• YAKHAK HOEJI
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• v.53 no.4
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• pp.189-193
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• 2009

To investigate the antioxidant effect of lutein on N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDEA)-induced oxidative stress in mice, we measured lipid peroxidation, superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase of various tissues. Body weight was almost similar in lutein and control groups during 3 weeks. NDEA increased significantly the activities of typical marker enzymes of liver function (AST, ALT and ALP) in both groups. However, the increase of plasma aminotransferase activity significantly decreased in lutein group. Lipid peroxidation and SOD in various tissues, such as heart, lung, liver, kidney, spleen and plasma were significantly increased by NDEA, which were significantly reduced by lutein at a dose of 50 mg/kg. Catalase activity decreased significantly in control and lutein groups treated with NDEA, the effect being less in lutein group. Lesser effect on SOD and catalase in NDEA-treated lutein group indicates the improvement of protective mechanisms by lutein. Thus, it can be concluded from the present study that lutein can offer a useful protection against NDEA-induced oxidative stress.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.103-107
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• 1994

Cisplatin is one of the most effective antitumor agents currently available for cancer therapy. However, its clinical use has been limited by its severe side effects, especially nephrotoxicity. Therefore, brazilin, which has a radical scavenging effect, was given intraperitoneally to evaluate the effect on cisplatin nephrotoxicity in rats. Remarkable protective effects against nephrotoxicity of cisplatin were observed when brazilin was administered to rats simultaneously with cisplatin. Hepatotoxicity induced by combination treatment of cisplatin and brazilin was evaluated by measuring serum glutamic pyruvate transaminase and serum glutamic oxalate transaminase. Combination treatment did not affect the levels of sGPT and SGOT, and any combination treatment did not induce metallothionein in kidney. Brazilin which has radical scavenging effect directly reduced nephrotoxicity of wisplatin in vivo. Thus, it seems that nephrotoxicity of cisplatin was caused by free radicals. The present results Indicate that brazilin, when it is given with cisplatin, may provide protection against cisplatin nephrotoxicity in rats.

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.1-15
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• 2006

Objective : This study was done to investigate the effect of KJT on hypertension. Methods : Spontaneous Hypertensive Rats were sensitized and challenged with Kamijaeumganghwatang(KJT) for 5 weeks. Experimental group was treated with $200mg/day/2m{\ell}$ of KJT orally and control group was treated with $2m{\ell}/day$ of normal saline instead. Results : 1. KJT significantly showed significant protection against cytotoxicity and toxicity in the liver and the kidney. 2. KJT significantly decreased the blood pressure in SHR. 3. KJT significantly decreased the levels of aldosterone in SHR. 4. KJT significantly decreased the levels of dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine in SHR. 5. KJT significantly decreased the levels of sodium and potassium in SHR, but it did not decrease the levels of chloride in SHR. Levels of calcium in SHR increased, but only insignificantly. 6. KJT significantly decreased the levels of IL-6 in SHR, and significantly increased the levels of IL-10 in SHR. 7. For histological effects, KJT dillated capillary vessels in the kidney, significantly decreased eosinophilic changes in heart cells, and significantly decreased endothelial damage in the aorta. Conclusion: These results suggest that KJT is useful in treatment of hypertension.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.377-382
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• 2006

This study was performed to evaluate the effect of the herbal extract mixture of Cnidium officinale, Petasites japonicus and Coptis chinensis (CPC) on the lipids metabolism in mice with tyloxapol. ICR mice weighing between 30-40 g were divided into four groups: normal group, 600mg/kg tyloxapol injected group, $50\;{\mu}g/g$ CPC treated group 6h after tyloxapol injection (SAM1), and tyloxapol and CPC treated group (SAM2), respectively. Tyloxapol or CPC was injected intraperitoneally. Tyloxapol caused an elevation of total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides(TG), and LDL-cholesterol and a decrease of HDL-cholesterol. In addition, tyloxapol induced accumulation of lipid including cholesterol in both the liver and kidney. Serum levels of TC, TG and LDL-cholesterol were decreased whereas HDL-cholesterol was increased by CPC. CPC increased in HDL-cholesterol /total cholesterol ratio and lowered atherogenic index. The levels of TC, TG and LDL-cholesterol by CPC were rather lower in SAM2 than SAM1. CPC also inhibited lowering HDL-cholesterol by tyloxapol. CPC reduced lipid blots and cholesterol particles in both the deposition and size in the liver and kidney with tyloxapol. These results suggest that CPC might be expected to be beneficial for protection and treatment of hyperlipidemia by the disturbance of lipid metabolism.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.210-222
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• 2024

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Chronic renal failure (CRF) is a complex pathological condition that lacks a cure. Certain Chinese medicines, such as melittin, a major component in bee venom, have shown efficacy in treating CRF patients. On the other hand, the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic effects of melittin are unclear. MATERIALS/METHODS: A 5/6 nephrectomy model (5/6 Nx) of renal failure was established on rats for in vivo assays, and mouse podocyte clone 5 (MPC5) mouse podocyte cells were treated with angiotensin II (AngII) to establish an in vitro podocyte damage model. The 24-h urine protein, serum creatinine, and blood urea nitrogen levels were evaluated after one, 2, and 4 weeks. Hematoxylin and eosin staining, Masson staining, and periodic acid-Schiff staining were used to examine the pathological changes in kidney tissues. A cell counting kit 8 assay was used to assess the cell viability. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and Western blot were used to assess the mRNA and protein levels in the cells, respectively. RESULTS: In the rat 5/6 Nx, melittin reduced the 24-h urinary protein excretion and the serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels. Furthermore, the renal pathology was improved in the melittin-treated 5/6 Nx rats. Melittin promoted podocin, nephrin, Beclin 1, and the LC3II/LC3I ratio and inhibited phosphorylated mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)/mTOR in 5/6 Nx-induced rats and AngII-induced MPC5 mouse podocyte cells. Moreover, inhibiting autophagy with 3-MA weakened the effects of melittin on podocin, nephrin, and the LC3II/LC3I ratio in podocytes. CONCLUSION: Melittin may offer protection against kidney injury, probably by regulating podocyte autophagy. These results provide the theoretical basis for applying melittin in CRF therapy.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.45-50
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• 2007

In this study, uptake rates of internal organs and daily urinary excretion rates were measured to get more reliable estimation results for Korean. Radioactive iodine($^{131}I$) of $100{\mu}Ci$ was administered by ingestion to 28 adult males for the experiment and then the radioactivity in thyroid gland, liver, stomach, small intestine, kidneys, and urine was measured after time intervals of 2, 4, 6 and 24 hours. Uptake rates of each organ and daily urinary excretion rates were calculated on the basis of these experimental results. As a result, uptake rates of 19.70% for thyroid and daily urinary excretion rates of 71.12%, on the average, were indicated. The maximum of uptake rates and daily urinary excretion rates were recorded after 2 hours of administration of $^{131}I$, but those rates were decreased gradually later. It was also found that uptake rates were the highest in stomach, followed by the left kidney, liver, small intestine and right kidney except for thyroid gland. In this experiment, the calculated uptake change rate in thyroid gland after 24 hours of administration of $^{131}I$ was different from that of ICRP-54/67(30%) and ICRP-78(25%). Thus, it is necessary to apply more reliable approach, reflecting the characteristic of Korean physiology and to obtain the basic data of results using this approach for calculation of the internal adsorbed dose. In the future, this approach can be helpful for the internal dose assessment of radiation workers in a nuclear power plant or in a hospital.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.83-88
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• 1998

Chitosan is a nontoxic natural chealtor which was made by chitin, and reduced a contamination of radiostrontium in animals. In this experiment, A different molecular weight of C-14 chitosan was intravenously administered to mice, and then the distribution of C-14 chitosan in the body was observed. Male mice (8 to 10 weeks, body weight of 30 to 35g) of ICR strain were used. C-14 chitosan was diluted with saline and then given intravenously in mice. After the administration of C-14 chitosan, mice was sacrificed at the 6th hour, 1st, 3rd, 5th, and 7th day. Beta radioactivities in the blood, liver, kidney, liver, muscle, testis, and urine was measured using a liquid scintillation analyzer. Most of the C-14 chitosan was excreted through urine within 6 hours. Biodistribution of C-14 chitosan was similar despite the difference of moleclar weight. Higher distributions of radioactivities were found in the liver, kidney, spleen. The relative concentration in tissue increased for the 6 hours and then decreased. In conclusion, most of C-14 chitosan was excreted through urine despite the difference of molecular weight. and, low molecular weight of C-14 chitosan showed higher distribution than high molecular weight of C-14 chitosan in tissues.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.191-212
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• 2000

Objective: This study was perfomled to examine the therapeutic effect of aqua-acupuncture solution of Hominis Placenta(HP) on kidney and liver intoxicated by $HgCI_2$ in rats. Methods: $10\%$ and $25\%$ HP aqua-acupuncture were carried out everyday for 8 days on corresponding bilateral loci of Shinsu(BL23) and Kansu(BL18), respectively, after mercuric chloride intoxication in rats. Thereafter BUN, creatinine, GOT, GPT, ALP, ${\gamma}$-GT, albumin and total bilirubin were measured before intoxication, and at the 4th and the 8th experimental day. Histopathological and immunochemical observation were also carried out. Results: 1. It showed significant decreases of BUN in the group of $10\%$ HP aqua-acupuncture into Shinsu on the 4th experimental day as compared with the control group. 2. It showed significant decreases of creatinine in the group of $10\%$ HP aqua-acupuncture into Shinsu on the 4th and the 8th experimental days as compared with the control group. 3. There were not any significant changes of GOT, GPT, ALP,${\gamma}$-GT, albumin and total bilirubin in the HP aqua-acupuncture groups compared with the control group. 4. By the histopathological observations on kidney under a light microscope, alt the $10\%$ and $25\%$ HP aqua-acupuncture into Shinsu showed the preventive effect on tubulo-interstitial necrosis and muItifocal calcification in tubular lumen respectively compared with the control group. 5. By the histopathological observations on liver under a light mIcroscope, the groups $10\%$ and $25\%$ HP aqua--acupuncture into Kansu did not show any significant changes in the liver compared with the control group. 6. By the immunochemical analysis of heat shock protein(hsp) and glucose-regulated protein(grp) in rat renal cortex, the expressions of hsp70 and grp78 were decreased in the $10\%$ and $25\%$ HP aqua-acupuncture into Shinsu respectively compared with the control group. Conclusion: These results suggest that Hominis Placenta aqua-acupuncture have an effect on prevention and protection of renal intoxication by $HgCI_2$ in rats.

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.321-327
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• 2009

Sunlight, and in particular its UV component, is the major environmental trigger that underlies the major signs of human skin and skin cancer in general. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the UV protection effects of R. coreanus. R. coreanus was extracted by ultra high pressure extraction process at 500 MPa and $30^{\circ}C$ for 5 and 15 minutes. The cytotoxicity of the extracts extracted by ultra high pressure process on human dermal fibroblast cell CCD-986sk, human kidney normal cell HEK293, and human lung normal cell HEL299 was measured as 17.5%, 16.5% and 14.0%, respectively in adding $1.0\;mg/m{\ell}$ of the samples, which was much lower than that from conventional water extraction method at $100^{\circ}C$ as 23.2%, 22.5%, 21.2%. The secretion of $NO^-$ from macrophage showed $15.9\;{\mu}M$ on the R. coreanus extract from this process, which was higher than others. Prostaglandin $E_2$ ($PGE_2$) production from UV-induced human skin cells was also greatly decreased down to $510\;pg/m{\ell}$, compared to the control. From the results, we considered that the extracts from R. coreanus could be potent natural materials for skin anti-inflammation agent, and could be used as a potential anti-aging for the photo-damaged skin.

• Journal of Radiation Protection and Research
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.45-51
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• 2000

The purpose of this experiment is to investigate the retention of the radiomercury among the organs in mice. We used the healthy ICR male mice and divided into two grouos. The experimental group was orally treated with squalene(200mg/kg of body weight) at two times a day(12 hrs interval) and radiomercury(0.005 uCi/g of body weight.) only one time. The control group was treated only with radiomercury as same amount of the experimental group. As the result, main retentive organs were kidney, liver, blood, heart and skull. In the control group, all of these organs showed high retention of the radiomercury at 6 hours, but in the experimental groups, all the organs significantly inhibit retention of the .radiomercury by squalene(p<0.05). We conclude that squalene inhibit retention of the radiomercury.