatment. The reduction rates of SCC in treatment of 3, 6, 12 and 24mg honeybee venom were 20, 43, 63.3 and 65.8% respectively. Honeybee venom treatment consisted of two methods, a syringeful and a Bovivet Spenstift. The treatment with Bovivet Spenstift was more effective in the reduction rates of SCC compared with the syringeful. Thirty two out of 53 quarters were cured by Bovivet Spenstift with 12mg bee venom per day for 14 days. The venom cure rates of bovine mastitis by Escherichia coli, Stapylococcus aureus, Gram positive bacteria and Gram negative bacteria were 33.3, 75, 75 and 43.8% respectively. These results suggested that bee venom treatment (by Bovivet Spenstift with 12mg) might be effective for treatment of bovine mastitis.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.145-149
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• 1999

This study was designed to examine therapeutic effect of natural honeybee (Apis mellifera) venom in pigs with arthritis. Pigs were assigned to treated and nontreated control groups. In treated group, 51 pigs were given natural honeybee venom once a day for 5 consecutive days. Acupoints of Sam-li, Jok-su and Pal-ja were stung by the natural honey bees. In control group, 46 pigs were intramuscularly injected with a standard dosage of penicillin G (400,000 IU/kg of body weight) once a day for 5 consecutive days. On day 5 following bee venom therapy, 73.9% of control pigs and 86.2% of pigs in treated group recovered from arthritis. Bee acupuncture therapy did not show any side effects such as allergy, intoxication, hemorrhage, or infection. It might be concluded that honeybee venom therapy was effective in controlling of pig with arthritis.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Service
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.169-174
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• 2021

Mastitis is an inflammatory condition of the mammary gland, most often caused by bacterial infections, resulting in significant economic losses to the dairy industry. Antimicrobial resistance has been of great concern because of the extensive clinical use of antibiotics. For this reason, the development of new compounds as an alternative treatment to bovine mastitis is needed. Bee venom has been widely used as an oriental treatment for several inflammatory diseases and bacterial infections. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of bee venom on bacteria isolated from bovine mastitis. A total of 107 isolates from bovine mastitic milk samples collected in 2019 and 2020 in Jeonbuk province. All bacterial isolates were tested for susceptibility to bee venom of the honey bee (Apis mellifera). In order to obtain comprehensive antibacterial activities of the bee venom, we measured the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of the bee venom against bacterial strains. Bee venom showed significant inhibition of bacterial growth of Gram-negative bacteria Citrobacter spp., Escherchia coli, Klebsiella spp., Pseudomonas spp., Serratia spp. and Raoultella with MIC values of 96, 81, 72, 230, and 85 ㎍/mL, respectively, and Gram-positive bacterial Enterococcus spp., Staphylococcus spp. and Streptococcus spp. with MIC values of 29, 21 and 16 ㎍/mL, respectively. The results indicated that the MIC values were different depending on the bacterial strains, and those of Gram-positive bacteria were lower than those of Gram-negative bacteria for bee venom. These findings suggested that bee venom could be an effective antimicrobial treatment for bovine mastitis; however, further research is necessary to evaluate the mechanism underlying the antimicrobial action, its effectiveness/safety in vivo and effective application for therapeutic use.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.5-24
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• 2011

Objective: This study was performed to analyse four weeks repeated -dose toxicity of Sweet Bee Venom (SBV-pure melittin, the major component of honey bee venom) in rats. Methods: All experiments were conducted under the regulations of Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) at Biotoxtech Company, a non-clinical study authorized institution. Male and female rats of 5 weeks old were chosen for the pilot study of four weeks repeated-dose toxicity and was injected at the level of 0.56 mg/kg body weight (eighty times higher than the clinical application dosage as the high dosage), followed by 0.28 and 0.14 mg/kg as midium and low dosage, respectively. Equal amount of normal saline was injected as the control group every day for four weeks. Results: 1. No mortality was witnessed in all of the experiment groups. 2. All experiment groups appealed pain sense in the treating time compared to the control group, and side effects such as hyperemia and movement disorder were observed around the area of injection in all experiment groups, and the higher dosage in treatment, the higher occurrence in side effects. 3. Concerning weight measurement, neither male nor female groups showed significant changes compared to the control group. 4. Concerning to the CBC and biochemistry, all experiment groups didn't show any significant changes compared to the control group. 5. Concerning weight measurement of organs, experiment groups didn't show any significant changes compared to the control group. 6. To verify abnormalities of organs and tissues, those such as cerebellum, cerebrum, liver, lung, kidney, and spinal cords were removed and we conducted histologocal observation with H-E staining. Concerning the histologocal observation of liver tissues, some fatty changes were observed around portal vein in 0.56 mg/kg experiment group. But another organs were not detected in any abnormalities. 7. The proper high dosage of SBV for the thirteen weeks repeated test in rats may be 0.28 mg/kg in one time. Conclusion: Above findings suggest that SBV is relatively safe treatment medium. Further studies on the subject should be conducted to yield more concrete evidences.

• 대한임상약리학회:학술대회논문집
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• 1994.12a
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• pp.30-30
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• 1994