• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.2 s.66
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• pp.122-133
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• 2006

Objectives : The amyloid $\beta$-protein ($A\beta$) is the principal component of the senile plaques characteristic of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and elicits a toxic effect on neurons in vitro and in vivo. Many environmental factors including antioxidants and proteoglycans modify $A{\beta}toxicity$. In this study, we have investigated the protective effects of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol on $A\beta$-induced oxidative cell death in cultured rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. Methods : For this study, we used MTT reduction assay for detection of protective effects of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol on $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells. We also used cell-based $\beta$-secretase assay system to investigate the inhibitory effect of water- and organic solvent-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root on $\beta$-secretase activity. Results : We previously reported that methanol extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root strongly attenuated cytotoxicity induced by the three $A\beta$ fragments ($A{\beta}_{25-35},\;A{\beta}_{1-42}\;A{\beta}_{1-43}$) to both SK-N-MC and PC12 cells. In the present study, we found that butanol-, ethylacetate-, chloroform-, and water-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol had strong protective effects against $A{\beta}_{25-35}$-induced cytotoxicity to PC12 cells and inhibitory potency to $\beta$-secretase activity. Conclusion : These results suggest that butanol-, ethylacetate-, chloroform-, and water-extracts of Hemerocallis fulva root fractions pre-extracted with methanol may contain the protective component(s) against $A\beta$-induced cell death in PC12 cells as well as inhibitory component(s) to $\beta$-secretase activity.

• Journal of Haehwa Medicine
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.145-170
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• 2013

Objectives : This study was carried out to investigate the anti inflammatory and anti allergy effects of Vitex rotundifolia Linne fil. extract(VRE). Results : 1. In vitro test, VRE was used to determine the modulation of cytokine secretion, the activation of inflammatory and allergic factor and the inhibition of gene expression. The cell survival rate of Raw 264.7 and Jurkat T cells didn't decrease and accordingly cytotoxicity wasn't observed. In anti-allergic assay, the secretion of IL-2, TNF-${\alpha}$, IL-4, IL-5 and IFN-${\gamma}$ were suppressed on Jurkat T cells induced by dust mites. And the gene expression of COX-2 was suppressed in HMC-1 stimulated by calcium ionophore A23187. In anti-inflammatory assay, the gene expression of TNF-${\alpha}$, COX-2 were suppressed on LPS-activated Raw 264.7 cells. And the secretion of IL-6 and IL-8 were suppressed on EoL-1 cells induced by dust mites. P38 and ERK activation of MAPK decreased generally. VRE showed potent inhibitory activity of NO production. 2. In vivo test, we used NC/Nga mouse induced by atopic dermatitis to observe the effects of VRE on the weight, water and feed, blood test, weight of organs, total IgE and histological change of main organs. Quantity of water and feed were not changed, therefore it didn't affect the weight directly, and no change was observed in related main organs, thus maybe there is no organ toxicity by test substances. And the symptoms were decreased significantly, and the thickness of epithelial cell layer and the number of mast cells were inhibited significantly by the difference of dosage. The number of total complete blood cells and IgE in serum were not changed significantly. Conclusion : These results suggest that VRE has anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects. Therefore VRE could be used effectively on improvement or treatment of atopic dermatitis. However, further study is needed to prove which component of VRE indicates effective pharmacological action.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.430-441
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• 2021

Sesquiterpene lactones (STLs) are terpenoids found mostly in the Asteraceae family and are known for their strong cytotoxic properties, among other notable bioactivities. Some STLs, such as artemisinin and mipsagargin, are already commercially available and are used to fight malaria and tumor growth, respectively. Although the interest in STLs was low for a time after their discovery due to their toxic nature, past decades have witnessed a soar in STL-based studies focused on developing novel pharmaceuticals via chemical diversification. These studies have reported several promising physiological effects for STLs, including lower toxicity and diverse modes of action, and have demonstrated the antimicrobial, antioxidant, hepatoprotective, antiviral, antiprotozoal, phytotoxic, antitumor, and antiaging properties of STLs. STLs are mainly considered as valuable natural molecules for the fight against cancer since most STLs induce death of different types of cancer cells, as shown by in vitro and in vivo studies. Some STLs can also enhance the effects of drugs that are already in clinical use. Medicinal chemists use various STLs as starting molecules for the synthesis of new STLs or different bioactive compounds. All these developments warrant future research to provide more information on STLs, their bioactivities, and their mode of action. In this context, this review has summarized the bioactivities of some of the widely studied STLs, namely artemisinin, costunolide, thapsigargin, arglabin, parthenolide, alantolactone, cynaropicrin, helenalin, and santonin.

• Radiation Oncology Journal
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• v.26 no.2
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• pp.104-112
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• 2008

Purpose: To assess the toxicity and tumor response induced by $DCVac/IR^{(R)}$ dendritic cell(DC) immunotherapy combined with irradiation for refractory colorectal cancer patients with multiple liver metastases. Materials and Methods: Between May 2004 and November 2006, applicants from a pool of refractory colorectal cancer patients with multiple liver metastases were enrolled. The patients were registered after having signed the informed consent form, which had been approved by the Institutional Review Board from the Dong-A University and Busan National University Hospital. DCs were obtained from peripheral blood of each patient, and then cultured in vitro. A total of $6{\times}10^6$ DCs were packed into a vial($DCVac/IR^{(R)}$, 0.5 ml) at the convenience of each patient's schedule. On the day before and on the day of each vaccination, each patient received a 4 Gy radiation dose to the target tumor. On the day of vaccination, the indicated dose of autologous DCs was injected into the irradiated tumor using ultrasound-guided needle injection procedures. A total of four vaccinations were scheduled at three 2-week intervals and one 4 week interval at the Dong-A University and Busan National University Hospital. If the tumor status was deemed to be stable or responding to therapy, an additional vaccination dose or two was approved at 4 week intervals beyond the fourth immunization. A tolerance test for DCs was conducted by injecting a range of doses($3{\times}10^6\;to\;12{\times}10^6$ DCs) after the 3rd injection. Moreover, the maximal tolerable dose was applied to additional patients. Treatment safety was evaluated in all patients who had at least one injection. Treatment feasibility was evaluated by the 10th week by assessing the response of patients having at least 4 injections. For systemic toxicities, the evaluation was performed using the National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria, whereas adverse effects were recorded using common WHO toxicity criteria. Results: Of the 24 registered patients, 22 received the DCs injections. Moreover, of the 14 patients that applied for the tolerance test, only 11 patients completed it because 3 patients withdrew their testing agreement. A grade 3 or more side effect, which was possibly related to the DC injection, did not occur in additional patients. The $12{\times}10^6$ DC injection was identified as the maximum tolerable dose, and was then injected in an additional 8 patients. Patients tolerated the injection fairly well, with no fatal side effects. In order to assess the feasibility of DC immunotherapy, the response was evaluated in other hepatic lesions outside of the targeted hepatic lesion. The response evaluation was performed in 15 of the 17 patients who received at least 4 injections. Stable and progressive disease was found in 4 and 11 patients, respectively. Conclusion: The DC-based immunotherapy and radiotherapy is theoretically synergistic for the local control and systemic control. The $DCVac/IR^{(R)}$ immunotherapy combined with irradiation was tolerable and safe in the evaluated cases of refractory colorectal cancer with multiple liver metastases. Future work should include well designed a phase II clinical trials.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.33 no.8
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• pp.1246-1251
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• 2004

To investigate the effects of plant extracts on the protection against liver damage by $CCl_4$ in rat, two kinds of experiment were performed, firstly by the primary hepatocyte culture and secondly by the animal feeding. The primary hepatocyte culture with the extracts of pine leaf, soybean sprout and mugwort showed significantly low activities (p<0.01∼0.05) of aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alanine aminotransferase (ALT), indicating an excellent protective effect against liver damage by $CCl_4$. In the second experiment, the microsomal malondialdehyde (MDA) contents of the above same groups were also significantly lower (p<0.01) than the $CCl_4$-treated group without plant extracts, but shiitake showed less effect. Among four kinds of plant extracts, extracts of pine leaf and mugwort showed also much higher activities of the microsomal cytochrome P-450 in comparison to soybean sprout and shiitake. In the test of xanthine oxidase (XOD) activity, all of three groups except shiitake showed significantly low activities (p<0.01). These consistent results in vitro and in vivo suggest that the extracts of pine leaf, soybean sprout and mugwort may have strong protective effects against liver damage induced by the potential toxicants such as $CCl_4$.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.89-95
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• 1986

The five short-chain fatty acids such as isobutyric(C-4), butyric(C-4), isovaleric(C-5), valeric(C-5) and caproic (C-6) acids obtained from the extract of common purslane showed wide antifungal spectra against spore germination and mycelial growth of the twenty five phytopathogenic fungi tested in vitro, although there were differences in antifungal potency among them. The antifungal potency of each fatty acid varied significantly against different fungi in spore germination and mycelial growth. The seventeen fungi used for spore germination test and the sixteen fungi used for mycelial growth test can be divided into three groups depending upon differences in minimal inhibitory concentration of each fatty acid for them, respectively. Caproic acid was significantly more toxic to germination than to mycelial growth of the test fungi, while the other four fatty acids did not show such a significant differences in toxicity with a few of exceptions as shown in valerie acid. The longer the chain-length of fatty acid was, the higher the antifungal potency was shown. The normal fatty acids such as butyric and valerie acid were more toxic than their isomers to spore germination and mycelial growth of the test fungi. Each fatty acid was more toxic to spore germination of obligate parasites and some of facultative parasites, and mycelial growth of facultative parasites than to spore germination and mycelial growth of saprophytes, respectively.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.32 no.3
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• pp.323-333
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• 2011

Objectives : Zingberis Rhizoma (ZR) and Glycyrrihizae Radix (GR) have been widely used to prevent or treat allergic diseases. However, relatively little research has been conducted on the immune response to Senggang Gamcho-tang (SG) in a mixture of ZR and GR. The purpose of this study was to determine antiallergic effects of Senggang Gamcho-tang (SG) extracts ZR and GR on activity of murine splenocytes. Methods : This study was performed to investigate the effect of SG in mice, using in vitro experiments. Cells were treated with SG extract (1 ${\mu}g$/ml, 10 ${\mu}g$/ml and 100 ${\mu}g$/ml) plus Con A (2 ${\mu}g$/ml) and ZR (6.6 ${\mu}g$/ml and 66 ${\mu}g$/ml), GR (3.3 ${\mu}g$/ml and 33 ${\mu}g$/ml) respectively for 48 hrs. The production of IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-4 were determined by ELISA. Results : No toxicity was found in splenocytes treated with SG extract for 48 hrs at the concentration of 0 ${\mu}g$/ml, 1 ${\mu}g$/ml, 10 ${\mu}g$/ml and 100 ${\mu}g$/ml, respectively. The production of IFN-${\gamma}$ increased to 23,968.7 pg/ml (p<0.001) while that of IL-4 significantly decreased to 14.1 pg/m l(p<0.05) only at the SG concentration of 100 ${\mu}g$/ml. With the GR concentration of 33 ${\mu}g$/ml in SG extract, the production of IFN-${\gamma}$ rose to 32,102.2 pg/ml (p<0.001) while that of IL-4 (p<0.05) declined to 34.2 pg/ml. However, there was no significant observation with regard to the effect of ZR on production of IFN-${\gamma}$ and IL-4. Conclusions : This study suggests an antiallergic effect of Senggang Gamcho-tang, which leads to the implication that SG extract may be used to enhance human immune function.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.147-153
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• 2000

This study was conducted to compare probiotic activities and physiological functions of Bifidobacterium longum Mk-G7 with weveral commercial and type strains of bifidobacteria. bif. longum MK-G7 showed the highest acid tolerance against HCl and acetic acid, whereas bif. infantis Y-1 showed the lowest acid tolerance and more than 4 log cycles of viable cell count decreased due to acid injuty. Viable cell counts of bifidobacteria strains decreased more than 1.5 log cycles owing to oxygen toxicity, with the exception of Bif. longum MK-G7, Bif. infantis Y-2, Bif. longum Y-3, Bif. longum Y-6, and Bif. longum RD-13 showed the highest bile tolerance, whereas Bif. longum MK-G7 showed a medium level of bile tolerance. Only Bif. longum MK-G7 howed much higher antibiotic resistance against both tetracycline and penicillin-G in the MIC(minimum inhibitory concentration) level of 24.8 mg/I and 0.52mg/I, respectively. Bif longum Y-6, and Bif. bifidum ATCC 29539 showed more than 80% of anti-mutagenicity against NQO(4-nitroquinolinel-oxide). Since the production of cytokines such as $TNF(tumor necrosis factor)-{\alpha}$ and IL (interleukin)-6, and NO(nitric oxide) in the macrophage cell line Raw 264.7 cells increased as Bif. longum MK-G7 cell concentration increased, ti was suggested that Bif. longum MK-G7 is able to enhance immunopotentiating activity in vitro. When freeze-dred Bif. longum MK-G7 was administered to mice at the dose of 1,2,4, and 6 g/kg of body weight, all of the mice survived in all feeding groups, proving the GRAS(generally recognized as safe) status of Bif. longum MK-G7. When fermented milk containing Bif. longum MK-G7 was administered to human volunteers, viable cell count of total bifidobacteria and anaerobes in the feces increased up to 0.5 log cycles more than before the administration. In particular, Bif. logum MK-G7 ingibited the growth of Bacteroides at the level of 1.0-1.5 log cycles.

• Korean Journal of Environmental Biology
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• v.24 no.1 s.61
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• pp.46-52
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• 2006

The mercury is among the most highly bioconcentrated toxic trace metals. Many national and international agencies and organisations have targeted mercury for the possible emission control. The mercury toxicity depends on its chemical form, among which alkylmercury compounds are the most toxic. A human cervix uterus cancer cell line HeLa cells was employed to investigate the effect of the toxic heavy metal mercury (Hg) and ionizing radiation. In the in vitro comet assays for the genotoxicity in the HeLa cells, the group of Hg treatment after irradiation showed higher DNA breakage than the other groups. The tail extent moment and olive tail moment of the control group were $4.88{\pm}1.00\;and\;3.50{\pm}0.52$ while the values of the only Hg treatment group were $26.90{\pm}2.67\;and\;13.16{\pm}1.82$, respectively. The tail extent moment and olive tail moment of the only 0.001, 0.005, 0.01 Hg group were $12.24{\pm}1.82,\;8.20{\pm}2.15,\;20.30{\pm}1.30,\;12.26{\pm}0.52,\;40.65{\pm}2.94\;and \;20.38{\pm}1.49$, respectively. In the case of Hg treatment after irradiation, the tail extent moment and olive tail moment of the 0.001, 0.005, 0.01 Hg group were $56.50{\pm}3.93,\;32.69{\pm}2.48,\;62.03{\pm}5.14,\;31.56{\pm}1.97,\;72.73{\pm}3.70\;and \;39.44{\pm}3.23$, respectively. The results showed that Hg induced DNA single-strand breaks or alkali labile sites as assessed by the Comet assay. It is in good agreement with the reported results. The mercury inhibits the repair of DNA. The bacterial formamidopyrimidine-DNA glycosylase (Epg protein) recognizes and removes some oxidative DNA base modifications. Enzyme inactivation by Hg (II) may therefore be due either to interactions with rysteine residues outside the metal binding domain or to very high-affinity binding of Hg (II) which readily removes Zn (II) from the zinc finger.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.231-237
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• 2017

Background: Cisplatin is one of the most extensively used chemotherapeutic agents for the treatment of cancer, including bladder, and ovarian cancers. However, it has been shown to induce nephrotoxicity, despite being an outstanding anti-cancer drug. In this study, we investigated the protective effect of dopaol ${\beta}$-D-glucoside (dopaol) on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. Methods and Results: To confirm the protective effect of dopaol on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity, HK-2 cells were treated with $20{\mu}M$ cisplatin and $80{\mu}M$ dopaol. Cisplatin increased apoptosis, caspase-3 activity and mitochondrial dysfunction; however pretreatment with $80{\mu}M$ dopaol successfully attenuated apoptosis, caspase-3 activity and mitochondrial dysfunction. To evaluate the protective effect dopaol on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in vivo, we used an animal model (balb/c mice, 20 mg/kg, i.p. once/day for 3 day). The results were similar to those obtained using HK-2 cells; renal tubular damage and neutrophilia induced by cisplatin reduced following dopaol injection (10 mg/kg, i.p. once/day for 3 day). Conclusions: These results indicate that dopaol treatment reduced cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in vitro and in vivo, and can be used to treat cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity. However, further studies are required to determine the toxicity high dose dopaol and the signal pathways involved in its mechanism of action in animal models.