• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.39 no.4
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• pp.470-475
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• 2007

Oplopanax elatus (O. elatus) is a tall deciduous shrub that has traditionally been used for σ eating a variety of ailments such as diabetes, coughling, rheumatism, gastro-intestinal disorders, and wounds. In order to examine the safety of the ethanol extracts of O. elatus, we performed a 14-day repeated-dose toxicity study with Sprague-Dawley rats. The rats were treated with daily doses of the D. elatus ethanol extracts by gavage at 0, 500, 1000, and 2000 mg/kg/day for 14 consecutive days. We recorded clinical signs of toxicity, body weight, hematology, organ weights, gross and histological changes in target organs, and clinical chemistry analysis data for all rats. There were no significant changes in body and organ weights during the experimental period. The hematological analysis and clinical blood chemistry data revealed no toxic effects from the O. elatus ethanol extracts. Pathologically, neither gross abnormalities nor histopathological changes were observed between the control and treated rats of both sexes. Collectively, these data suggest that the ethanol extracts of O. elatus have a high margin of safety.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.343-349
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• 2010

The liver is the major target of ethanol toxicity and oxidative stress plays a role in development of alcoholic liver disease. This study was performed to investigate the effects of green tea extracts (GTE) on acute ethanol-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. Experimental animals were divided into 4 groups, control, GTE, ethanol, and GTE+ethanol treatment, with 5 rats in each group. Ethanol (6 g/kg body weight (BW)) and GTE (200 mg/kg BW) were treated by gavage. At 1 hour, 3 hours and 20 days (6 g/kg BW every 2 days for total 10 doses) after ethanol and/or GTE treatments, animals were killed; hepatic tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-$\alpha$) and glutathione level, serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST), serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), hepatic antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPx) activities and hepatic thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were measured. At 1 hour and 3 hours, hepatic TNF-$\alpha$ levels were increased significantly in ethanol group and ethanol+GTE group but that levels was significantly lower in ethanol+GTE group compared with ethanol group. Hepatic glutathione level was decreased by ethanol treatment but GTE prevented the ethanol-induced glutathione decrement. The levels of liver marker enzymes (AST, ALT), liver antioxidant enzymes (SOD, CAT, GPx) and lipid peroxidation marker (TBARS) were not changed in rats of 1 and 3 hours after ethanol treatment. After 20 days, GTE decreased the changes of liver marker enzymes (AST, ALT) activities and TBARS level by ethanol. This study shows that GTE beneficially modulates TNF-$\alpha$ and glutathione levels in liver of ethanol administered rats. The GTE supplementation could be beneficial to liver by decreasing early changes of biomarkers of liver damage caused by ethanol.

• Korean Journal of Organic Agriculture
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.573-586
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• 2010

This study was carried out to evaluate characteristics of Chrysanthemum sp. and to bioassay Tetranychus urticae, Nilaparvata lugens, and Aphis gossypii by different extracts part and method. Flower type of Chrysanthemum sp. line was anemone except 0706 line which was pompon. The flowering date was from April to June but 0721 line kept up November. They could overwinter except 0706 line. The Ethanol extracts of 0718 line of flower was high mortality as 63.8% on Tetranychus urticae. Ethanol mixed emulsifier extracts were the highest mortality as 69.4% at 5 days after. Mortality in water extract was lower than in ethanol and ethanol mixed emulsifier extracts. Ethanol mixed emulsifier extracts were higher mortality as 69.4% at 5 days after in 0718 line on Nilaparvata lugens. Mortality in water extract was lower than in ethanol and ethanol mixed emulsifier extracts. On Aphis gossypii, Chrysanthemum flower extracts could decrease the density of aphids in early days but the density of that was increase as time goes by because aphids produce offspring.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.22 no.8
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• pp.1052-1056
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• 2012

Undaria pinnatifada has been used as a natural diet food with few calories and as a source of iodine. Even though U. pinnatifida has been regarded as a diet food, the mechanisms of its inhibitory effects on adipocyte differentiation and the accumulation of fat in adipocytes are poorly understood. In this study, the effect and mechanism of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract on 3T3-L1 differentiation into adipocytes were investigated. The effects of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract on cell viability and the anti-adipogenic effect were investigated via MTT assay, Oil red O staining, RT-PCR, and western blot. The U. pinnatifida ethanol extract did not show toxicity up to a concentration of 50 ${\mu}g/ml$. The addition of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract decreased triglyceride contents by 40% when 50 ${\mu}g/ml$ of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract was added during 3T3-L1 differentiation and adipocyte triglyceride formation. The transcription and expression of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ${\gamma}$ ($PPAR{\gamma}$), leptin, and hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL) as adipocyte-specific proteins were determined by RT-PCR and western blot. The overexpression of $PPAR{\gamma}$ could accelerate adipocyte differentiation. Also, leptin was secreted for triglyceride accumulation in the adipocytes and the increase of adipocyte cell size. Thus, $PPAR{\gamma}$ and leptin were used as indicators of obesity. $PPAR{\gamma}$ and leptin were repressed by the increased addition of U. pinnatifida ethanol extract. This indicates that U. pinnatifida was effective as an anti-obesity agent by repressing the differentiation of 3T3-L1 into adipocytes and inhibiting triglyceride formation in adipocytes.

• The Korean Journal of Pesticide Science
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.10-15
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• 2010

Most pesticides are poorly soluble in water and must be dissolved in a solvent carrier before being added to the test medium on aquatic toxicity test. The concentration of solvent is critical to the success of a test. This study were conducted to recommend possible organic solvents which have good solubility for pesticides and low toxicity to Korean native water flea to establish new standard toxicity test methods using Korean native water flea for ecological risk assessment of pesticide. Four Korean freshwater cladocerans, Daphnia obtusa, Daphnia sp., Moina macrocopa and Simocephalus vetulus were exposed to 10 different organic solvents during 48 hours to evaluate their toxic response to solvents. Ethyl acetate was the most toxic to cladocerans tested. Although ethyl ether was the least toxic to cladocerans tested, it may not adequate as possible solvent in aquatic toxicity test due to high volatility and low water solubility. In conclusion, acetone, methanol, ethanol and acetonitrile which has low toxicity as well as good water solubility are recommended as optimal organic solvent to use in aquatic toxicity tests with Korean native cladocerans tested.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.27-35
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• 2008

Purpose : The experiments was undertaken to evaluate the effects of Ojeoksan-herbal medicine, in rats' fetus Methods : Female Sprague-Dawley rats were orally administered with the Ojeoksan at dose of 5mg/kg/day for 20 days. Pregnant rats were sacrificed at 20th day of gestation, and observed internal and reproductive organs. Approximately live fetuses in the 20th day of gestation were randomly selected and fixed in 95% ethanol. Results : Neonatal body weight and number of fetus of Ojeoksan group were increased to that of control group. The fetuses of dams treated with Ojeoksan didn't showed external malformation. Vertebral and sternal skeletal variations were observed in Ojeoksan administered group, but compared to the control, those skeletal variations were insignificant. There were no significant changes in number of ribs, cervical, thoracic, lumber, sacral and caudal Conclusion : From these results, it can be concluded that Ojeoksan showed no toxicity effects on number of live fetuses. There were no significant changes in skeletal variations were showed in vertebrate and sternum, Ojeoksan weren't shown significant changes in bone malformation. We need more precise study to investigate the mechanism of early or late resorption by the herbal medicines such as Ojeoksan.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.37-47
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• 2011

Objectives : Previous studies have shown that Fructus mume (FM) has anti-platelet effects. The present study was performed to determine the acute oral toxicity and quality control of a crude extract of FM in ICR mice. Methods : We investigated the in vivo single dose acute toxicity of FM 95% ethanol extract. This test was orally administered once by gavage to 20 male and 20 female mice at dose levels of 0 (control group), 1250, 2500 and 5000mg/kg body weight, respectively. Mortalities, clinical findings, autopsy findings and body weight changes were monitored daily for the 14 days following the administration. HPLC analysis was performed for the simultaneous determination of ursolic acid and p-hydroxycinnamic acid in FM. Reverse-phase chromatography using a C18 column and photodiode array detection at 211 nm was used for quantification of the two maker components. The mobile phase for gradient elution consists of water and acetonitrile. Results : We observed survival rates, general toxicity, change of body weight, and autopsy. The mice did not die after single oral administration of maximum dose of FM. Autopsy of animal revealed no abnormal gross finding. Therefore, $LD_{50}$ value of FM for ICR mice was more than 5000mg/kg on oral route. The HPLC analysis showed that ursolic acid and p-hydroxycinnamic acid amounts to 9.75- and 0.12% in the extract with the retention times of 47.99- and 15.38 minutes, respectively. Conclusions : These results suggest that no toxic dose level of FM in mice is considered to be more than 5000mg/kg. Consequently, it was concluded that FM have no effect on acute toxicity and side effect in ICR mice. For the quality control of FM extract, simultaneous determination of ursolic acid and p-hydroxycinnamic acid was established.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.3569-3573
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• 2013

Aim: Pendulous monkshood root is traditionally used for the treatment of several inflammatory pathologies such as rheumatisms, wounds, pain and tumors in China. In this study, the anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities and the mechanism of crude ethanol extract of pendulous monkshood root (EPMR) were evaluated and investigated in vitro. Materials and Methods: The cytotoxic effects of EPMR on different tumor cell lines were determined by the MTT method. Cell apoptosis and cell nucleus morphology were assessed by Hoechst 33258 staining. Moreover, nitric oxide (NO) levels and intracellular oxidative stress in peritoneal macrophages were determined to further elucidate mechanisms of action. Results: The data showed that EPMR could produce significant dose-dependent toxicity on three kinds of tumor cells. Furthermore, EPMR displayed obvious anti-inflammatory effects on LPS-induced mouse peritoneal macrophages at the dosage of 4 - 200 ${\mu}g/mL$. The results demonstrated the therapeutic potential of Pendulous Monkshood Root on cancer and inflammatory diseases. Conclusion: Our results indicate that EPMR has anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties, suggesting that pendulous monkshood root may be a useful anti-tumor and anti-inflammatory reagent in the clinic.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.20 no.4
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• pp.133-140
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• 2005

Objectives : We have been used many herbal medicines after processing to improve the effect, decrease toxicity and side-effect, and change property. We have studied the physico-chemical change and HPLC pattern of Morindae Radix by means of processing method. Methods : This study was investigated the contents of loss on drying, residue on ignition, residue on acid insoluble ignition, 50% ethanol extract and HPLC pattern of Morindae Radix(Morinda officinalis How.) by processed and non-processed. We have conducted Morindae Radix and Damnacanthi Radix which is circulated in herbal medicine market by forgery. Processed Morindae Radix was prepared by heating of added to salt(SP), liquor(LP) and Glycyrrhizae Radix solution(GP) for 20-40 minutes. Results and Conclusions : From this analysis, we found that the content of 50% ethanol extract was increased by processing method. And we were detected distinguishable marker of processed and non-processed from Morindae Radix(Morinda officinalis How.) by HPLC pattern analysis.

• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.250-258
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• 2009

Male reproductive function seems to have deteriorated considerably in the past 4 to 5 decades. It was observed a significant decline in mean sperm counts from $113{\times}10^6/ml$ in 1940 to $66{\times}10^6/ml$ in 1990; a fall of $0.94{\times}10^6/ml/year$. We reported that Yacon tuber extracts have spermatogenic effects in rat. In the present study, we tested the spermatogenic effect of Yacon tuber extracts in healthy male volunteers. Subjects were assigned randomly to the control group and the Yacon ethanol extracts administered group (each 12 subjects). And, placebo or Yacon tuber extracts (100 ml) were administered two times daily, by oral for 3 months. Sperm numbers, biochemical parameters and hormone levels were recorded before starting administration, then every month. The Yacon tuber extracts administered group showed significant time dependant increases in according to administration period. Especially, the numbers of sperm increased by 54% after 3 months of administration. And, in Yacon tuber extracts administered group, testosterone and estradiol level were significantly higher than placebo group. On the other hands, Yacon tuber extracts didn't show any toxicity in glucose and lipid metabolism and liver and kidney function. The results of the present study suggest that Yacon tuber extract is a possible therapeutic for the treatment of sperm deficiency.