• Tuberculosis and Respiratory Diseases
• /
• v.67 no.4
• /
• pp.275-280
• /
• 2009

Interstitial lung disease (ILD) is a group of diseases characterized by pulmonary interstitial inflammation. Finally the inflammation results in pulmonary fibrosis and impairment of oxygen transportation. The causes of idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP) are unknown. Diagnosis of IIP is not easy, especially distinguising between nonspecific interstitial pneumonia and usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP). First line treatments of IIP include corticosteroids and immune modulators, which have limited effect. Currently, several drugs are being researched to prevent and treat fibrosis. Newer drugs that may useful to treat pulmonary fibrosis include endothelin receptor antagonist, recombinant soluble TNF receptor antagonist, and cotrimoxazole. The causes of IIP are largely unknown, treatment is not specific, and prognosis is poor. Recent studies are underway to investigate the pathogenesis and treatment of IIP and pulmonary fibrosis. As the pathogenesis of IIP is elucidated, better treatments will emerge.

• CELLMED
• /
• v.3 no.4
• /
• pp.27.1-27.13
• /
• 2013

Epilepsy has now become the most serious brain disorder. A number of synthetic antiepileptic drugs are available in practice, however their effectiveness does not grip true with the entire population suffering from epilepsy. Traditional systems of medicine are popular in developing countries and most of the population relies on traditional medicines for their primary health care need. Medicinal plants to be an important source of traditional medicines. Various plants are used for the treatment of epilepsy in traditional system of medicines and various plants are yet to be scientifically investigated. Phytoconstituents have been the basis of treatment of human diseases including epilepsy. Herbal products are extensively used for the treatment of many diseases worldwide and where allopathic fails or has severe side effects. Psycho neural drugs are also have very serious side effects like physical dependence, tolerance, deterioration of cognitive function and effect on respiratory, digestive and immune system. So the treatments through herbal medicines are widely used across the world due to their wide applicability and therapeutic efficacy with least side effects, which in turn has accelerated the research regarding natural therapy. In this review we have summarized some herbal antiepileptics.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.28 no.3
• /
• pp.156-161
• /
• 1997

For the search of hepatoprotective compounds from the folk medicines, 14 natural products which have been traditionally used as hepatoprotective drugs in Korea were extracted with methanol. The extracts were screened for the antioxidant activity on lipid peroxidation induced by Fenton reaction in rat homogenate and Ac2F cell toxicity by t-hydroperoxide. Dendrobium moniliforme and Castanea crenata were chosen for the further investigation and its therapeutic effects on the liver damage induced by carbon tetrachloride in rats were evaluated. Oral administration of the extracts reduced the aspartate aminotransferase(AST) and alanine aminotransferase(ALT) activities in the serum of the carbon tetrachloride intoxicated rat. And the treatment of the extracts prevented the decrease of aminopyrine N-demethylation and aniline hydroxylation activities of the carbon tetrachloride-intoxicated rat liver. These results suggest that oral administration of Dendrobium moniliforme and Castanea crenata is effective in recovering the liver function in $CCl_4-treated$ rats.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.21 no.4
• /
• pp.237-245
• /
• 1991

Matrix type silicone rubber devices were designed for long-term implantable drug delivery system. Release controlling agents (RCA), i.e., polypropylene glycol, polyethylene glycol, were employed to control drug release from the devices. The release rate of drug from RCA dispersed silicone matrices was mainly dependent on hydrophilicity-hydrophobicity of drug and RCA. In the case of hydrophilic drug, the release from the RCA dispersed matrix was regulated by swelling kinetics. Especially when the relatively hydrophobic polypropylene glycol was used, swelling control mechanism induced zero-order release kinetics. Whereas, the release of hydrophobic drug was resulted from partition mechanism. The effect of RCA was to increase drug diffusivity.

• Biomedical Science Letters
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.129-138
• /
• 2014

In this study, we investigated the effect of water extract from rice bran (RB) on ADP ($20{\mu}M$)-stimulated platelet aggregation. RB dose-dependently inhibited ADP-induced platelet aggregation, and its $IC_{50}$ value was $224.0{\mu}g/mL$, which was increased by adenylate cyclase inhibitor SQ22536 and cAMP-dependent protein kinase (A-kinase) inhibitor Rp-8-Br-cAMPS. RB elevated the phosphorylation of VASP ($Ser^{157}$) which was also inhibited by SQ22536 and Rp-8-Br-cAMPS. It is thought that RB-elevated cAMP contributed to the phosphorylation of VASP ($Ser^{157}$) to inhibit ADP-induced platelet aggregation. Therefore, we demonstrate that RB has an antiplatelet effect via cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of VASP ($Ser^{157}$), and RB may have preventive or therapeutic potential for platelet aggregation-mediated diseases, such as thrombosis, myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, and ischemic cerebrovascular disease.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.11 no.2
• /
• pp.11-15
• /
• 1981

Antler, deer horn, occupies a particular place in oriental folk medicine as so called tonic remedy. In order to study on the effects of Antler water extract on stress resistance in mice, quantitative response was measured for the change of spontaneous activity by chemical stress drugs in the control group or the Antler water extract pretreated group. Spontaneous activity in mice was measured by counting the number of interruptions of light. The results of experiment were summerized as follows; I) In case of administrating Antler water extract 10mg/kg, 20mg/kg, 50mg/kg, and 100mg/kg, no significant change was observed in spontaneous activity in comparison with the control group. II) In case of administrating Antler water extract for 5 days or 10 days, no significant change was observed in spontaneous activity by chemical stress drugs, caffein and chloropromazine, in comparison with the control group.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
• /
• v.19 no.4
• /
• pp.270-277
• /
• 1988

Gamiinjinoryung-San is composed of eight crude drugs including Artemisiae capillaris Herba which is widely used for the treatment of acute jaundice, acute and chronic hepatitis at the Oriental hospital of Kyung-Hee Medical Center. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of water extract of Gamiinjinoryung-San on the liver function. The results obtained were as follows; the extract markedly reduced LDH and ALP activities, but slightly decreased GOT and GPT activities elevated with D-galactosamine in rat serum. The liver protective activities were shown in $CCl_4-intoxicated\;rats$. The extract prevented the prolongation of sleeping time in $CCl_4-intoxicated\;rats$. The bile flow and the biliary bile acid secretion were significantly increased in normal rats.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
• /
• 2000.04a
• /
• pp.8-9
• /
• 2000

Despite the advances made in the past few decades in cancer chemotherapy, many conventional anticancer drugs display relatively poor selectivity for cancer cells. The nonselectivity of anticancer drugs and the development of anticancer drug resistance have been recognized as serious limitations in their clinical usefulness. Therefore, a major challenge in cancer chemotherapy is the development of new anticancer agents with improved selectivity for tumor cells as well as the prevention of the host cell resistance, both of which result in the improvement of therapeutic effect against cancer cells. Cyclophosphamide (CP), a widely used anticancer agent, is a prodrug that is activated by hepatic microsomal mixed-function oxidase (MFO) catalyzed C$_4$- hydroxylation. The resulting 4-hydroxycyclophosphamide (4-OH-CP) is converted to the ring-opened tautomer to aldophosphamide (Aldo) which subsequently undergoes a base- catalyzed ${\beta}$-elimination to generate cytotoxic phosphoramide mustard (PDA) and acrolein. The cytotoxic activity of CP is attributed to the aziridinium ion species derived from PDA that cross-links interstrand DNA.

• Journal of Pharmaceutical Investigation
• /
• v.15 no.4
• /
• pp.179-185
• /
• 1985

Total ethanol extract of chinese drugs was administered to mice for 4 weeks (small dosage group) and 3 days (large dosage group), and its antifatigue effects and hepatonic activities were compared with those of P. ginseng and A. sessiliflorum. 1. In the long-term administration of extracts, the swimming performance peaked at 2 weeks, and the recovery effects on the intoxicated liver appeared to be significant in the extracts of P. officinale, P. cocos and A. cochinchinensis among tested chinese drugs. 2. The large dose administration of extracts gave high improvement of recovery effect on the intoxicated liver.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.343-346
• /
• 1996

The influence of LB20304a, a new fluoroquinolone antibiotic agent, on microflora of caecum in mice was compared with those of ciprofloxacin and piperacillin after administration of drugs for 5 days. Selective medium (CCFMA) was used for the isolation of Clostridium difficile from the specimens of mouse caecum. The emergence of C. difficile in mouse caecum induced by LB20304a was lower than that by ciprofloxacin or piperacillin at day 1 and day 7 after completing administration of drugs.