• The Journal of Korean Medicine
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.135-150
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• 2016

Research Methods: This research analyzed the data on those aged 20 and older from the Report on Korean Medicine Usage Research, which was conducted in 2011. The definitions of toxicity were defined by the presence of toxicity listed in the survey. The questions used in analysis were sex, age, household income, health insurance, medical fees, satisfaction rates on treatments, as well as the types of diseases and the presence of toxicity from treatments. The analysis was done through frequency analysis using SAS 9.2 and Fisher's Exact Test. Results: Toxicity occurred in 2.1% patients out of the 3518 studied. The types of toxicity were skin problems, such as hives and pruritus (34.7%), gastrointestinal problems (20.8%), neurological diseases (4.2%), liver(1.4%), kidney toxicity(1.4%), and others (22.2%). There were no differences in toxicity by sex, age, household income and the types of health insurances. However, toxicity were positively correlated with the increase in standard of education (p=0.0124). In addition, as treatment costs increased (p<0.0001) and satisfaction rates decreased, toxicity increased (p<0.0001). Toxicity increased in patients with low back pain (p=0.0429), hwabyung (p=0.0392), lumbar sprain (p=0.0004), correction body type (p=0.0118), growth (p=0.0045), and from motor accidents (p=0.0448). In logistic regression analysis, Toxicity were positively correlated with medical fees, and cancer treatment and negatively correlated with satisfaction rate on treatments. Conclusion: The toxicity that occurred in outpatients who used Korean medical clinics mostly happened in skin, digestive organs, nerves, livers, and kidneys toxicity. The occurrences differed by the Educational lengths, expensive costs of treatments, low satisfaction rates of the treatments, and cancer.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.78-87
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• 1993

The accumulations of mercury, lactate dehydrogenase and antioxidant enzymes activities of which are glutathione peroxidase, catalase and superoxide dismutase, and pathological changes were investigated in liver and kidney of mice which were fed the water supplemented with two levels (0.5 mM and 1.0 mM) of mercury chloride (HgCl$_2$). During the mercury feeding, the weight gain of mice in experimental groups was less than that of control group mice, while no overt signs related to mercury toxicity were noted in any experimental groups. Mercury concentrations in liver and kidney increased significantly in the early period (1~2 weeks) after mercury administration, which were measured as high as 100 times in liver and kidney in comparison to those of the control groups, but there were relatively stable for the levels of accumulation in following periods. The lactate dehydrogenase activities in liver and kidney were relatively increased in the period of 2~3 weeks of mercury administration in the experimental groups, there were normal levels in other periods of administration without the dose-dependencies. The glutathione peroxidase activities were not affected by the dosages of mercury chloride and the duration of ingestion. But the catalase activities significantly increased in 2~3 weeks after ingestion, and the superoxide dismutase activities of kidney also showed a peak in 3 weeks of ingestion while this peak was not found in the results measured in liver tissues.

• Journal of Society of Preventive Korean Medicine
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.122-131
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• 2000

This dissertation is try to figure out why chestnut belongs to kidney channel, from the viewpoint of five elements theory. After studying chestnut's property, flavor, channel tropism, main cure ability, prescriptions, shape, sweet, and prohibitions, I came to the following results. 1. Property of chestnut is warm and has no toxicity, so it is less related than kidney property. 2. Flavor of chestnut is salty and sweet, so it has some relation to kidney and spleen properties. 3. Channel tropism of chestnut enters mainly into kidney channel, and then spleen and stomach channels. 4. Chestnut controls kidney function of storing the essence of life, determining the condition of bone and marrow, conduction water metabolism, affecting reasoning activity, and controls activity of nine openings of body. It also has effects on functions of spleen, intestines and stomach. 5. Prescriptions including chestnut is similar to that of human brain, it is possible to reason out that chestnut has some relation to human brain. 7. As flavor of chestnut flower is similar to that of spermatic fluid, so it has som relation to kidney property. 8. As chestnut has property of blocking qi and it causes spleen, stomach and colon system to be confused, so it is suggested that persons with weakende spleen and stomach be not allowed to take in.

• Annals of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
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• v.35
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• pp.5.1-5.14
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• 2023

Background: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals widely used in various products in everyday life. Due to its unique strong binding force, the half-life of PFAS is very long, so bioaccumulation and toxicity to the human body are long-standing concerns. In particular, effects on kidney function have recently emerged and there are no studies on the effect of PFAS on kidney function through epidemiological investigations in Korea. From 2018 to 2020, the Korean National Environmental Health Survey (KoNEHS) cycle 4, conducted an epidemiological investigation on the blood concentration of PFAS for the first time in Korea. Based on this data, the relationship between PFAS blood concentration and kidney function was analyzed for adolescents. Methods: We investigated 5 types of PFAS and their total blood concentration in 811 middle and high school students, living in Korea and included in KoNEHS cycle 4, and tried to find changes in kidney function in relation to PFAS concentration. After dividing the concentration of each of the 5 PFAS and the total concentration into quartiles, multivariable linear regression was performed to assess the correlation with kidney function. The bedside Schwartz equation was used as an indicator of kidney function. Results: As a result of multivariable linear regression, when observing a change in kidney function according to the increase in the concentration of each of the 5 PFAS and their total, a significant decrease in kidney function was confirmed in some or all quartiles. Conclusions: In this cross-sectional study of Korean adolescents based on KoNEHS data, a negative correlation between serum PFAS concentration and kidney function was found. A well-designed longitudinal study and continuous follow-up are necessary.

• Journal of Environmental Health Sciences
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.1-15
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• 1995

Tolerance to toxic effects of cadmium(Cd), including lethality has been shown following pretreatment with cadmium and zinc. This study was designed to determine if tolerance also develops to Cd-induced hepatotoxicity and renal toxicity. Three groups of rats(A, B, C), each consisting of 52 rats, were studied and each group was divided into three subgroups(1,2,3), 28 rats for each subgroup. Rats were subcutaneously pretreated with saline(A), $CdCl_2$(0.5 mg/kg, B), and $ZnCl_2$(13.0 mg/kg, C) during time periods of 5 days. At the end of the period, rats were challenged with $CdCl_2$(3.0 and 6.0 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection. As for the cadmium levels in rat tissues after 1,3,5,6 days of pretreatments, it was highest in the liver. Then kidney, heart, blood and muscle followed it in that order. After 24, 48 and 96 hours of intraperitoneal injection by challenge doses the concentration of cadmium in liver and kidney increased proportionally to the increase of challenge dosage. However metallothioneins in liver and kidney were increased by the pretreatment of cadmium and zinc. These data indicate the liver is a major target-organ of acute Cd poisoning, and suggest that cadmium induced hepatic injury, via release of Cd-MT, may play an important role in the nephrotoxicity observed in response to short-term exposure to cadmium. This result suggest that increasing cadmium concentrations, gradually accumulating in liver and kidney as the result of the pretreatment, served to induce the synthesis of metallothionein, thus making them resistant to the challenge from cadmium.

• Herbal Formula Science
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.187-194
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• 2009

The kidney toxicities of WK-38 used for improvement of the vascular diseases, was examined using male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. The male and female rats were divided into 4 groups for intragastrical treatment with doses of 0, 5, 50, and 500 mg/kg/day for 13 weeks, respectively. In all male and female rats treated with WK-38, no mortality and gross pathological findings were shown for 13 weeks. There was substantially no change in body weight in all rats with treatment of WK-38. Urine osmolality as renal functional parameters were not exchanged in all rats treated with WK-38. The renal functional parameters including electrolytes excretory rate, creatinine clearance, and solute-free water reabsorption were significantly augmented on account of increase in urinary volume in female rats treated with WK-38, but not male. In summary, this study demonstrates that WK-38 exhibits no toxicity on kidney in all male and female rats.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1993.04a
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• pp.71-71
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• 1993

Carboxylesterase is widely distributed in the tissues of vertebrates, insects, plants and mycobacteria. Among various tissues of animals and humans, the highest esterase activity with various substrates is found in the liver. Kidney has moderate carboxylesterase activity in the proximal tubules. Considerable esterase activity is also found in the small intestine epithet elial cells and serum of mammals. Besides these tissues, carboxylesterase has been found in the lung, testis, adipose tissue, nasal mucosa and even in the central nervous system. Hepatic microsomal carboxylesterase catalyzes the hydrolysis of a wide variety of endogenous and exogenous compounds such as carboxylester, thioester and aromatic amide. Since carboxylesterases are important for metabolic activation of prodrugs and detoxification of xenobiotics, differences in substrate specificity and immunological properties of this enzyme are important in connection with choosing a suitable laboratory animal for the evaluation of biotransformation and toxicity of drugs. On the other hand, liver, kidney, intestine and serum were found to contain multiple forms of carboxylesterases in animal species and humans. In fact, we have purified more than fifteen isoforms of carboxylesterases from microsomes of liver, kidney and intestinal mucosa of nine animal species and humans. and characteristics of these isoforms were compared each other in terms of their physical and immunochemical properties. On the other hand, we have reported that hepatic microsomal carboxylesterases are induced by many exogenous compounds such as phenobarbital, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, Aroclor 1254, aminopyrine and clofibrate. Later, we showed that some isoforms of hepatic carboxylesterase were induced by glucocorticoids such as dexamethasone and 16 ${\alpha}$-carbonitrile, but other isoforms were rather inhibited by these compounds. These findings indicate that involvement of carboxylesterases in the metabolism and toxicity of drugs should be explained by the isoforms involved. Since 1991, we have carried out detailed research investigating the types of carboxylesterases involved in the metabolic activation of CPT-11, a derivative of camptothecin, to the active metabolite, SN-38. The results obtained strongly suggest that some isoforms of carboxylesterase of liver microsomes and intestinal mucosal membrane are exclusively involved in CPT-11 metabolism. In this symposium, the properties of carboxylesterase isoforms purified from liver, kidney and intestine of animal species and humans are outlined. In addition, metabolism of CPT-11, a novel antitumor agent, by carboxylesterases in relation to the effectiveness will also be discussed.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.15.1-15.8
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• 2019

Corexit 9500 is a dispersant commercially available in Nigeria that is used to change the inherent chemical and physical properties of oil, thereby changing the oil's transport and fate with potential effects on the environment. The aim of this study was to assess the biochemical (enzymes and electrolyte) toxicity of Corexit 9500 dispersant on the gills, liver and kidney of juveniles of Clarias gariepinus after exposure for 21 days. One hundred sixty fish were used without gender consideration. Range-finding tests were conducted over a 96-h period after acclimatisation of the test organisms in the laboratory. The test organisms (10/treatment) were exposed to Corexit 9500 in the following concentrations-0.00, 0.0125, 0.025 and 0.05 ml/l in triplicate. Twenty-one days later, fish was dissected. 0.5 g from each of the following organs-gills, liver and kidney tissues-was removed, homogenised and tested for enzymes [superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate transaminase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP)], urea, creatinine and electrolytes (sodium ($Na^+$), potassium ($K^+$), chloride ($Cl^-$), bicarbonate ($HCO_3{^-}$)) following standard methods. In the gills, SOD and ALT to AST ratio were significantly lower than in control while the creatinine was significantly higher in the toxicant. In the kidney, creatinine was significantly higher in fish exposed to the toxicant. In the liver, ALP increased in the toxicant while urea was decreased. The mean electrolyte concentrations ($Na^+$, $K^+$, $Cl^-$ and $HCO_3{^-}$) increased significantly in the concentration of the toxicant (P < 0.05). The alterations observed in the activities of these electrolytes and enzymes indicated that Corexit 9500 interfered with transamination and metabolic functions of the fish.

• CELLMED
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.5.1-5.8
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• 2023

Objectives: Cassia occidentalis L. is a weed belonging to the Caesalpiniaceae family. The root of this medicinal plant is used for the treatment of various ailments, including kidney diseases. The present study was aimed at evaluating the nephroprotective effects of HAE of the roots of Cassia occidentalis L. against gentamicininduced renal toxicity in albino Wistar rats. Methods: The renal toxicity was induced by subcutaneous administration of gentamicin at 100 mg/kg in the rats belonging to the disease control and treatment groups from the 4^th to the 8^th day. The rats in the treatment group received HAE of the roots of Cassia occidentalis L. at 67 mg/kg b. w. orally for 8 days, while no treatment was given to the rats in the disease control and plain control groups. At the end of the experiment, renal biomarkers viz; s. creatinine, b. urea, and s. uric acid, were investigated. The histopathological examination of the kidney specimens was also carried out. Results: The results of the present study revealed that renal function biomarkers such as s. creatinine, b. urea, and s. uric acid were significantly reduced in the rats of the treatment group as compared to those of the disease control group. Moreover, the histoarchitecture reports of the treatment group's kidney specimens showed significant improvements. Conclusion: The results suggested that the HAE of Cassia occidentalis L. roots promisingly prevented kidney injury in gentamicin-induced nephrotoxic rats. This effect might be due to improved clearance of gentamicin from the renal tubule and decreased generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS).

• The Journal of Internal Korean Medicine
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.102-113
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• 2006

Objectives & Methods : To obtain the 50% lethal dose(LD50), approximated lethal dose(ALD) and approximated target organs of 'Mahwangyounpae-tang' for further study into such things as repeated dose toxicity, genotoxicity and reproductive toxicity, single dose toxicity was tested in male SD rats according to KFDA Guideline 1999-61[KFDA, 1999] at dosage levels of 2,000, 1,000, 500, 250 and 125 mg/kg/$10m{\ell}$. In this study, mortalities, clinical signs, body weight changes and body weight gains, gross findings and weight of principal organs were detected during and/or after 14 days of single dosing. Results & Conclusions : After 2 or 3 days of dosing, 1 or 2 animals in 2,000 mg/kg-dosing groups died. Excitation and leaping response were observed as test article-treatment related clinical signs. These abnormal signs were restricted to 2,000 and 1,000 mg/kg-dosing groups and survivors recovered to normal within 3 or 4 days after dosing. Significant decrease in body weight were observed in some periods of observation in 2,000 and 1,000 mg/kg-dosing group, from 1 days after dosing compared to those of vehicle control group. Significantly diminished body weight gains were observed in observation periods in 2,000 and 1,000 mg/kg-dosing group compared to those of vehicle control group. Hypertrophy and hemorrhage of heart and decoloration of kidney were observed as test article-treatment related gross findings. These abnormal findings were restricted to 2,000 and 1,000 mg/kg-dosing groups. A significant increase of absolute and relative heart and kidney weight were demonstrated in 2,000 mg/kg-dosing groups. The value for LD50 found in this study was 2,218.57 mg/kg. ALD in this study was 2,000 mg/kg, and the target organs are considered to be the heart and the kidney.