• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.9
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• pp.1295-1304
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• 2021

Modified Renshen Wumei decoction (MRWD), a famous traditional Chinese medicine, is widely used for treating persistent diarrhea. However, as the mechanism by which MRWD regulates diarrhea remains unknown, we examined the protective effects of MRWD on intestinal barrier integrity in a diarrhea model. In total, 48 male rats were randomly distributed to four treatment groups: the blank group (CK group), model group (MC group), Medilac-Vita group (MV group) and Chinese herb group (MRWD group). After a 21-day experiment, serum and colon samples were assessed. The diarrhea index, pathological examination findings and change in ᴅ-lactate and diamine oxidase (DAO) contents illustrated that the induction of diarrhea caused intestinal injury, which was ameliorated by MV and MRWD infusion. Metabolomics analysis identified several metabolites in the serum. Some critical metabolites, such as phosphoric acid, taurine, cortisone, leukotriene B4 and calcitriol, were found to be significantly elevated by MRWD infusion. Importantly, these differences correlated with mineral absorption and metabolism and peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) pathways. Moreover, it significantly increased the expression levels of TLR4, MyD88 and p-NF-κB p65 proteins and the contents of IL-1 and TNF-α, while the expression levels of occludin, claudin-1 and ZO-1 proteins decreased. These deleterious effects were significantly alleviated by MV and MRWD infusion. Our findings indicate that MRWD infusion helps alleviate diarrhea, possibly by maintaining electrolyte homeostasis, improving the intestinal barrier integrity, and inhibiting the TLR4/NF-κB axis.

• Mass Spectrometry Letters
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.71-76
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• 2020

While montelukast (ML), a cysteinyl-leukotriene type 1 receptor (CysLT1) antagonist is widely used to treat symptoms of rhinitis or asthma, its formulations are mainly limited to solid preparation due to its instability. Recently, there have been attempts to develop various ML dosage forms, and this situation increases the demand of sensitive and creditable methods to determine ML in various samples such as plasma. Thus, here, a simple and efficient method to determine ML in rat plasma using liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) and multiple reaction monitoring was presented. The mixture of DCM:EtOAc (25:75, v/v), the optimized extract solvent for LLE was found to be effective to extract ML without hydrophilic salts and proteins from the sample with limited volume. Also, the use of zafirlukast, instead of expensive ML-d6, as the internal standard makes the present method economical. The developed method was successfully validated in terms of selectivity, matrix effects (-14.8--6.9%), linearity (r230.998 within 0.5-500 ng/mL), sensitivity (the limit of detection and the lower limit of quantitation, ≤0.5 ng/mL), accuracy (88.4-100.6%), precision (3.0-13.3%), and recovery (80.8-86.3%) by following the FDA guidelines. Finally, the applicability of the validated method to pharmacokinetics (PK) studies was confirmed by the successful determination of PK parameters through it following oral administration of Singulair® granule in rats. Therefore, the present method can contribute to the development of new ML formulations through its performance to determine ML in rat plasma efficiently and sensitively.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.874-878
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• 2006

Methyl gallate (MG) is a medicinal herbal product that is isolated from Paeonia lactiflora that inhibits cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) dependent phases of prostaglandin $D_2\;(PGD_2)$ generation in bone marrow-derived mast cells (BMMC) in a concentration-dependent manner with an $IC_{50}$ values of $17.0\;{\mu}M$. This compound also found inhibited the COX-2-dependent conversion of the exogenous arachidonic acid to $PGD_2$ in a dose-dependent manner with an $IC_{50}$ values of $190\;{\mu}M$, using a COX enzyme assay kit. However, at concentrations up to $80\;{\mu}M$, MG did not inhibit COX-2 protein expression in BMMC, indicating that MG inhibits COX-2 activity directly. Furthermore, MG consistently inhibited the production of leukotriene $C_4\;(LTC_4)$ in a dose dependent manner, with an $IC_{50}$ value of $5.3\;{\mu}M$. These results demonstrate that MG has a dual cyclooxygenase-2/5-lipoxygenase inhibitory activity, which might provide the basis for novel anti-inflammatory drugs.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.469-474
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• 2012

Fagopyrum esculentum(FE) is an important food crop and medicinal plant that is used to improve diabetes, obesity, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia and constipation in Korea, but the underlying mechanisms involved in its anti-allergic activity are not fully understood. We investigated the effects on the release of inflammatory mediator and proximal signal events in $Fc{\varepsilon}RI$-mediated RBL-2H3 cell activation. FE reduced antigen (DNP-HSA)-induced release of histamine, prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) and cysteinyl Leukotriene (cysLT) in IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. In addition, it inhibited antigen-induced HDC2 and COX-2 and 5-LO mRNA expression in IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. FE also suppressed antigen-induced $Fc{\varepsilon}RI{\beta}$ and $Fc{\varepsilon}RI{\gamma}$ subunit mRNA expression in these cells. To identify the mechanisms underpinning the inhibition of release of inflammatory mediators such as histamine and PGD2 and cysLT by FE, we examined the proximal signal events of intracellular FceRI signaling molecules. FE suppressed antigen-induced phosphorylation of Lyn, Syk, LAT, $PLC{\gamma}1$, PI3K, Akt and cPLA2. Collectively, the anti-allergic effects of FE in vitro suggest its possible therapeutic application to inflammatory allergic diseases, in which its inhibition of inflammatory mediator and FceRI-dependent signaling events in mast cells may be hugely beneficial.

• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
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• v.45 no.2
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• pp.369-379
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• 1998

Background: Platelet-activating factor(PAF) might play an important role in the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome. Since PAF induced lung injury is similar to changes of acute respiratory distress gyndrome, and abnormalities in surfactant function have been described in acute respiratory distress syndrome, the authors investigated the effects of PAF on the regulation of surfactant protein A, B and C mRNA accumulation Method: The effects of PAF on gene expression of surfactant protein A, B and C in 24 hours after intratracheal injection of PAF in rats. Surfactant protein A, B and C mRNAs were measured by filter hybridization. Results: The accumulation of SP-A mRNA in PAF treated group was significantly decreased by 37.1 % and 41.6%, respectively compared to the control group and the group treated with Lyso-PAF(p<0.025, p<0.01). The accumulation of SP-B mRNA in PAF treated group was decreased by 18.7% and 32.2 %, respectively compared to the control group and the group treated with Lyso-PAF but statistically not significant. The accumulation of SP-C mRNA in PAF treated group was significantly decreased by 30.7% and 38.5%, respectively compared to the control group and the group treated with Lyso-PAF(p<0.l, p<0.01). Conclusion: These findings represent a marked inhibitory effects of platelet-activating factor on surfactant proteins expression in vivo. This supports, in turn, 'platelet-activating factor might be related to pathogenesis of acute respiratory distress syndrome.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.494-500
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• 2019

Objective: Feed consumption contributes a large percentage for total production costs in the poultry industry. Detecting genes associated with feeding traits will be of benefit to improve our understanding of the molecular determinants for feed efficiency. The objective of this study was to identify candidate genes associated with feed conversion ratio (FCR) via genomewide association study (GWAS) using sequence data imputed from single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel in a Chinese indigenous chicken population. Methods: A total of 435 Chinese indigenous chickens were phenotyped for FCR and were genotyped using a 600K SNP genotyping array. Twenty-four birds were selected for sequencing, and the 600K SNP panel data were imputed to whole sequence data with the 24 birds as the reference. The GWAS were performed with GEMMA software. Results: After quality control, 8,626,020 SNPs were used for sequence based GWAS, in which ten significant genomic regions were detected to be associated with FCR. Ten candidate genes, ubiquitin specific peptidase 44, leukotriene A4 hydrolase, ETS transcription factor, R-spondin 2, inhibitor of apoptosis protein 3, sosondowah ankyrin repeat domain family member D, calmodulin regulated spectrin associated protein family member 2, zinc finger and BTB domain containing 41, potassium sodium-activated channel subfamily T member 2, and member of RAS oncogene family were annotated. Several of them were within or near the reported FCR quantitative trait loci, and others were newly reported. Conclusion: Results from this study provide valuable prior information on chicken genomic breeding programs, and potentially improve our understanding of the molecular mechanism for feeding traits.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.231-246
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• 2023

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-osteoarthritic effect of the ethanol extract of Boswellia serrata gum resin (FJH-UBS) enriched with keto-β-boswellic acid and 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid compared to the conventional Boswellia serrata extract by adding the process of removing oil with hexane, in the monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced osteoarthritis rat model. Methods: Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were orally administered 0, 40, or 80 mg of FJH-UBS/kg body weight (BW)/day for 5 weeks and injected with MIA intra-articularly into right knee joints on day 15 to induce osteoarthritis. Changes in the knee joint microarchitecture, cartilage degradation, the expression of inflammatory mediators, cytokines, and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in serum and synovia were observed. Results: Oral administration of FJH-UBS (80 mg/kg BW/day) reduced MIA-induced knee swelling and cartilage degradation and increased the expression of type II collagen and aggrecan in articular cartilage. Furthermore, FJH-UBS administration reduced MIA-induced increases in the serum levels of prostaglandin E2, leukotriene B4, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and MMP-13, and MIA-induced increases in the mRNA expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase, cyclooxygenase-2, 5-lipoxygenase, IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, MMP-2, MMP-9, and MMP-13 in the synovia of knee joints. Conclusion: These results indicate that FJH-UBS exerts its anti-osteoarthritic effects by suppressing the expressions of inflammatory cytokines and MMPs and, thus, cartilage degradation. Furthermore, they suggest that FJH-UBS has potential use as a functional food that improves joint and cartilage health.