• Korean Journal of Acupuncture
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• v.36 no.4
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• pp.221-229
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• 2019

Objectives : This study investigated the hepatoprotective effect of herbal mixture including Lycii fructus (HML) in thioacetamide (TAA)-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Methods : To confirm the liver protective effect, induced by TAA for 3 days injection at 100 mg/kg mice, HML were treated for 8 weeks at 300 mg/kg/day, 1000 mg/kg/day. Positive control was treated silymarin 50 mg/kg/day after TAA injection. The changes of mortality rate, clinical signs, organ weight, relative liver, blood chemistry and histopathological findings were analyzed after experiment. Results : Body weight gain was observed in all groups, but TAA treated group at 4th week and all treated groups decreased weight compared to the untreated group. As a result of organ weight measurement, organ weight gain due to hepatic injury was observed statistically significantly in TAA-treated group and TAA+Silymarin treated group, and the herbal mixture-treated group showed a tendency to decrease compared to the TAA treated group. Blood biochemistry showed that total cholesterol and very low density lipoprotein cholesterol decreased statistically in TAA+low-dose and high dose herbal mixture treated group compared to the TAA-treated group. Histopathological examination showed that liver abnormalities were not observed in untreated group, liver fibrosis was observed in liver injury with TAA treated and herbal mixture treated group. And, TAA+high dose herbal mixture group showed relaxation tendency on liver calcification compared to the TAA treated group. Conclusions : According to the above results, HML provided hepatoprotective effects on the hepatic injury by reduction of inflammatory responses.

• Journal of Sasang Constitutional Medicine
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.65-76
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• 2010

1. Objectives The present study was designed to investigate the effect of Soyangin Hyeongbangdojeok-san(HBDJS) on acute cocaine-induced behavior effect and gene expression in the rat brain. 2. Methods Experimental animals were composed of saline(SAL), cocaine(COC), HBDJS + COC, HBDJS + SAL group. Rats received HBDJS(100, 200 mg/kg, p.o.) 1 h prior to cocaine hydrochloride(20 mg/kg, i.p.) treatment respectively. After cocaine injection, locomotor activity and rearing were measured in a rectangular container equipped with a video camera above the center of the floor for 60 min. In addiction, c-Fos expression in the rat brain was detected using immunohistochemistry 2 h after cocaine injection. And the effect of HBDJS on acute cocaine-induced pERK, pElk, pCREB upstream of c-Fos expression was detected using western blotting and immunohistochemistry 15 min after cocaine challenge. 3. Results The present results show that HBDJS at dose of 200 mg/kg attenuated cocaine-induced both locomotor activity and rearing. Also HBDJS at dose of 200 mg/kg significantly decreased c-Fos expression in the rat brain(nucleus accumebns and striatum). However HBDJS at dose of 200 mg/kg have no effect on cocaine-induced pERK, pCREB, pElK-1 expression. HBDJS is c-Fos expression through ERK-independent pathway. 4. Conclusions. These results suggest that HBDJS may be effective in suppressing the reinforcing effects of cocaine.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.36-42
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• 2015

Objectives: This study was carried out to analyze the single dose toxicity of Mecasin(Gami-Jakyak Gamcho buja Decoction) pharmacopuncture in muscle of Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: All experiments were performed at the Medvill, an institution acknowledged to conduct non-clinical studies, under the Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) regulations. Sprague-Dawley rats were chosen in this pilot study. The reason Sprague-Dawley rats were chosen is that they have been widely used in safety test in the field of medicine, so the results can be easily compared with many other databases. Doses of Mecasin pharmacopuncture, 0, 500, 1,000, and 2,000mg/kg, were registered to the experimental groups, and a dose of normal saline solution, 10 ml/kg, was registered to the control group. Mecasin pharmacopuncture and normal saline were injected into the thigh of the rats by disposable syringes at intervals of six hours twice a day. This study was performed under the approval of the Institutional Animal Ethic Committee. Results: There is no death or abnormality in any of the four groups. No significant changes in weight, hematological parameters or clinical chemistry between the control group and the experimental groups were observed. To inspect abnormalities in organs and tissues, we used microscopy to examine representative histological sections of each specified organ; the results showed no significant differences in any of the organs or tissues. Conclusion: The above outcomes suggest that treatment with Mecasin pharmacopuncture is relatively safe. Further evaluations and studies on this subject are needed to prove more concrete evidence.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.36 no.3
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• pp.147-153
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• 2019

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and analgesic effects of Datura Flos pharmacopuncture (DFP). Methods: The analgesic effects of DFP were assessed using mechanical (hot plate), chemical (formalin test), and thermal (von Frey filament test) pain tests. Forty male Sprague Dawley rats were assigned randomly into DFP (75 mg/kg, 150 mg/kg), lidocaine 0.5%, or normal saline group for treatment on Kl3. Gross pathology, histopathology, biochemistry and hematology were performed. Results: In the hot plate test, DFP at a high dose (HDDFP; 150 mg/kg) produced a significant analgesic effect, at 10 and 20-minutes post injection (p < 0.01). Low dose DFP (LDDFP; 75 mg/kg) also showed an analgesic effect at 10 minutes post injection (p < 0.01). In the formalin test, HDDFP produced an analgesic effect, for 0-10 and 10-20 minutes (p < 0.01) post treatment, whereas LDDFP showed analgesic effects between 10-20 minutes (p < 0.05). In the von Frey filament test, DF-H produced an analgesic effect, 10 (p < 0.01) and 20 minutes post treatment (p < 0.05). LDDFP showed analgesic effect at 10 minutes (p < 0.05). In the acupuncture response test, HDDFP produced an analgesic effect at 10 minutes post treatment (p < 0.05). DF-H did not cause any anatomical changes to the liver or kidney and there were no abnormalities in biochemistry or hematology. Conclusion: DF-H was not toxic and provided short term analgesia, suggesting it may be useful in the management of pain.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.111-118
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• 2011

This study was performed to evaluate the toxicity of polysaccharide-based Streptococcus pneumoniae vaccine in Specific Pathogen Free (SPF), Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. S. pneumoniae vaccine was administrated subcutaneously each dose level of high (560 ${\mu}g$/rat), medium (280 ${\mu}g$/rat) and low (140 ${\mu}g$/rat) on days 0, 14, 28. The rats were observed for 2 weeks or 4 weeks after the final injection. During this test, there were no significant dose-dependent changes in body weight, water and food consumption. In urinalysis and serum chemistry, dose-related changes were not detected. In hematology, the percent of neutrophils and lymphocytes in white blood cells were changed significantly. According to the measurement of organ weight, only spleen weight was significantly increased in all groups of administration compared to the control group. In the histopathological examination, an antigen-deposit, vacuolated macrophages, infiltrated inflammatory cells and a formation of granulation tissue were observed at the site of an administration. These results are considered as an outcome by immune responses through a vaccination. Consequently, the results of this study demonstrated that S. pneumoniae vaccine has no toxicity when it was administrated subcutaneously three times in 2-week interval at a high dose of 560 ${\mu}g$/rat.

• Journal of Medicine and Life Science
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• v.16 no.1
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• pp.31-33
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• 2019

Hypercalcemia is often seen in patients, but most of them showed mild to moderate hypercalcemia. The severe hypercalcemia with a blood calcium level of 14.0 mg/dL or more is known to be associated mainly with malignant tumors. Because this is emergency status, most clinicians tried to decrease serum calcium level to near normal range to improve symptoms related to hypercalcemia. A 71-year-old female patient visited the emergency room with dizziness and general weakness. Her serum calcium level was very high (15.6 mg/dL), but serum PTH, 25-OH vitamin D, and PTH related peptide were normal. We can exclude hyperparathyroidism, familial hypocalciuric hypercalcemia, other connective tissue diseases, and hypercalcemia due to malignant tumors as a cause of severe hypercalcemia. Conclusively, we diagnosed as severe hypercalcemia due to high-dose vitamin D injections treated one week ago. High dose vitamin D injections have recently been shown to increase the frequency of prescription as the various causes and the clinicians needed to carefully monitor the serum calcium levels in the patients after treating with high dose vitamin D.

• Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.41-46
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• 1980

In order to study the effect of lead exposure on the hematocrit and hemoglobin values in accordance with the level of lead exposure, twenty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were equally divided into four groups of six rats each. Lead acetate disolved in glucose was injected intraperitoneally six times a week, for four weeks with dose of 0.05 mg/kg/day for group I, 0.5 mg/kg/day for group II, and 5 mg/kg/day for group III. Control group was injected glucose only. Blood samples for the checking of the hematocrit and hemoglobin values, were taking from tail vein of rats before lead injection and on the third, seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days after lead injection. And also, the concentration of lead and ALA in urine were checked for evaluating the lead absorption. The results were as follows: 1. The alteration of the hematocrit and hemoglobin values of the group I was not significant as that of the control group. 2. In group II, the hematocrit values were significantly decreased from the fourteenth day after lead injection, and the hemoglobin values were decreased from the twenty-first day after lead injection when the concentration of lead in urine was elevated more than $260{\mu}g/liter$. 3. In group III, the hematocrit values were decreased from the seventh day after lead injection, and the hemoglobin values were decreased even from the third day after lead injection. And the hemoglobin values were more rapidly decreased than the hematocrit values. 4. In all groups, the correlation coefficient between hematocrit and hemoglobin was highly significant. And the difference between the correlation coefficient of the group III and that of the others was highly significant.

• The Korean Journal of Pharmacology
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• v.15 no.1_2 s.25
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• pp.21-27
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• 1979

It is well known that picrotoxin, an amaroid substance of Anamirta cocculus, is a classic stimulant on the central nervous system accompanying convulsive activity, and it liberates catecholameine from the adrenal mdulla through its central action to increase blood sugar level. Schou reported that lithium and alcohol have the similar inhibitory property on the $Na^+,\;K^+$-ATPase activity, and recently, the therapeutic efficacies of lithium on the alcohol withdrawal syndrome and the chronic alcoholics have been studied. Many studies about the hypoglycemic effect of lithium and alcohol were reported but the interaction between those hypoglycemic action is little known. Therefore, in this paper, the hypoglycemic effect of lithium and ethanol on the hyperglycemia induced with picrotoxin, and the interaction of them in those hypoglycemic action were investigated with reference to the anticonvulsive action of them. The results were obtained as follows: 1. The convulsive dose (: $CD__{50}$) of picrotoxin in mice was slightly increased by the pretreatment of lithium or ethanol. 2. The blood sugar level was markedly increased by picrotoxin but the level was sugar level was significantly decreased by lithium, ethanol or both. 3. The hyperglycemic effect of picrotoxin was significantly potentiated by the lithium pretreatment, but the potentiation effect of lithium was markedly suppressed by the additional injection of ethanol after lithium injection and more markedly suppressed by the premedication of ethanol before lithium injection 4. The hyperglycemic effect of picrotoxin was markedly inhibited by the ethanol pretreatment, and the inhibitory effect of ethanol was significantly strenthened by the additional injection of lithium after ethanol injection, but on the contrary, the inhibitory effect was completely disappeared by the premedication of lithium before ethanol injection.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.133-138
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• 2001

In the present study, we investigated the effect of pretreatment of p-chlorophenylalanine (PCPA), inhibitor of serotonin synthesis, on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced anorexia in rats. First of all, effects of PCPA injection on food intake and body weight in rats were investigated. During 4 days of PCPA injection (300 mg/kg BW once a day), food intake was decreased by 33% and daily gain in body weight was inhibited compared with controls. Twenty-four hours after last PCPA injection, food intake and gain in body weight returned toward almost normal. Pair-feeding to PCPA (PCPAP) injection revealed that body weight of rats in PCPA group was not different from rats in PCPAP groups. To quantify the effects of LPS on food intake and body weight, we administered varying doses $(10,\;100,\;500\;{\mu}g/kg\;BW)$ of LPS to rats. LPS induced a reduction of food intake and weight loss in a dose dependent manner compared with controls. To evaluate the effects of PCPA pretreatment on LPS injection, rats were treated with PCPA for 4 days (300 mg/kg BW once a day), which was followed by LPS injection for 2 days $(500\;{\mu}g/kg\;BW\;once\;a\;day)$ (PCPA+LPS group), while rats in LPS group had injections with normal saline instead of PCPA for 4 days, which was followed by LPS administration. Rats in control group received 0.9% NaCl for 6 days. LPS decreased food intake by 80% and inhibited gain in body weight, while PCPA pretreated rats showed normalized food intake and gain in weight during the days of LPS injections compared with controls. In conclusion, pretreatment of PCPA prevented LPS-induced anorexia.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 1998

Background: The role of nitric oxide(NO) in analgesia from opioids is controversial. On the one hand, IV morphine analgesia is enhanced by IV injection of NO synthase inhibitors. On the other hand, IV morphine results in increased release of NO in the spinal cord. There have been no behavioral studies examining the interaction between IV morphine and intrathecal injection of drugs which affect NO synthesis. Method: Rats were prepared with chronic lumbar intrathecal catheters and were tested withdrawal latency on the hot plate after 3~5 days of surgery. Antinociception was determinined in response to a heat stimulus to the hind paw before and after IV injection of morphine, 2.5 mg/kg. Twenty minutes after morphine injection, rats received intrathecal injection of saline or the NO synthase inhibitors, L-NMMA or TRIM, the NO scavenger, PTIO, or the NO synthase substrate, L-Arginine. Intrathecal injections, separated by 15 min, were made in each rats and measurements were obtained every 5 min. Result: Mophine produced a 60~70% maximal antinociceptive response to a heat stimulus in all animals for 60 min in control experiments. Intrathecal injection of idazoxane decreased antinociception of IV morphine. The NO synthase inhibitors and the NO scavenger produced dose-dependent decreases in antinociceptive effect of morphine, whereas saline as a control group and L-Arginine as the NO substrate had no effect on antinociception of morphine. Conclusion: The present study supports the evidences that systemic morphine increase the nitrite in cerebrospinal fluid and dorsal horn. These data suggest that the synthesis of NO in the spinal cord may be important to the analgesic effect of IV morphine and increased NO in spinal cord has different action from the supraspinal NO.