• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.2 s.62
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• pp.152-165
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• 2005

Background: The use of herbal preparations as remedies for various medical conditions has continuously increased in Korea Large proportions of Korean patients use herbal medicinal products, folk remedies, and food supplements. However, studies on the safety of herbal products arc conducted on a less than sufficient basis even in the countries like Korea where herbal medicine is being used extensively. Some of the reports on the safety of herbs were done by the doctors of western medicine but lack of knowledge and misclassification led to misunderstandings. Objecitves: This study aims to review the recent evidences on hepatotoxic events associated with the use of herbal medicinal products, folk remedy, and food supplements. In the process, this review will grasp trends in this field of studies and will direct further researches into the right direction. Methods: Systematic literature searches were performed on MedRic and MEDLIS in Korea. Screening and selection of the articles and the extraction of data were performed independently by two of authors. There were no restrictions regarding the published date. In order to avoid bias, the articles written by medical doctors, not by oriental doctors were selected. 43 journals were chosen for the review. Results: Analyzing the number of journals, studies on the drug-induced liver injury were increased after the year 2000. The proportion of herbal and folk remedy associated hepatotoxic injuries in all drug-induced liver injury was $21.0\%-30.0\%$. But criterion for herbal medicine is rather vague and limited objective data hindered objectiveness. Few of single medicinal herbs and combination preparations were associated with hepatotoxic injuries. But because of lack of objectivity, further researches must be conducted to yield more concrete results. Conclusions: yield more concrete results. Incidence figures are largely unknown, and in most cases a causal attribution is not established. The challenge for the future is to systematically research this area, educate all parties involved, and minimize patient risks.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.84-95
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• 2000

Panax ginseng and the herbal medicinal mixtures containing ginseng have been widely used as a traditional medicinal prescriptions. In order to develop more efficient and protective prescriptions on seizures and subsequent memory deterioration, we investigated the biochemical and ethopharmacological effects of ginsenosides and fractions from the natural medicinal plant products related to control convulsions. In this studies we show results improving spatial teaming and memory deficits induced by kainic acid, a potent neurotoxic and neuroexcitatory analogue of the amino acid neurotransmitter glutamate.

• Korean Journal of Oriental Medicine
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.169-172
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• 2011

Traditional medicines usually use combinational formula that is prepared by mixing different varieties of medicinal herbs and boiling them in water to yield a decoction. In recent years a modified method has been proposed and practiced wherein the individual herbs are boiled with water separately and later these extracts are mixed together for use. This practice has lead to a constant controversy concerning the chemical and biological equivalence between the preparations arriving out of these two methodologies. In this research, we attempted to study the effects of traditional and individual preparation of Ssanghwa-tang (ST) to evaluate their equivalence in terms of its antioxidant activity and polyphenol content. The study results indicate that the polyphenol contents as well as the extraction yields of these two preparations were very similar to each other.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.40 no.2
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• pp.155-160
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• 2009

The reference herbal extracts and their identification methods by Korean Pharmacopoeia IX were established based on the organic solvent extracts to detect their marker compounds. However, most of herbal medicine decoctions in the market are prepared with water as extracting solvent. As the reference herbal extracts and their identification methods are not appropriate for the practical test, new preparation of alternative reference herbal extracts and their identification test methods are essential for the correction of test methods and identification of herbal drugs. Three novel identification test methods were developed for Evodiae Fructus, Cimicifugae Rhizoma and Aurantii Fructus Immaturus. Total 10 reference herbal extracts and their identification methods were optimized for Ephedrae Herba, Schisandrae Fructus, Curcuma longae Rhizoma, Citri Unshius Pericarpium, Puerariae Radix, Corni Fructus, and Cinnamomi Cortex.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.306-313
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• 2012

Herbal medicines are medicinal products containing a single or a mixture of two or more different herbal substances or herbal preparations as active principles. Recently, much attention has been paid to developing various kinds of fermented herbal extracts, a new type of traditional herbal medicine in the field of Korean traditional medicine. The fermentation of medicinal herbs is intended to exert a favorable influence on bioestability, bioavaliablilty and pharmacological activity of herbal extract in the gastrointestinal tract as well as intensifying the nutritional and pharmacological aspects of the medicinal herbs. The purpose of this study was to investigate biological activities of fermented Rehmanniae Radix by lactic acid bacteria at $30^{\circ}C$ for 3 days in comparison with those for Rehmanniae Radix The fermented Rehmanniae Radix exhibited different chemical profile to Rehmanniae Radix generated with HPLC, indicating production of new ingredients during fermentation. Rehmanniae Radix served as good nutritional sources for the growth of lactic acid bacteria showing increased number of bacteria during fermentation. Toxic effect of the fermented Rehmanniae Radix to cells were not seen judged by the MTT assay. The fermented Rehmanniae Radix exhibited better antioxidant effect than non-fermented Rehmanniae Radix analyzed by a SOD-likely assay. Both hypoglycemic and hypotensive effects of the fermented Rehmanniae Radix were also detected and better than those for Rehmanniae Radix in showing dose-dependent inhibitory effects on alpha-glucosidase and ACE, respectively. In conclusion, fermented Rehmanniae Radix appears to have more biological activities than non-feremented Rehmanniae Radix showing not only antioxidant effect but also cardiovascular protection.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10b
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• pp.14-14
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• 2000

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.40-45
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• 2010

The application of PCR analysis on the herbal medicine Moutan Cortex (Paeonia suffruticosa Andrews) was evaluated by the comparison of the genetic relationship based on the DNA sequence with Paeoniae Radix (Paeonia lactiflora Pallas) following development of specific primers. Moutan Cortex and Paeoniae Radix were distinguished through the PCR analysis based on the internal transcribed spacer (ITS-PCR) from nuclear ribosomal DNA region. The 294 bp PCR products both of Moutan Cortex and Paeoniae Radix was amplified by MIF1 and MIR1. And a Moutan Cortex specific 225 bp PCR amplification product was amplified by MIF2 and MIR1 primers. The 225 bp sequence could be successfully amplified from Mortan Cortex of dried herbal preparations. PCR analysis based on ITS (ITS-PCR) may be an efficient tool for the discrimination of Moutan Cortex.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.35-42
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• 2014

Objectives : Since single extract powders was released at 1987, the insurance fee has not been changed, but the price of raw material has been increasing. According to this, Pharmaceutical company couldn't invest on quality of the product, so, the quality of single extracts went down and lost the consumer's trust. We checked the contents of marker ingredients in single extract thereby to recover the reliability of insurance-covered herbal preparations. Methods : we bought total twelve products of eight different single extracts of two main pharmaceutical companies among total 65 kinds of single extract powder stipulated in KHP (The Korean Herbal Pharmacopoeia) monograph III at Jan. 2013. Assays of selected single extract powders are performed by KHP regulation. And we surveyed price fluctuation of relevant herb raw materials from 2005 to 2012. Results : Among twelve products, eight single extract powders were suitable by the KHP regulation. But four products didn't reach the content amount of KHP. Marker contents in the single extracts product of Pueraria Root, Licorice, Peony root and Scutellaria Root of A company were 70%, 1%, 23.7% and 75.1%, respectively. Conclusions : We can acertain whether there's a quality problem in the insurance-covered single extract powders. But, A company is no longer producing these improper single extract powders. As a medicine, single extract powders needs to be strictly quality controlled by the company, and regularly monitored by the KFDA.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1 s.65
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• pp.78-90
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• 2006

Background : Traditional herbal medicine is used extensively among the Korean populations, and other Asian countries employ similar therapies as well. In recent years, extensive focus was laid on adulteration of the herbal medicine with liver damage. The use of herbal preparations as remedies for various medical conditions has continuously increased in Korea. Large proportions of Korean patients use herbal medicinal products, folk remedies, and health food. However, studies on the safety of herbal products are conducted on a less than sufficient basis even in the countries like Korea where herbal medicine is being used extensively. Some of the reports on the safety of herbs were done by the doctors of western medicine but lack of knowledge and misclassification led to misunderstandings. Objectives : This study aims to verify the evidences on safety of frequently used 4 herbal medications (Sipjeondaebo-tang, Bojungikgi-tang, Ohjeok-San, Yukmaijihwang-tang) in the lab animal model. Methods : Sprague-Dawley rats was treated by 4 herbal medications during 31 days. After 1 month, we checked body weight, liver weight, and serum enzyme associated with liver function. Results : There is no significant difference in body weight and liver weight after 1 month of administrations. In all experimental groups, no abnormal findings was observed in histotogical research and lab liver Functions test(AST, ALT etc). Conclusions : These four herbal medications, frequently used in oriental medicine clinics and hospitals, are safe from hepatoxic events in the lab animal model.

• Advances in Traditional Medicine
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• v.7 no.1
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• pp.11-25
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• 2007

Bronchial asthma is a major public health problem worldwide and the morbidity and mortality of asthma have increased in last few decades. There is high prevalence of usage of alternative traditional system of medicines for the treatment of asthma. Large numbers of medicinal plant preparations have been reported to possess anti-asthmatic effects. Plant cells are now considered to be the chemical factories synthesizing a large variety of chemical compounds. Further, Ayurvedic system of medicine has an elaborate description of asthma from the earliest times describing it as 'Shwasa' meaning disease pertaining to breathing. This review classifies the antiasthmatics herbs based on the possible mechanism of action reported. Thus, these plants can be used to obtain a polyherbal formulation which contains various herbs acting at particular sites of the pathophysiological cascade of asthma for prophylaxis as well as for the treatment of asthma.