• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.69-77
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• 1993

Saikosaponins, originally isolated from Bupleuri Radix, were reported to exhibit diverse biological activities especially concerning with liver function. To elucidate the mode of protective action of saikosaponins on liver injury due to the acetaminophen administration, effects on drug metabolizing enzymes system and some transferase activities were checked. As the result, activities of transferase were shown to be strengthened by saikosaponin treatments significantly.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.253-258
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• 1985

Various determination methods of saikosaponins in Bupleuri Radix are discussed, and the content of each saikosaponin which is original and/or artifact is rearranged. The changes of saikosaponin a and d into saikosaponin $b_1\;and\;b_2$, respectively, under gastric pH, were studied.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.spc1
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• pp.123-144
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• 1996

This review deals briefly with the various medicinal components(mainly saikosaponins), their biological activities and the variation of their contents by different cultivation environment and plant parts in Bupleurum species. Bupleuri radix, a crude drug, is the root of Bupleurum falcatum L. (Korea, Japan), B. chinense(China), and their related species (Umbelliferae). There are over 120 species in Bupleurum genus throughout world, mainly Asian area, and over 5 species in Korea, investigated up to now. These plants contain many physiological active compounds and the principal components are saikosaponins. Major activities of this crude drug and saikosaponins are the anti-inflammatory and antihepatotoxic activities. Saikosaponins and their derivatives in Bupleurum spp. have been chemically studied, isolated and identified over 70 compounds in over 50 species. Other components, physiologically active ones, also have been investigated, which are the groups of lignan, flavonoid, essential oil, polyacetylene, polysaccharide, etc. Saikosaponins belong to the group of triterpenoid saponin chemotaxonomically and occur the accumulation and turnover in plant tissues through secondary metabolism, mevalonic acid pathway. The contents and kinds of saikosaponins and other components in Bupleurum spp. plants are various due to different species and growing environments, as the plant growth characters and yield are various. Most of medicinal plants as well as Bupleurum species are very useful as agricultural products and traditional medicines, and also are very valuable as genetic resources and natural products. So we need to collect, evaluate, preserve, and utilize various medicinal plants, and also to under-stand secondary metabolism and improve the breeding and cultivation techniques for the safe production of crude drugs with high quality and yielding.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.32 no.8
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• pp.2637-2642
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• 2011

A new ultrasonic-assisted micellar extraction and cloud-point pre-concentration method was developed for the determination of major saikosaponins, namely saikosaponins -A, -C and -D, in Radix Bupleuri by high performance liquid chromatography with evaporative light scattering detection (HPLC-ELSD). The non-ionic surfactant Genapol X-080 (oligoethylene glycol monoalkyl ether) was chosen as the extraction additive and parameters affecting the extraction efficiency were optimized. The highest yield was obtained with 10% (w/v) Genapol X-080, a liquid/solid ratio of 200:1 (mL/g) and ultrasonic-assisted extraction for 40 min. In addition, the optimum cloud-point pre-concentration was reached with 10% sodium sulfate and equilibration at $60^{\circ}C$ for 30 min. Separation was achieved on an Ascentis Express C18 column (100 ${\times}$ 4.6 mm i.d., 2.7 ${\mu}M$) using a binary mobile phase composed of 0.1% acetic acid and acetonitrile. Saikosaponins were detected by ELSD, which was operated at a $50^{\circ}C$ drift tube temperature and 3.0 bar nebulizer gas ($N_2$) pressure. The water-based solvent modified with Genapol X-080 showed better extraction efficiency compared to that of the conventional solvent methanol. Recovery of saikosaponins ranged from 93.1 to 101.9%. An environmentally-friendly extraction method was successfully applied to extract and enrich major saikosaponins in Radix Bupleuri.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 1996

A high performance liquid chromatography using photoreduction fluorescence detection was described for the analysis of saikosaponins. Saikosaponins were separated on an $NH_2$ column using acetonitrile and aqueous 2-tert-butylanthraquinone(t-BAQ) as mobile phase. Column effluent was passed through a 40cm PTFE capillary tube coiled around a 10W UV lamp to reduce t-BAQ to a highly fluorescent dihydroxyanthracene derivative which was detected by a fluorescence detector. The optimal concentration of t-BAQ was found to be $6{\times}10^{-5}M$ and the optimal reaction time to be 2 seconds. The detection limit for saikosaponin a and d by this method was found to be about 280ng and 80ng. The dynamic linear range was over two orders and the correlation coefficient of the calibration curve of them was 0.998.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.193-197
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• 1994

Bupleurum falcatum was cultivated in plots of different soil textures, which were sandy loam(SL), loam(L), and clay loam(CL). The growth charafters of shoot and root parts in SL and L plots were better than CL one, and root yield was the most excellent in SL one. But the contents of total saikosaponins and methanol extract in its roots were the highest in CL plot. In any soil textures, one and two year old plants showed almost the same results in growth characters and saikosaponins contents. The growth and root yield of two year old plants were higher than those of one year old ones, but the contents of methanol extract and saikosaponins were lower. Flant characters were highly negative-correlated with the contents of saikosaponins and methanol extract.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.153-158
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• 1993

As a part of pharmacological studies of saikosaponins, which were reported to exhibit diverse biological activities especially concerning with liver function, effects of saikosaponin on metabolizing enzymes and lipid peroxide contents in liver were examined. As the result, UDP-glucose dehydrogenase activity and lipid peroxidation which were due to acetaminophen were inhibited by saikosaponin treatment. But other metabolizing enzyme activities were not modified.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.7
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• pp.1931-1936
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• 2010

Discovery and isolation of compounds capable of blocking the interactions between VCAM-1 and VLA-4, a major pair of adhesion molecules contributing to the different steps of leukocyte migration across the endothelium in inflammatory responses, has been a major goal of this lab. Through bioactivity-guided fractionation, five saikosaponins were subsequently isolated from the methanol extracts of the roots of Bupleurum falcatum L. Their structures were elucidated by spectroscopic analysis ($^1H-$, $^{13}C$-NMR and 2D-NMR), as follows, saikosaponins: A (1); D (2); C (3); B3 (4); B4 (5). Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited interaction of sVCAM-1 and VLA-4 of THP-1 cells with respective $IC_{50}$ values of 7.8 and 1.7 ${\mu}M$. The aglycone structure of 2 also showed cell adhesion inhibitory activity with an $IC_{50}$ value of 21.1 ${\mu}M$. With these results, we suspect these two saikosaponins from the Bupleurum falcatum L. roots to be prime candidates for therapeutic strategies towards inflammation.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.205-209
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• 1990

The study for the quantitative analysis of saikosaponin of Bupleurum falcatum root produced by tissue culture was attempted. The optimal concentration of 2,4-D was 0.1 mg/l for inducing the callus. The induction and growth of the adventitious root from the callus was obtained in the suspension culture containing MS basal medium supplemented with no plant growth regulators. The results of the quantitative analysis of saikosaponins by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) showed that the content of saikosaponin a and c was high in the one-year-old root from somatic embryos and that of saikosaponin d was remarkably high in three-months-old adventitious root from callus.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.175-179
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• 1985

The optimal condition for the determination of saikosaponin a and d, the major pharmacologically active saponins of the roots of Bupleurum falcatum, was studied with the conversion of these saponins into diene saponins $(saikosaponin\;b_1\;and\;b_2)$. The complete separation and quantitative analysis of these saponins were performed by the method of high performance liquid chromatography using $NH_2$ column. The conversion of saikosaponin a and d into diene saponins under gastric pH was calculated. Thirty-three percent of saikosaponin a was converted to saikosaponin $b_1$ and 63 percent of saikosaponin d was converted to saikosaponin $b_2$.