• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.40 no.3
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• pp.187-192
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• 2010

We aimed to evaluate the effect of temperature, pH, and light conditions on the stability of porcine placental extract (PPE)-loaded liposomes with different surface charges. The size distribution profiles and in vitro release patterns were investigated by dynamic light scattering method and spectrophotometry. The stability of PPE-loaded liposomes was affected by the surface charges of the liposomes. As compared to neutral and anionic liposomes, cationic liposome formulations showed significantly lower physical stability. At the test storage conditions of different temperatures and pHs, the mean sizes of cationic PPE-loaded liposomes substantially increased. In contrast, neutral and anionic liposomes did not reveal significant changes in mean sizes upon various storage conditions. The neutral and anionic liposomes showed no significant differences in the release profiles of PPE after storage at various temperatures and pHs. Our results indicate that anionic and neutral liposome compositions might be more suitable for the formulations of PPE providing the higher stability.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
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• v.39 no.5
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• pp.333-337
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• 2009

We aimed to optimize the formulation of porcine placental extract (PPE)-loaded liposomes for intramuscular administration and to investigate the effect of surface charges on the muscular retention in mice. PPE-loaded liposomes were formulated to have neutral, anionic, or cationic surface charges. The in vitro release profiles were studied by spectrofluorometry. In vivo distribution patterns at mice were studied using molecular imaging technology. Among the three types of liposomes, 1,2-dioleoyl-3-trimethylammonium-propane and 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphoethanolamine-based cationic liposomes showed the most prolonged in vitro release profile. Consistent with the in vitro results, the in vivo distribution study revealed that the cationic liposomes were retained at the site of administration for the longest period. Our results suggest the potential of cationic PPE-loaded liposomes for sustained release of the components after intramuscular administration.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.1-14
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• 2021

Methods: We investigated the ability to induce decidualization of human endometrial stromal cells and invasive ability of human trophoblast cells by water extract of three types herbal medicines (Dangguijakyak-san, Siryung-tang, Antae-eum) and ethanol extract on Scutellariae Radix. Results: In the process of decidualization of endometrial stromal cells, three herbal medicines including Dangguijakyak-san, Siryung-tang, and Scutellariae Radix increased the production of decidual markers such as prolactin (PRL) and insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 1 (IGFBP1). However, Antae-eum increased mRNA levels of PRL and IGFBP and secretion of IGFBP in decidual stromal cells, but not PRL. Four herbal medicines inhibited the invasion of trophoblast cells. Conclusions: Four herbal medicines may play a role in implantation in women with reproductive failures. However, further studies are warranted to elucidate whether these medications are helpful in the maintenance of pregnancy.

• Food Science of Animal Resources
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.701-709
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• 2011

This study was performed to establish an effective extraction method of pig placenta extract that could be used for a putative functional food supplement with immunomodulatory effects. In the present study, we used different temperatures (4, 37, 60, 80, and $100^{\circ}C$) and different solvents (chloroform, NaOH, and phosphate buffered saline [PBS]) to extract the pig placenta. Among the different placenta extracts yielded by the different extraction methods, placenta extract (PE) in PBS at $80^{\circ}C$ for 30 min (referred to as PE-PBS80) showed a significant increase of nitric oxide production of up to 22.97 ${\mu}M/10^5$ cells at a 1 mg/mL dose (p<0.05 ) in J774A.1 cells than other extracts and control tested. Using PE-PBS80, further animal challenges were performed to identify the immune-enhanced effects. As a result, orally administered PE-PBS80 showed a significant increase in blood T and B cell activities and immunoglobulin (IgG and IgM) production. IgG and IgM levels increased to 41.53 mg/mL at a 20 mg dose on day 7 and to 27.38 mg/mL at a 10 mg dose on day 14, respectively (p<0.05). Furthermore, PE-PBS80 was also able to significantly enhance the immune modulator cytokine levels (p<0.05) compared to the control and vehicle treatments. Among the evaluated cytokines, the tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) level increased to 28.89 pg/mL at extract doses of 20 and 50 mg, the interleukin-$1{\beta}$ (IL-$1{\beta}$) level increased to 21.52 pg/mL at extract doses of 10, 20, 50 and 75 mg and the interferon (IFN)-${\gamma}$ level increased to 18.24 pg/mL at extract doses of 10, 20, and 50 mg. Therefore, this study presents an effective method for extracting pig placenta extracts and also demonstrates that pig placenta extracts had significant immunomodulatory effects not only at the cellular level but also in a mouse model, suggesting that this material could be used as an excellent candidate functional food supplement.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.1611-1616
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• 2014

Spirogyra neglecta, a freshwater green alga, is a local food in the northern and northeastern parts of Thailand. This investigation explored the anticarcinogenicity of S neglecta and its possible cancer chemopreventive mechanisms in rats divided into 14 groups. Groups 1 and 10 served as positive and negative control groups, respectively. Groups 1-9 were intraperitoneally injected with diethylnitrosamine (DEN) once a week for 3 weeks. Groups 10-14 received normal saline instead. One week after the last DEN injection, groups 2-5 were administered for 9 consecutive weeks various doses of S neglecta extract (SNE) and dried S neglecta (SND), mixed with basal diet. Groups 6-9 and 11-14 similarly were administered various doses of SNE and SND starting from the first week of the experiment. Administration of SNE and SND was not associated with formation of glutathione-Stransferase placental form (GST-P) positive foci in rat liver. SNE and SND during initiation phase significantly reduced the number of GST-P positive foci in rats injected with DEN. The number of GST-P also diminished in groups treated with SNE and SND after injection with DEN, except for the low dose extract group. SNE showed stronger anticarcinogenic potency than SND. Furthermore, SNE also decreased the number of Ki-67 positive cells. However, the numbers of TUNEL-positive cells in the liver of the SNE-treated groups were not statistically different from the controls. The GST activity in 50 mg/kg bw of SNE and 1% of SND groups was significantly increased as compared to the positive control. In conclusion, Spirogyra neglecta (Hassall) K$\ddot{u}$tzing showed cancer chemopreventive properties at the early stages of diethylnitrosamine-induced hepatocarcinogenesis in rats. Possible inhibitory mechanisms include enhancement of the activities of some detoxifying enzymes and/or suppression of precancerous cells.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.5
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• pp.175-180
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• 2022

The seeds of Trichosanthes kirilowii (STK) used in traditional Oriental medicine for the treatment of dry cough and constipation have diverse pharmacological activities, including hypolipidemic, antioxidant, immunosuppressive, and anticancer effects. However, the effect of STK on angiogenesis has not been studied yet. In this study, we investigated whether the ethanolic extract of STK (ESTK) can regulate the migration and tube formation of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and explored the underlying mechanism. Results of transwell assay showed that ESTK treatment dose-dependently suppressed the migration of HUVECs. The conditioned medium collected from H1299 human lung cancer cells was used as a chemoattractant. Our observation suggests that ESTK would inhibit the recruitment of endothelial cells into tumors. In addition, ESTK treatment significantly reduced the tube formation of HUVECs. As a molecular mechanism, we found that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)-induced phosphorylation of VEGF receptor 2 (VEGFR2) was completely blocked by ESTK treatment. The expression of angiogenic factors, including VEGFA, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), angiopoietin, placental growth factor (PGF), platelet derived growth factor (PDGF), angiogenin, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, was commonly decreased by ESTK treatment in H1299 cells, indicating that ESTK would reduce the production of angiogenic factors from cancer cells. Taken together, our results clearly demonstrated that ESTK exhibited anti-angiogenic effects in HUVECs, which provides another possible mechanism underlying the anticancer activities of STK.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.347-350
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• 2011

Biofilms are surface-attached microbial communities with phenotypic and biochemical properties distinct from free-living planktonic cells. Biofilm bacteria show much greater resistance than planktonic counterparts and much higher concentration of biocide is needed to treat biofilms compared to the dosage used for planktonic bacteria. As a result, alternative strategies or more effective agents exhibiting activity against biofilm-producing micro-organisms are of great interest. Therefore, we turned our attention to control of biofilm of S. aureus. The aims of this research are to investigate substances which inhibit the formation of biofilm by S. aureus and to suggest effective materials for controlling skin problems. We coated slide glasses with human placental collagen and the coverslip was incubated with test materials and bacteria. The coverslip was stained with crystal violet and we measured optical density of each sample. The biofilm inhibitory activity was calculated by crystal violet staining degrees. In this study, S. aureus ATCC 6538 was used as test organism. Our results show that both water soluble and insoluble Hinoki cypress polysaccharide strongly inhibited biofilm formation. Whereas, green tea and sunset hibiscus root extract promoted biofilm. Xylitol showed a concentration dependent effect; high concentration (3 % and 5 %) of xylitol reduced biofilm while promoted biofilm formation at a concentration of 1 %. These results support that Hinoki cypress polysaccharide and xylitol have ability to suppress biofilm formation.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.782-787
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• 2002

This study was done to investigate the effects of Korean mistletoe water extract and lectin on the apoptosis and preneoplastic lesion in chemically induced rat hepatocarcinogenesis. To attain the above objectives, weanling Sprague-Dawley male rats were fed modified AIN-76 diets containing 10% corn oil for 9 weeks. One week after feeding starts, rats were intraperitoneally injected twice with a dose of diethylnitrosamine (DEN, 50 mg/kg body weight (BW). Rats were provided with 0.05% phenobarbital (PB) in drinking water from one week after DEN treatment until the end of experiment. During the period of PB treatment, rats were injected with mistletoe extract (100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW) and lectin (10 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW) twice a week. At the end of 9th week, rats were sacrificed and the formation of hepatic glutathione S-transferase placental form positive (GST-P$^{+}$) foci, apoptosis, DNA fragmentation and apoptosis related proteins were determined respectively. The formation of GST-P$^{+}$foci was significantly decreased by mistletoe extract or lectin treatment. Although there was no effect on apoptosis and DNA fragmentation in hepatic tissue by mistletoe extract or lectin treatment, caspase-9 and fas-L were increased. These results suggest that Korean mistletoe extract and lectin have a potential to inhibit hepatocarcinogenesis by increasing apoptosis.sis.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.697-702
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• 2001

This study was done to investigate effects of Korean mistletoe extract and lectin on serum GOT, GPT and $\alpha$-L-fucosidase activities and the preneoplastic lesion in chemically induced rat hepatocarcinogenesis. To attain the above objectives weanling Sprangue-Dawley male rats were fed modified AIN-76 diets containing 10% corn oil for 9 weeks. One week after feeding rats were intraperitonealy injected twice with a dose of diethylnitrosamine (DEN, 50 mg/kg body weight(BW)) and were provided 0.05% phenobarbita (PB) with drinking water from one week after DEN treatment until the end of experiment. For the same period as PB treatment, rats were injected mistletoe extract (10 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW European mistletoe, 10 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW and 100 $\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW Korean mistletoe) and lectin(1 ng/kg BW, 10 ng/kg BW) twice a week. At the end of 9th week rats were sacrificed and the formation of hepatic glutthione S-transferase placental form positive (GST-P+) foci serum GOT, GPT and $\alpha$-L-fucosidase activities were determined. By treatment of mistletoe extract or lectin there were no significant effects on serum GOP, GPT and $\alpha$-L-fucosidase activities whereas those activities showed a tendency to increase by DEN treatment. The formation of GST-P+ foci was significantly decreased by mistletoe extract or lectin treatment especially in group of 100$\mu\textrm{g}$/kg BW Korean mistletoe. These results suggest that Korean mistletoe extract and lectin have a possibility to inhibit hepatocarcinogenesis of animals.

• Clinical and Experimental Reproductive Medicine
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.115-122
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• 1998

The maintenance of a viable pregnancy has long been viewed as an immunological paradox. The deveolping embryo and trophoblast are immunologically foreign to the maternal immune system due to their maternally inherited genes products and tissue-specific differentiation antigens (Hill & Anderson, 1988). Therefore, speculation has arisen that spontaneous abortion may be caused by impaired maternal immune tolerance to the semiallogenic conceptus (Hill, 1990). Loss of recall antigen has been reported in immunosuppressed transplant recipients and is associated with graft survival (Muluk et al., 1991; Schulik et al., 1994). Progesterone $(10^{-5}M)$ has immunosuppressive capabilities (Szekeres-Bartho et al., 1985). Previous study showed that fertile women, but not women with unexplained recurrent abortion (URA), lose their immune response to recall antigens when pregnant (Bermas & Hill, 1997). Therefore, we hypothesized that immunosuppressive doses of progesterone may affect proliferative response of lymphocytes to trophoblast antigen and alloantigen. Proliferative responses using $^3H$-thymidine ($^3H$-TdR) incorporation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) to the irradiated allogeneic periperal blood mononuclear cells as alloantigen, trophoblast extract and Flu as recall antigen, and PHA as mitogen were serially checked in 9 women who had experienced unexplained recurrent miscarriage. Progesterone vaginal suppositories (100mg b.i.d; Utrogestan, Organon) beginning 3 days after ovulation were given to 9 women with unexplained RSA who had prior evidence of Th1 immunity to trophoblast. We checked proliferation responses to conception cycle before and after progesterone supplementation once a week through the first 7 weeks of pregnancy. All patients of alloantigen and PHA had a positive proliferation response that occmed in the baseline phase. But 4 out of 9 patients (44.4%) of trophoblast antigen and Flu antigen had a positive proliferative response. The suppression of proliferation response to each antigen were started after proliferative phase and during pregnancy cycles. Our data demonstrated that since in vivo progesterone treated PBMCs suppressed more T-lymphocyte activation and $^3H$-TdR incorporation compare to PBMCs, which are not influenced by progesterone. This data suggested that it might be influenced by immunosuppressive effect of progesterone. In conclusion, progesterone may play an important immunological role in regulating local immune response in the fetal-placental unit. Furthermore, in the 9 women given progesterone during a conception cycle, Only two (22%) repeat pregnancy losses occured in these 9 women despite loss of antigen responsiveness (one chemical pregnancy loss and one loss at 8 weeks of growth which was karyotyped as a Trisomy 4). These finding suggested that pregnancy loss due to fetal aneuploidy is not associated with immunological phenomena.