• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.115-125
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• 2019

Background: Glycyrrhiza radix (licorice root) have been used as an oriental medicine material for long time, and its protective effects on oxidative stress, inflammation and cognition deficit have been recently reported. However, the cultivation of Glycyrrhiza species as medicinal crops is associated with some problems such as low productivity and early leaf fall, etc. To resolve this problems, Glycyrrhiza cultivars have been developed by direct hybridization of each Glycyrrhiza species by Korean researchers. The present study was conducted to compare the Glycyrrhiza cultivar radix (Dagam, Sinwongam and Wongam) for their anti-oxidation, anti-inflammation, and cognition improvement effects and levels of liquiritin, isoliquiritigenin and licochalcone in order to select an excellent cultivar as a material resource. Methods and Results: For evaluating the inhibitory efficacies of the Glycyrrhiza cultivar extracts on oxidative stress and inflammation in BV2 cells, we measured their reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and nitric oxide (NO) release after treating them with lipopolysccharide. The scavenging activities on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and peroxynitrite ($NOO^-$) radicals were evaluated. Cell proliferation and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) inhibition were analyzed. The total phenol, liquiritin, isoliquiritigenin and licochalcone A content in the extracts of the three culivars were quantified. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient between the activities and contents of total phenol, liquiritin, isoliquiritigenin and licochalcone A were also calculated. The results indicated that Sinwongam exhibited potent anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and NMDAR inhibititory activities. Sinwongam also showed higher total phenol and licochalcone A contents than the other cultivars. Among the three cultivars, Dagam exhibited a positive effects on NO release inhibition, cell proliferation and contents of liquiritin and isoliquiritigenin. Conclusions: Sinwongam is expected to be the most useful resource as a functional material for anti-oxidation/anti-inflammation and cognition improvement among the three studied licorice cultivars.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.179-191
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• 2017

Objectives : Increased oxidative stress by reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been suggested as a major cause of muscle fatigue. Although several studies have demonstrated the various biological properties of Sophora flavescens Aiton, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer and Dictamnus dasycarpus Turcz, but the antioxidative potentials have not been clearly demonstrated. The present study was designed to investigate the protective effects of their water and ethanol extract mixtures (medicinal herbal mixtures, MHMIXs) on hydrogen peroxide ($H_2O_2$)-induced cell damage and apoptosis in C2C12 myoblasts. Methods : Cytotoxicity was assessed by an MTT assay. Quantitative evaluation of apoptosis induction and ROS production was evaluated by flow cytometry analysis. Expression levels of apoptosis regulatory and DNA-damage proteins were detected by Western blotting. Result : The inhibition of $H_2O_2$-induced cell proliferation was effectively blocked in extracts of 3: 1: 1 (EMHMIXs-1) or 2: 2: 1 (EMHMIXs-2) of S. flavescens, G. uralensis and D. dasycarpus Turcz, ethanol extracts from various complex extracts in C2C12 myoblasts. EMHMIXs-1 and EMHMIXs-2 also effectively attenuated $H_2O_2$-induced C2C12 cell apoptosis, which was associated with the restoration of the upregulation of Bad and death receptor 4, and downregulation of XIAP and cIAP-1 induced by $H_2O_2$. In addition, these herbal mixtures significantly blocked the $H_2O_2$-induced ROS generation and phosphorylation of $p-{\gamma}H2A.X$, which suggests that they can prevent $H_2O_2$-induced cellular DNA damage. Conclusions : The results suggest that EMHMIXs-1 and EMHMIXs-2 could block the DAN damage and apoptosis of C2C12 myoblasts by oxidative stress through blocking ROS generation.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.30 no.2
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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.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.759-764
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• 2011

Through analyzing the frequencies of medicinal herb combinations in the prescriptions of "wenrejingwei(溫熱經緯)", we could understand the characteristics of prescription composition and author's medical thoughts. So we conducted this study that analyze combination of 187 medicinal herbs in 113 prescriptions, and found meaningful combinations of 273. Among these, the most meaningful combinations are the one of 7 herbs, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer, Zingiber Rhizoma, Ziziphus jujube Mille, Pinellia ternata Breitenbach, Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer, Cyprinus carpio, Coptis chineis Franch. These are the same medicinal herbs which consist of Banhasasim-tang(banxiaxiexin-tang). It means these combinations are effective in stuffiness caused by stomach deficiency. In conclusion, prescriptions of "wenrejingwei(溫熱經緯)" involve herbs mostly used to treat stuffiness caused by stomach deficiency, and this is the author's important one of medical view points.

• Journal of Korean Medical classics
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.55-67
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• 2011

Through analyzing the frequencies of medicinal herb combinations in the prescriptions of "Bangyakhappyeon(方藥合編)", we could understand the characteristics of prescription composition and author's medical thoughts. So we conducted this study that analyze combination of 324 medicinal herbs in 467 prescriptions, and found meaningful combinations of 5,045. Among these, the most meaningful combination is the one of 10 herbs, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer, Angelica gigas Nakai, Ziziphus jujube Mille, Atractylodes japonica Koidzumi, Poria cocas Wolf, Zingiber officinale, Rehmanniae radix preparata, Cinnamomum loureirii, Panax ginseng C.A.Meyer, Astragalus membranaceus. This combination is Sibjeondaebo-tang(Shiquandabu-tang) without Cnidium officinale and Paeonia japonica which compose Samul-tang(Siwu-tang). It means this combination is kind of modified Sibjeondaebo-tang(Shiquandabu-tang), which is more effective in tonifying qi than tonifying blood. Prescriptions of "Bangyakhappyeon(方藥合編)" involve herbs mostly used to improve weak and frail health and the herbs which are more effective in tonifying qi than tonifying blood. Through this study, we know the author' s one of medical view points on tonifying qi and blood, attaching importance to tonifying qi relatively to tonifying blood.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.104-121
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• 2021

Objectives The purpose of this study is to evaluate the efficacy and safety of herbal medication for the treatment of functional abdominal pain in children by analyzing randomized controlled trials conducted in China. Methods Literatures from China National Knowledge Infrastructure published up to 23 November, 2020 were searched. Then they were collected and analyzed by their publication year, demographic information, treatment methods used, duration of illnesses, duration of treatments, follow-up periods, outcome measurement and adverse events. Results A total of 27 studies were selected for the analysis. In all studies, the total efficacy of the herbal medicine treatment group was reported to be higher than that of the control group. The most frequently used medical herb was Root of Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer (甘草). The most frequently used classes of herbal medications are Qi regulating medicine (理氣藥), Qi tonics (補氣藥), Aromatic wet medicine (芳香化濕藥), and Digestant (消食藥). The adverse events rate for the herbal medicine treatment group were significantly lower than those in the Western medicine treatment group. Conclusions This study showed that herbal medicine treatment can be effective and safe option for treating pediatric functional abdominal pain. However, additional well-designed clinical studies are needed to solidify the findings.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.165-172
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• 2007

Glycyrrhizae Radix, the dried roots of Glycyrrhiza glabra or Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer(Legumino-sae), has been used as a medicine for treatment of imflammation, arthritis, respiratory ailment, skin diseases and liver problems. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of 70% ethanol extract, 18-${\beta}$-glycyrrhetinic acid, glycyrol and carbenoxolone disodium from Glycyrrhizae Radix on gastritis and gastric cancer. Using these materials, we tested antibacterial activity against Helicobacter pylori, antigastritic activity for HCI-ethanol-induced gastric lesion and the pylorus ligated gastric secretion with rats, and cell viability in gastric cancer cell. 18-${\beta}$-glycyrrhetinic acid and carbenoxolone disodium decreased the volume of gastric secretion and acid output in pylorus ligated rats. Also, carbenoxolone disodium had a strong effect of antibacterial activity on H. pylori. In addition 18-${\beta}$-glycyrrhetinic acid and glycyrol reduced cell viability in human gastric cancer cells(AGS and SNU638 cell) in dose-dependent manner. The reduction of total acid output and gastric secretion as well as the anti-bacterial activity against H. pylori might account for the antigastritic effects of carbenoxolone disodium.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1273-1280
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• 2019

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly population, and damage to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells due to oxidative stress contributes to the development of AMD. Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer is one of the most widely used herbal medicines for the treatment of various diseases in Asian countries. Although recent studies indicated that treatment with G. uralensis can protect cells from oxidative stress, its mechanisms in RPE cells remain unknown. We evaluated the effect of a G. uralensis ethanol extract (GU) on $H_2O_2$-induced oxidative injury in ARPE-19 RPE cells. The GU pretreatment attenuated reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation induced by $H_2O_2$, which was associated with induced expression of nuclear factor erythroid-derived-2-like 2 (Nrf2) and heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1). GU also suppressed $H_2O_2$-induced DNA damage and mitochondrial dysfunction. The inhibitory effect of GU on $H_2O_2$-induced apoptosis was associated with the protection of caspase-3 activation. Overall, GU appeared to protect RPE cells from oxidative injury by inhibiting DNA damage and reducing apoptosis. Further studies are needed to determine the regulation of Nrf2-mediated HO-1 expression, but our results suggest the possibility of using GU to reduce the risk of AMD.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2019.10a
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• pp.87-87
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• 2019

The consumption of herbal medicine and related products (herbal products) have increased in South Korea. At the same time the quality, safety, and efficacy of herbal products is being raised. Currently, the herbal products are standardized and controlled according to the requirements of the Korean Pharmacopoeia, the National Institute of Health and the Ministry of Public Health and Social Affairs. The validation of herbal products and their medicinal component is important, since many of these herbal products are composed of two or more medicinal plants. However, there are no tools to support the validation process. Interest in deep learning has exploded over the past decade, for herbal medicine using algorithms to achieve herb recognition, symptom related target prediction, and drug repositioning have been reported. In this study, individual images of four herbs (Panax ginseng C.A. Meyer, Atractylodes macrocephala Koidz, Poria cocos Wolf, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer), actually sold in the market, were achieved. Certain image preprocessing steps such as noise reduction and resize were formatted. After the features are optimized, we applied GoogLeNet_Inception v4 model for herb image recognition. Experimental results show that our method achieved test accuracy of 95%. However, there are two limitations in the current study. Firstly, due to the relatively small data collection (100 images), the training loss is much lower than validation loss which possess overfitting problem. Secondly, herbal products are mostly in a mixture, the applied method cannot be reliable to detect a single herb from a mixture. Thus, further large data collection and improved object detection is needed for better classification.

• Journal of Oriental Neuropsychiatry
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• v.34 no.3
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• pp.247-257
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• 2023

Objectives: To analyze the trend of Korean patents of natural product extracts for depression. This study also aimed to enhance the development and application of natural product extracts for depression in Korean herbal medicine. Methods: We searched the Korea Intellectual Property Rights Information Service and Science ON to collect Korean patent data of natural product extracts for depression. Two authors independently screened and assessed full texts of screened patents for eligibility. Included patents were analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Results: A total of 62 patents from 2002 to December 2021 were included for analysis. The number of patents has constantly increased since 2002. Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fischer, Perilla frutescens Britton var. acuta Kudo, Zizyphus jujuba Miller var. inermis Rehder were frequently used among 62 patents. Alcohol extraction was mostly used, followed by water extraction and ethyl extraction regarding extract methods. Eight patents were herbal medicine used for treating depression in Korean Medicine. Conclusions: Various Korean herbal medicine and minerals were used as natural-products for treating depression. These results provide fundamental data that can be used for inventing new patents using Korean herbal medicine, developing new natural product extracts for depression, and extending the range of application of these products in clinical setting.