Geniposide, an iridoid glucoside, was isolated from the cortex of Eucommia ulmoides by repealed silica gel chromography and identified by its spectral data. The quantitative determination of geniposide with HPLC has been developed and this method provided a tool for standardization of the commercial Eucommiae Cortex.

Aurantii Fructus has been used in traditional medicine as a digestant, expectorant, and in the treatment of diarrhea, anal prolapse. For the quality control of this crude drug, hesperidin was isolated from the ethylacetate fraction of Citrus aurantium (Rutaceae) and identified by the spectroscopic evidences. A quantitative analysis of hesperidin using HPLC method exhibited that the average contents of hesperidin were $2.13{\pm}1.16%$ in 57 samples collected throughout the various regions of Korea.

Evodiae Fructus has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of gastro- intestinal disorders, headache and migraine, and as a cardiotonic and analgesic. For the quality control of this crude drug, evodiamine was isolated from the methylene chloride extract of Evodia officinalis (Rutaceae) and identified by the spectroscopic evidences. A quantitative analysis of evodiamine using HPLC method exhibited that the average contents of evodiamine were $0.84{\pm}0.60%$ in 53 samples collected throughout the various regions of Korea.

The effects of the water extract from the stem bark of Acanthopanax senticosus were evaluated on hyperlipidemic rats induced by lipid rich diet or poloxamer-407. The water extracts, when administered orally for 3 consecutive days in hyperlipidemic rats induced by poloxamer-407 (1 ml of 30%), was found to cause a significant decrease in plasma cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations. The water extracts, when treated orally for 5 consecutive days also showed a significant inhibition of serum total cholesterol and triglyceride level in rats treated with lipid rich diet (15% cholesterol, 1% sodium cholate and 84% com oil). HDL-cholesterol, however, was increased significantly.

Based on DPPH radical scavenging activity and lipid peroxidation inhibitory activity, the MeOH extracts of 139 crude drugs were screened in order to search for antioxidants. Among tested samples, the extracts from the seed of Nelumbo nucifera, the fruit of Terminalia chebula var. gangetia, the root of Salvia miltiorhiza, the fruit of Ziziphus jujuba var. innermis, the root bark of Paeonia moutan, the fruit of Rubus coreanus, the fruit of Zanthoxylum schinifolium, the lignum of Caesalpinia sappan, the leaf of Pinus densiflora, the rhizome of Alpinia officinarum, the fruit of Syzygium aromaticum, the ramulus and uncus of Uncaria rhynchophylla, the root bark of Lycium chinense, and the fruit of Alpinia katsumadai showed a relatively strong antioxidative activity. Furthermore, the BuOH fraction from the extract of N. nucifera showed a potent activity in each assay. The isolation of bioactive compounds has been carried out and will be reported in the next paper.

In order to determine the content of 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde (5-HMF) in the Rehmanniae Radix Preparata, 5-HMF was isolated from the EtOAc fraction of the Rehmanniae Radix Preparata samples and identified by spectroscopic and physicochemical evidences. Twenty one samples prepared on the basis of increasing number of stewing times with wine were analyzed by HPLC. From this analysis, it was revealed that the samples processed under one to nine times of stewing showed increasing pattern in 5-HMF contents. And the samples processed under 9 to 18 times of stewing showed 0.53-0.74% in 5-HMF contents. However, for those samples processed more than 19 times, 5-HMF content profile showed decreasing pattern.

The effect of bear bile on 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p-dioxin (TCDD)-induced hepatotoxicity was investigated in 6-week-old C57BL/6 male mice. Bear bile (100 mg/kg or 500 mg/kg) was administered orally daily for 4 weeks, respectively. From the second week, $10\;{\mu}g/kg$ of TCDD was administered to the bear bile-treated animals orally once a week for 3 weeks (a total of $30\;{\mu}g/kg$). There were no specific clinical findings and significant body weight changes in all groups. Although the livers in TCDD-treated mice appeared a severe hypertrophy and many necrotic foci, and changed to yellow-brown color in gross findings, these lesions were remarkably reduced by bear bile administration. The elevated serum activities of alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase, alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase due to TCDD were significantly decreased by bear bile treatment (P<0.05). The lipid peroxidation induced by TCDD was significantly prevented by bear bile administration (P<0.05). In histological examinations, there were a moderate necrosis of hepatic cells around central veins, severe cytoplasmic vacuolizations, inflammatory cell infiltrations, and remarkable fatty changes in the liver of TCDD-treated animals. However, the lesions were dose-dependently inhibited by the bear bile treatments. These findings indicate that bear bile may have a protective effect against TCDD-induced hepatotoxicity in mice.

The Korean folk medicine 'Am Cho' has been used as the folk remedy for diuretic, stomach and liver cancer. The botanical origin of the crude drug has not been studied pharmacognostically. To clarify the botanical origin of 'Am Cho', the comparative morphological and anatomical characteristics have been studied of Lepisorus species growing wild in Korea, i.e. L. annuifrons, L. onoei, L. thunbergianus, L. ussuriensis and 'Am Cho' form Korea. As a result, it was clarified that 'Am Cho' from Korea was derived from Lepisorus onoei.

'Yang Mi Ryung Whan' is a Chinese patent medicine, which has been used for paramenia, dysmenorrhea, abdominal distention, psychroalgia in the limbs and so on which is due to extravasated blood. This medicine consists of 17 kinds of powdered crude drugs. For the identification of individual ingredients in such powdery mixtures, microscopic method may advantageously be used as it requires only a small amount of specimens. In this paper, the effectiveness of this method is exemplified by the identification of the ingredients in Yang Mi Ryung Whan which contains 17 powered crude drug ingredients.

The composition of essential oils in the leaves of three cultivars (Ban-Chung-Gat, Chung-Gat and Dolsan-Gat) of Brassica juncea L. were analyzed and their antifungal activity were investigated in this study. Allyl isothiocyanate, 2-phenyl ethyl isothiocyanate, 4-isothiocyanato-1-butene, 5-methyl isothiazole, benzene acetaldehyde, benzene propane nitrile and beta-ionone have been identified in all of the experimented oils. The main component of the oils from Ban-Chung-Gat and Chung-Gat was 2-phenyl ethyl isothiocyanate while allyl isothiocyanate was the representing compound in the oil of Dolsan-Gat. The antifungal activities of the oils were tested by micro broth dilution method and disc diffusion method. As the result the oils exhibited significant inhibiting activities against Aspergillus niger, A. flavus, Trichoderma viride, Candida albicans, C. utilis, C. tropicalis, Cryptococcus neoformans, Trichosporon mucoides, Trichophyton tonsurans and Geotrichum capitatum.

Whangryunhaedok-Tang (WT) is formulated with Coptidis Rhizoma, Phellodendri Cortex, Scutellariae Radix and Gardeniae Fructus, and Daewhang-whangryunhaedok-Tang (DWT) is made by the combination of Rhei Rhizoma, a wellknown anticostipation drug in WT. Therefore, DWT has been evaluated for antihyperlipidemic effects on experimental hyperlipidemic rats and mice induced by corn oil and high cholesterol-diet. Oral administration of DWT significantly inhibited the increase of serum triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol levels, and the decrease of serum HDL-cholesterol levels in hyperlipidemic rats induced by corn oil. Also, oral administration of DWT significantly prevented the increase of serum total cholesterol, triglyceride and LDL-cholesterol, and liver total cholesterol and triglyceride in 1% cholesterol-diet fed mice. These results suggest that DWT is effective for the treatment of hyperlipidemia.

The methods for isolation and quantitative determination of dioscin, a spirostanol triglycoside, from the roots of Smilax china have been developed. Isolation of dioscin was achieved by silica gel and RP-18 chromatography. The HPLC method used for quantitative determination of dioscin enabled the standardization of the crude drug. It suggests that the content of dioscin in Smilax china should be above 0.01%.

For the quality control of Cassiae Semen, anthraquinone compound, aurantio-obtusin, was isolated from the MeOH extract of Cassiae Semen (Leguminosae) and identified by the spectroscopic analysis. A quantitative analysis of aurantio-obtusin using HPLC method showed that the average contents of aurantio-obtusin were $0.03{\pm}0.01%$ in 50 samples collected throughout the various regions of Korea.

Prunella vulgaris L. aqua-acupuncture solution (PVAS) was tested for cancer chemopreventive activity using chemoprevention-associated biochemical end points. The following effects were measured. : (a) inhibition of 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced cytochrome P4501A1 activity (b) inhibition of $[^3H]B[a]P-DNA$ binding (c) inhibition of phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA)-induced free radical formation in HL-60 cells (d) inhibition of polyamine metabolism. PVAS inhibited cytochrome P4501A1-mediated ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase activity. The binding of $[^3H]B[a]P$ metabolites to DNA of NCTC-clone 1469 cells was inhibited significantly by PVAS. There is 22% inhibition of TPA-induced free radical formation in human leukemic cells with 5 mg/ml PVAS. Proliferation of Acanthamoeba castellanii was inhibited by PAVS at concentration of 30 mg/ml. PAVS positive in these assays may inhibit the carcinogenesis process and is considered very promising cancer-preventing agent because of its multiple activities.

Induction of phase II enzymes is a major mechanism of chemoprevention. The induction levels of quinone reductase (QR) activity in cultured murine hepatoma (Hepa 1c1c7) cells by 80%-methanol extracts of traditional medicinal plants were measured. Among the tested 81 plants, the extracts of Aralia continentalis, Magnolia obovata, and Viscum album were found to induce QR activities over 250%. The maximum induction levels obtained were 401.9%, 270.5%, and 301.8% by treatments of the extracts of A. continentalis $(318\;{\mu}g/ml)$, M. obovata $(53.8\;{\mu}g/ml)$ and V. album $(80.6\;{\mu}g/ml)$, respectively. These QR induction activities were more potent than those of the known QR inducers, t-butylhydroquinone (170.1%) and ${\beta}-naphthoflavone$ (320.0%).