• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.116-122
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• 2010

Saengmaeksan (SMS) is a well known Korean traditional herbal prescription, which consists of 3 different herbs, Radix Ophiopogonis, Radix Ginseng, and Fructus Schisandrae. SMS has been commonly used in various disease including respiratory system and cardiovascular System in Korea. The objective of this study is to find out the improving effects of SMS against Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS)-induced ulcerative colitis. SMS reduced clinical signs of DSS-induced colitis, including body weight loss, shorten colon length, and increased disease activity index. The results showed that SMS significantly inhibited the activation of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ p65 in the colon tissues of DSS-treated mice. In addition, we observed that result showed that the levels of IL-6 in plasma were increased in DSS treated group compared to those of the normal group, but these increased levels were reduced by administration with SMS. Taken together, these findings suggest that SMS has improving effects on DSS-induced ulcerative colitis, which may explain its beneficial effect in the regulation of chronic intestinal inflammation.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.25-37
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• 2021

Objectives : Herbal medicines have been used a lot traditionally in Northeast Asia. In particular, various Apiaceae plants (Umbelliferae) are widely used for medicinal purposes among countries. However, the original species designated in each pharmacopoeia standards, are sometimes different and confuse. In this study, herbal medicines in the pharmacopoeia were analyzed for Apiaceae taxa to compare the taxonomic identity and different taxonomic opinions for each country based on their local flora and recent taxonomic studies. Methods : The scientific names of herbal medicines were analyzed origins from Pharmacopoeias of Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, People's Republic of China, Taiwan, and Japan. Especially, we compared their local floras, international plant scientific name database, and recently published taxonomic studies to confirm the correct scientific name. Results : The analyzed apiaceous herbal medicines in pharmacopoeias were all 21 items and 39 taxa; the highest percentage, genus Angelica (21%) and roots including rhizomes (62%) the registered genera and medicinal parts, respectively. Eleven items were in all five country's pharmacopoeias. Four items were in more than two countries' pharmacopoeias. Six items were registered in only one pharmacopoeia. Conclusions : Our research provides necessary information, e.g., corrected scientific names of original species based on taxonomic species concepts, taxonomic reviews, and figures of medicines. These results will help in the understanding of the apiaceous taxa among the five countries' pharmacopoeias. Moreover, these extensive nomenclatural reviews of authentic apiaceous taxa will help for the next revision of Korea Pharmacopoeia.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.38 no.2 s.149
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• pp.123-127
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• 2007

Aristolochic acid (AA) included in the plants Aristolochiaceae have been well known to be nephrotoxic and carcinogenic inducer and to cause renal disease such as Chinese Herb Nephropathy (CHN). In this study, we used a high performance liquid chromatopaphy-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS) under the positive ion detection mode for the quantitative change of aristolochic acid-I and-II (AA-I and AA-II) in Aristolochiaceae (Aristolochia contorta Bunge, Aristolochia debilis Sieb. et Zucc., Aristolochia fangchi Wu), some related plants (Cocculus trilobus De candolle, Inula helenium Linne, Saussurea lappa Clarke), and its prescriptions (防己茯笭湯, 定喘散) with or without processing. Here, the processing methods and prescriptions in oriental medicine were generally used to alleviate toxicity or alter property of herbal medicines. However, the concentrations of AA-I and AA-II were highly determined in processed material extracts rather than unprocessed those, not measured in some related plants. Also, the concentrations of AA-I and AA-II even at the prescriptions mixed the plants of Aristolochiaceae were detected to range from 0.73 to 2.53 ppm. Thus, the present results suggest that the content of AA-I and AA-II contained to plants of Aristolochiaceae was not reduced by the processing methods or prescriptions which can induce the physico-chemical change and pharmacological transformation in traditional herbal medicines.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.75-84
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• 2013

Objectives : The origin of Breeae Herba (So-gye) and Cirsii Herba (Dae-gye) is differently prescribed in Korean and Chinese modern pharmacopoeia. Since the similar morphological characteristics and chaotic plant names, moreover, the aerial part of Carduus crispus have been used as the Cirsii Herba. To develop a reliable method for correct identification of these herbal medicines and to evaluate the genetic relationship of these closely related plant species, we analyzed sequences of DNA barcode regions. Methods : Thirty-one samples of 6 medicinal plants (B. segeta, B. setosa, C. japonicum var. maackii, C. setidens, C. chanroenicum, and C. crispus) were collected from different habitate and nucleotide sequences of DNA barcode regions (rDNA-ITS, matK, and rbcL) were analyzed after amplification using appropriate primers reported in previous studies. The nucleotides of species-specific authentic marker and phylogenetic relations were estimated based on the entire sequences of DNA barcodes by the analysis of ClastalW and UPGMA, respectively. Results : In comparative analysis of DNA barcode sequences, we obtained specific nucleotides to discriminate the medicinal plant of Breeae/Cirsii Herba in species level and evaluated the phylogenetic relationship of these species. Futhermore, we identified distinct marker nucleotides enough to authenticate respective species. These sequence differences at corresponding positions were avaliable genetic markers to determine the botanical origins of Breeae Herbal as well as Cirsii Herba. Conclusions : These marker nucleotides would be useful to identify the official herbal medicines by providing of definitive information that can identify each plant species and distinguish from unauthentic adulterants and substitutes.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.39-47
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• 1991

Dental caries has been reported to be infectious disease by Streptococcus mutans(S. mutans). The ability of S. mutans to produce dental plaque has been shown to be related to glucan synthesis from sucrose by glucosyltransferase (GTase). Glucan is known to play an important role in the initiation of smooth surface caries. For preventing dental caries by traditional medicines, two hundred kinds of natural products were assayed for inhibiting activity against S. mutans and GTase. During the assay course, we chose some active plants against S. mutans and GTase and then applied these plant extracts to toothpaste.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.11
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• pp.89-109
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• 1998

Screening of new antioxidants form oriental medicines resulted in the isolation of a new antioxidative compound and eight known compounds from the stem bark of Kalopanax pictus. On the basis of various spectrosopic studies, the structure of the new compound was determined to be 4-rhamnose-3,5-dimethoxybenzoic acid methly ester. Other known compounds were identified as ferulic acid, 4,5,6,-trihydroxyflavanone, 2', 4',4' -trihydroxychalcone, caffeic acid, coniferyl alcohol, syringin, 1,3-di-O-caffeoylquinic acid. These compounds showed lipid peroxidation inhibitory acitivity in rat liver microsomes and free radical scavenging acitivity.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.312-316
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• 2009

In the present study, the anti-cancer activity of 80% ethanol extracts from 120 kinds of medicinal herbs and native plants were investigated. Among them, the barks of Melia azedarach L. var. japonica Makino showed the highest cytotoxicity in HCT-15 human colon cancer cell. With this result, we carried out hollow fiber (HF) assay and anti-metastasis study to confirm the anti-cancer effects of M. azedarach var. japonica. In MTT assay, M. azedarach var. japonica.inhibited the proliferation of HCT-15 cells in dose-dependent manner. HF assay was carried out using A549 human adenocarcinoma cell, HCT-15 and SK-Hep1 human liver cancer cell via intraperitoneal (IP) and subcutaneous (SC) site. As a results, SK-Hep1 implanted in IP site showed the highest cytotoxicity. The result from metastatic model using B16/BL6 mouse corresponded to that of HF assay. These results suggest that the ethanol extract from M. azedarach var. japonica. might have a potent anti-cancer activity and advanced study is needed for the development of novel natural anti-cancer drug.

• Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.57-66
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• 2010

Programmed cell death systems are important for an active type of cell deaths. Among them, a type of programmed cell death, autophagy is activated in cancer cells in response to multiple stresses and has been demonstrated to promote tumor cell survival and drug resistance. Thus, in the area of cancer, over the time frame form around the 1940s to date, of the 155 small molecules, 73% are other than "synthetic", with 47% actually being either "natural products" or "directly derived therefrom". Autophagy has multiple physiological functions in multicellular organisms, including protein degradation and organelle turnover. Genes and proteins that constitute the basic machinery of the autophagic process were first identified in the yeast system and some of their mammalian orthologues have been characterized as well. Numerous oncogenes, including Akt1, Bcl-2, NF1, PDPK1, class I PI3K, PTEN, and Ras and oncosuppressors, inculuding Bec-1, Bif-1, DAPK-1, p53 and UVRAG suppress or promote the autophagy pathway. Regulation of autophagy in tumors is governed by similar principles of the normal cells, only in a much more complicated manner, given the frequently observed abnormal PI3K activation in cancer and the multitude of interactions between the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway and other cell signaling cascades, often also deregulated in tumor cells. Autophagy induction by some anticancer agents underlines the potential utility of its induction as a new cancer treatment modality of development for natural medicines.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.132-139
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• 1998

Currently, cancer is the primary cause of death and 50% of cancer patients are incurable by surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Therefore, immunotherpy is interested as the fourth remedy. Biological response modifier (BRM), such as organometallic compounds, glycoproteins, polysaccharides and other natural products. Is the one which can enhance the immune response against cancer cell. To develop new BRM from natural sources, we investigated 63 species Korean traditional medicines by observing the mitogenic activity to splenocytes, generation of activated killer cells and activation of macrophages. Finally, we selected 9 species including Angelicae gigantis Radix, Mori Cortex Radicis, Arisaematis Tuber, Salviae Radix, Cnidii Rhizoma, Ligusti Fructus, Pasoraliae Semen, Loranthi Ramulus, Ginseng Radix. Bioassay-guided fractionation and purification is undergoing.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.257-266
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• 2017

Objectives: The hazardous metals content of medicinal herbs distributed in the Daegu area was investigated, and the place of origin and the content of herbicides and medicinal components were studied. Methods: An analysis of hazardous metals content (10 types) was carried out on 164 samples of 99 types of herbal medicines. Among the total samples, 45 were domestic and 119 were imported. Hg was analyzed by the amalgamation method. Other hazardous metals content (nine types) was digested using the microwave method and measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Results: The mean values of the hazardous metals content in the herbal medicines were Pb 1.0833 mg/kg, As 0.0136 mg/kg, Cd 0.0840 mg/kg, Cr 3.7120 mg/kg, Cu 4.2666 mg/kg, Mn 40.080 mg/kg, Ni 1.4330 mg/kg, Sb 0.1053 mg/kg, Al 202.64 mg/kg and Hg 0.0062 mg/kg. Three of the samples violated the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) regulatory guidance on cadmium (less than 0.3 mg/kg). The measured values of heavy metals (Pb, As, Cd, Hg) showed levels below the recommended levels for herbal medicines in MFDS regulatory guidance. In the comparison of domestic samples with imported herbal medicines, it was found that one domestic and two imported samples surpassed the maximum residue limits for cadmium. The median values of the hazardous metals detected in the three medicinal parts of the root, leaf (branch), and flower (seed and fruit) were as follows. Cr, Ni, Sb and Al were highly detected in roots, Pb, Cd, Mn, Hg in leafs (branch), and As, Cu in flowers (seed and fruit). Conclusion: There were various kinds of hazardous metals which were detected at high levels according to the place of origin of the medicinal herb and the parts the plant. For hazardous metals for which no acceptance criteria have been established, safety standards should be further studied and managed to ensure the safety of herbal medicines.