• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• 제29권7호
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• pp.1386-1390
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• 2008

Artemisinin, the effective ingredient of Chinese herb Artemisia annua L (Qinghao in Chinese), has been proved to be effective to antimalarial. Herein, a reliable, sensitive and convenient electrochemical method was developed for the determination of artemisinin utilizing the excellent properties of multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWNT). The electrochemical behavior of artemisinin was investigated. It is found that the reduction peak current of artemisinin remarkably increases and the peak potential shifts positively by 240 mV at the MWNT film-modified electrode. These phenomena indicate that the MWNT film exhibits efficient catalytic activity to the electrochemical reduction of artemisinin. The effects of pH value, amount of MWNT, scan rate and accumulation time were examined. The limit of detection (S/N = 3) is as low as 10 $\mu$ g $L^{-1}$. Finally, this newly developed method was used to determine the content of artemisinin in Artemisia annua L.

• 한국식품영양학회지
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• 제13권5호
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• pp.490-505
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• 2000

쑥은 인간의 역사와 함께 하며 많은 품종으로 분화되었고 인간의 식재료도 민간전래약품으로도 이용되어 많은 고전 문헌 속에 쑥의 효능에 대한 기록이 있다. 이러한 쑥의 어떤 성분이 약리적 효능이 있는가 또 어떤 영양성분이 식재료로서 가치가 있는가에 대한 연구가 이루어지고 있다. 오랜동안 쑥은 구황식물로서의 기능이 많았으나 최근에는 그 특성과 향을 이용한 식품개발에도 관심을 갖고 연구하고 있다. 쑥의 일반성분은 녹황색 채소류와 비슷하나 칼슘과 칼륨의 함량이 높고 비타민 A의 함량이 특히 높아 영양보급 효과도 얻을 수 있다. 쑥을 물이나 유기용매에 의하여 추출한 성분은 생리활성을 갖는 경우가 많으며 보편적으로 많이 검출되는 것은 cineol, thujone, borneol, camphor, caryo-phyllene, coumarin, cubebene, pinene, linallol, an-sinthin등이다. 약리적 효과는 고전문헌에 많은 기록이 있으나 대체로 따뜻한 성질을 갖고 있기 때문에 혈행을 왕성하게 하고 간 기능을 도와주며 피부질환에 효과가 있음을 주로 기록하고 있다. 쑥은 잎을 사용하는 경우가 많으나 전초, 꽃, 뿌리, 정유를 이용할 때도 있으며 생쑥 혹은 건조 상태로 이용한다. 민속 약품으로서의 기능도 커서 내복용과 외용으로 쓸 수 있으며 거의 모든 질환에 효과가 있다고 하여 전에는 가정 상비약으로 쓰이기도 했다. 고전문헌이나 전통약품에서 효능이 있다고 알려진 쑥성분에 대한 최근의 연구에서도 고지혈증, 고혈압등 순환기계 질환의 치료 및 예방효과, 간기능 보호, 항돌연변이성 기능, 항염증 및 진통효과, 당뇨병 및 고혈당증의 치료, 생체내 지질의 산화 억제, 항세균 및 항진균효과가 연구보고되어 있으며 유럽에서는 항구충 및 살충효과도 잘 알려져 있다. 유럽에서 행한 쑥의 독성 및 부작용에 대한 연구에서 쑥은 습관성, 향정신적 작용, 피부 염증을 일으킬 수 있다고 하여 장기복용 및 다량 사용을 억제하고 있다. 앞으로의 연구는 식품공업에 다양한 형태로 이용할 수 있는 방법의 개발, 전래된 약효에 대한 과학적인 검증, 타성분과 혼합이용시 생체내 미치는 영향, 여성용품이나 화장수와 같은 생황용품에의 이용방안 등의 연구가 계속되어야 한다. 쑥은 전국에 널리 분포되어 있고 쉽게 채취할 수 있기 때문에 쑥의 이용도를 높이는 것은 자원효율성을 높이고 비용을 절감할 수 있는 좋은 방법이기도 하다.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• 제16권4호
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• pp.233-238
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• 2010

In order to facilitate the quality control of Artemisia capillaris, a simple, accurate and reliable HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of the six bioactive compounds: scopolin (1), chlorogenic acid (2), 2,4-dihydroxy-6-methoxyacetophenone 4-glycoside (3), hyperoside (4), isorhamnetin 3-Orobinobioside (5), and scoparone (6), which were selected as the chemical markers of A. capillaris. Separation was achieved on an Agilent Eclipse XDB-C18 column with a gradient solvent system of 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid aqueous-acetonitrile at a flow-rate of 1.0 mL/min and detected at 254 nm. All six calibration curves showed good linearity ($R^2$ > 0.998). A simple reversed phase HPLC method was developed for extracting pharmacologically active compounds scopolin, chlorogenic acid, 2,4-dihydroxy-6-methoxyacetophenone 4-glycoside, hyperoside, isorhamnetin 3-O-robinobioside, and scoparone from A. capillaris using a binary gradient of acetonitrile : 0.1% trifluoroacetic acid with UV detection at 254 nm. The scopolin (1), chlorogenic acid (2), 2,4-dihydroxy-6-methoxyacetophenone 4-glycoside (3), hyperoside (4), isorhamnetin 3-O-robinobioside (5), and scoparone (6) contents of the herb of A. capillaris collected from fifteen district markets in Korea were 0.00~0.90 mg/g, 0.06~7.29 mg/g, 0.06~0.91 mg/g, 0.07~5.05 mg/g, 0.42~13.11 mg/g, and 1.11~29.82 mg/g, respectively. The results demonstrated that this method is simple and reliable for the quality control of A. capillaris.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제30권1호
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• pp.120-125
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• 2014

Halophytes are plants of saline habitats that grow under conditions that may vary in extremes of temperatures (freezing to very hot), water availability (drought to water logging) and salinity (mild to almost saturation). Halophytes may also face sudden micro-environmental variations within their habitats. In this study, we examine some of the factors that determine the ability of seeds of Artemisia fukudo to germinate when conditions are optimal for seedling growth and survival. Germination percentage was the highest at 77.5% when treated in 0% seawater and seedling growth was best in 0% seawater plug cell tray. Physiological quality (chlorophyll contents) and mean germination time were best in the condition in which seeds were treated with 0% seawater (control). Germination performance index in the control group showed the highest value to 3.8. Seedling growth, seedling vigor index in the length of seedling growth andthe relative growth rate were the highest values of 0.76 cm, 1.43, 0.0099, respectively.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• 제31권4호
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• pp.510-519
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• 2021

The pathological impact of haze upon the phyllosphere microbiota awaits investigation. A moderate degree of haze environment and a clean control were selected in Chengdu, China. Artemisia argyi, a ubiquitously distributed and extensively applied Chinese herb, was also chosen for experiment. Total genome DNA was extracted from leaf samples, and for metagenome sequencing, an Illumina HiSeq 2500 platform was applied. The results showed that the gene numbers of phyllosphere microbiota derived from haze leaves were lower than those of the clean control. The phyllosphere microbiota derived from both haze and clean groups shared the same top ten phyla; the abundances of Proteobacteria, Actinomycetes and Anorthococcuso of the haze group were substantially increased, while Ascomycetes and Basidiomycetes decreased. At the genus level, the abundances of Nocardia, Paracoccus, Marmoricola and Knoelia from haze leaves were markedly increased, while the yeasts were statistically decreased. KEGG retrieval demonstrated that the functional genes were most annotated to metabolism. An interesting find of this work is that the phyllosphere microbiota responsible for the synthesis of primary and secondary metabolites in A. argyi were significantly increased under a haze environment. Relatively enriched genes annotated by eggNOG belong to replication, recombination and repair, and genes classified into the glycoside hydrolase and glycosyltransferase enzymes were significantly increased. In summary, we found that both structure and function of phyllosphere microbiota are globally impacted by haze, while primary and secondary metabolites responsible for haze tolerance were considerably increased. These results suggest an adaptive strategy of plants for tolerating and confronting haze damage.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• 제15권2호
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• pp.91-96
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• 1981

The wormwood is one of the plants which occur widely throughout the world. Though the precise data on the entire chemical composition of mugwort leaves are not available, the major principles which have been found so far include inulin, alkaloid, thujon, sesquiterpene and several vitamins. Santonin, a parasiticide, is one of the glucosides extracted from the limited species of wormwood. It has long been known in herb medicine that the plants of this family has not only strong hemostatic, analgesic and parasiticidal actions but also therapeutic effects for diarrhea, stomachache and asthma. In recent pharmaceutical botany the wormwood is introduced to have antipyretic and astringent actions also. The mugwort(Artemisia asiatica Nakai) is the most common species of wormwood that occurs in Korea. The usage of this edible leaves of mugwort is rather various. It is used not only for wormwood bath but also as forage, moxa and medicinal agents. Recently Kim et al reported from their study on the effect of mugwort on the motility of isolated intestine of rabbits that tonus and motility were markedly enhanced by mugwort but this effect of mugwort on intestinal motility was almost completely blocked by atropine suggesting that activity of mugwort was exerted through its cholinergic effect. It was the findings of Kim et al that prompted the authors to do the present experiment. The present study was undertaken to investigate effects of mugwort(Artemisia asiatica Nakai) juice on the respiration and blood pressure in cats. And also studied was the mechanism of depressor action of Artemisia asiatica Nakai Juice (AAJ). The results obtained are as follows; 1) It was observed that mean arterial blood pressure and heart rate were decreased markedly by AAJ. Following administration of 0.15 ml/kg and 0.3 ml/kg AAJ into cats the maximum depressor responses observed were $77.5{\pm}2.2\;mmHg$ and $94.0{\pm}3.7\;mmHg$ respectively. 2) Depressor responses to AAJ were blocked markedly by atropine whereas the responses were not affected by propranolol and dibenamine. Therefore it is strongly inferred that depressor action of AAJ results mainly from its cholinergic effect. This inference was further substantiated by the fact that heart rate change which invariably accompanies depressor responses to AAJ was almost completely abolished by atropinization. 3) After administration of AAJ into cats frequency of respiration was markedly increased while depth of respiration decreased during first 2-3 seconds.

• 대한한의학회지
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• 제30권2호
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• pp.127-132
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• 2009

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the stability of a decoction using three herbal plants and their major components according to the storage conditions and periods. Materials and Methods: A three-herb mixture (1:1:1) of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer, Artemisia capillaris Thunberg, and Poncirus trifoliata Rafinesqui was decocted and kept at room temperature ($25{\pm}2^{\circ}C$) or cold temperature ($4^{\circ}C$) for 0, 2, 4 or 8 weeks in liquid form in a plastic pack under dark conditions. At time points given, they were lyophilized. 200 mg of powdered samples were dissolved in 1 mL of 90% methanol and then applied to a high performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) with glycyrrhizin, 6,7-dimethoxycoumarin or poncirin for quantitative or qualitative analysis. Results: There were no gross changes in HPTLC-based compositional band-patterns of the three herbal mixture according to the storage conditions and period. The major components of each herb, glycyrrhizin, 6,7-dimethoxycoumarin and poncirin, showed slight time-dependent reduction in their contents both at room and cold temperature for 8 weeks. Conclusion: We could conclude that the current herbal decoction is generally safe for the stability at both RT or CT for at least 8 weeks. Nevertheless, we proposed that further advanced studies are required for more multiple herbal mixtures and longer storage periods.

• 한국식물학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국식물학회 1995년도 식물학심포지움 식물로부터 유용 2차대사산물의 생산 PRODUCTION OF USEFUL SECONDARY METABOLITES FROM PLANTS
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• pp.40-56
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• 1995

During the past two decades, China has seen her great progress in plant biotechnology. Since the Chinese market of herb medicine is huge, while the plant resources are shrinking, particular emphasis has been placed in plant tissue and cell cultures of medicinal plants, this includes fast propagation, protoplast isolation and regeneration, cell suspension cultures and large scale fermentation. To optimize culture conditions for producing secondary compounds in vitro, various media, additives and elicitors have been tested. Successful examples of large scale culture for the secondary metabolite biosynthesis are quite limited : Lithospermum ery throrhizon and Arnebia euchroma for shikonin derivatives, Panax ginseng, P. notoginseng, P. quinquefolium for saponins, and a few other medicinal plants. Recent development of genetic transformation systems of plant cells offered a new approach to in vitro production of secondary compounds. Hairy root induction and cultures, by using Ri-plasmid, have been reported from a number of medicinal plant species, such as Artemisia annua that produces little artemisinin in normal cultured cells, and from Glycyrrhiza uralensis. In the coming five years, Chinese scientists will continue their work on large scale cell cultures of a few of selected plant species, including Taxus spp. and A. annua, for the production of secondary metabolites with medicinal interests, one or two groups of scientists will be engaged in molecular cloning of the key enzymes in plant secondary metabolism.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• 제14권9호
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• pp.5243-5248
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• 2013

Background: Triptolide, extracted from the herb Tripteryglum wilfordii Hook.f that has long been used as a natural medicine in China, has attracted much interest for its anti-cancer effects against some kinds of tumours in recent years. Artesunate, extracted from the Chinese herb Artemisia annua, has proven to be effective and safe as an anti-malarial drug that possesses anticancer potential. The present study attempted to clarify if triptolide enhances artesunate-induced cytotoxicity in pancreatic cancer cell lines in vitro and in vivo. Methods: In vitro, to test synergic actions, cell viability and apoptosis were analyzed after treatment of pancreatic cancer cell lines with the two agents singly or in combination. The molecular mechanisms of apoptotic effects were also explored using qRT-PCR and Western blotting. In vivo, a tumor xenograft model was established in nude mice, for assessment of inhibitory effects of triptolide and artesunate. Results: We could show that the combination of triptolide and artesunate could inhibit pancreatic cancer cell line growth, and induce apoptosis, accompanied by expression of HSP 20 and HSP 27, indicating important roles in the synergic effects. Moreover, tumor growth was decreased with triptolide and artesunate synergy. Conclusion: Our result indicated that triptolide and artesunate in combination at low concentrations can exert synergistic anti-tumor effects in pancreatic cancer cells with potential clinical applications.

• Journal of Plant Biology
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• 제30권4호
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• pp.299-309
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• 1987

The seasonal pattern and the annual magnitude of the internal (or biochemical) and plant-soil cycles of phophorus in adjacent three different herb plant populations-Helianthus tuberosus L., Artemisia princeps Pampan and Phalaris anundinacea L.-in an old field of the basin in the Mt. Geumoh were investigated. A lot of the phosphorus demand for the three populations was supplied by the withdrawal from below-ground organ in early growing period, by the absorption from soil in mid-growing period and by the withdrawal from stem in later growing period. But in the A. princeps and P. arundianacea populations, a great deal of phosphorus seemed to be absorbed prior to the first withdrawal. The annual amount of the phosphorus flowing throughthe internal cycle was about 59% of the total hosphorus flow on theorgan level in the H. tuberosus population, 41% in the A. princeps population and 32% in the P. arundinacea population, indicating that the tuber plant had the most developed internal cycle system. The annual amount of phosphorus which took part in the plant-soil cycle in the stand of the three populations was in the range of 4.49-5.65 gPm-2, corresponding to only 3-8% of the extractable phosphorus contained in the soil of 0-20 cm depth. The fact that the H. tuberosus population is higher in the extent fo internal cycle but smaller in the magnitude of plant-soil cycle and lower in the turnover rate of phsophorus than the other two populations suggests that the growth of H. tuberosus population may be less dependent on soil phosphorus availability than those of the other two populations.