• The Korean Journal of Physiology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.27-32
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• 1977

Diospyros Kaki Thunberg is the species of persimmon tree that grows in Korea. Although its fresh or dried fruits are often served as a desert, it has little been known if persimmon tree has any specific pharmacological action. The leaves and branches of persimmon tree has long been used as folk remedies for palsy and frostbite in the southern part of Korea and it is also in use for the treatment of hiccup and nocturnal enuresis in chinese herbal medicine. Recently it was reported that an intravenous administration of Diospyros Kaki Thunberg ethanol extract (KTEE) into the animals lowered arterial blood pressure. Lee concluded from his study on the mechanism of depressor action of KTEE that at least a part of depressor response he observed was caused by acetylcholine-like action of KTEE. On the other hand little study has been made on the effect of KTEE on the motility of isolated animal intestines. Therefore the present study was undertaken to investigate effect of KTEE and the mechanism of its action on the motility of isolated rabbit duodenum. Ethanol extract of Diospyros Kaki Thunberg was prepared by boiling 1 kg of dried branches of persimmon tree in 1 liter of ethanol and the motility of isolated rabbit duodenum was recorded on physiograph by means of force transducer connected with Magnus apparatus. Doses of KTEE used were $5{\times}10^{-4}gm/ml,\;1{\times}10^{-3}gm/ml,\;and\;2{\times}10^{-3}gm/ml$. And the isolated duodenum was separately pretreated with acetylcholine $(5{\times}10^{-7}gm/ml)$, pilocarpine $(2.5{\times}10^{-6}gm/ml)$, histamine $(5{\times}10^{-6}gm/ml)$ and barium chloride $(2.5{\times}10^{-5}gm/ml)$ in order to find out interactions of these drugs with KTEE. The results obtained are as follows: 1. At doses of $5{\times}10^{-4}gm/ml,\;1{\times}10^{-3}gm/ml$ KTEE reduced contractions of isolated duodenum, while tonus as well as contaction of duodenum were depressed with $2{\times}10^{-3}gm/ml$ of KTEE. 2. Since the inhibitory effect of KTEE on the intestinal motility was not blocked by pretreatment with acetylcholine, pilocarpine, and barium chloride, it was strongly suggested that the inhibitory action of KTEE on intestinal motility is mainly Caused by its antihistamine effect. 3. It is also concluded that the principal substance of KTEE responsible for inhibition of intestinal motility may also have a vasodilating activity and would not be an acetylcholine-like substance in case it is same substance as that cause depressor responses.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.16 no.3
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• pp.89-105
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• 2012

Objectives : This study was carried out to know the status of clinical utilization of Korean medical knowledge and the Korean medical knowledge system which Korean medical doctors want. Methods : Questionnaires were distributed to Korean medical doctors registered for the Association of Korean medicine via the email and 249 answered questionnaires were analyzed. Results : 50.6 % of Korean medical doctors utilized the textbooks for Korean medicine when they treated their patients. The reason why they did not utilize the textbooks for Korean medicine was mostly that 'it could not be applied directly into clinical application with only contents of textbook because clinical approach (diagnosis and treatment methods) was not clearly described in the textbook'. 48.6 % of Korean medical doctors utilized the EBM materials when they treated their patients. EBM materials that they referred included domestic articles, other EBM materials excluding papers and international academic papers based on PubMed in order. The reasons why they did not utilize the EBM materials were mostly that 'it was difficult to find the evidence' and 'EBM materials were not actually helpful for the clinical practice.' It was found that Korean medical doctors approached the disease in aspects of Korean and Western Medicine concurrently upon the diagnosis of patients and performed the diagnosis and treatment of Korean medicine on the diseases which seemed to be effective with Korean medicine. It was also found that they thought that they needed to know the Western medical knowledge as much as general doctors who have a doctor's license or family medicine specialists who comprehensively treat the general diseases know. Korean medical doctors wanted to have the systematic summary of modern research performance in fields of acupoint, acupuncture, herbal drugs and formula. They thought that constitutional medicine and Sa-am acupuncture therapy were representative characteristics in Korean medicine differentiated from Traditional Chinese medicine and Kampo medicine. Conclusions : Korean medical doctors wanted to establish the Korean medical knowledge system based on evidence focusing on clinical and practical contents. New Korean medical knowledge system should be established based on these requirements in the future.