• Journal of Ginseng Research
• /
• v.48 no.4
• /
• pp.395-404
• /
• 2024

Background: Ginsenoside Rg₁ (Rg₁) is one of the main active components in Chinese medicines, Panax ginseng and Panax notoginseng. Research has shown that Rg₁ has a protective effect on the cardiovascular system, including anti-myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury, anti-apoptosis, and promotion of myocardial angiogenesis, suggesting it a potential cardiovascular agent. However, the protective mechanism involved is still not fully understood. Methods: Based on network pharmacology, ligand-based protein docking, proteomics, Western blot, protein recombination and spectroscopic analysis (UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra) techniques, potential targets and pathways for Rg₁ against myocardial ischemia (MI) were screened and explored. Results: An important target set containing 19 proteins was constructed. Two target proteins with more favorable binding activity for Rg₁ against MI were further identified by molecular docking, including mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 (MAPK1) and adenosine kinase (ADK). Meanwhile, Rg₁ intervention on H9c2 cells injured by H₂O₂ showed an inhibitory oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway. The inhibition of Rg₁ on MAPK1 and OXPHOS pathway was confirmed by Western blot assay. By protein recombination and spectroscopic analysis, the binding reaction between ADK and Rg₁ was also evaluated. Conclusion: Rg₁ can effectively alleviate cardiomyocytes oxidative stress injury via targeting MAPK1 and ADK, and inhibiting oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) pathway. The present study provides scientific basis for the clinical application of the natural active ingredient, Rg₁, and also gives rise to a methodological reference to the searching of action targets and pathways of other natural active ingredients.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.25 no.10
• /
• pp.1156-1163
• /
• 2015

The present study investigated the immunomodulatory properties of four different medicinal plants in a cyclophosphamide-treated Balb/c mouse model. One of the four plants, Ulmus macrocarpa, showed partial resistance against immune suppression induced by cyclophosphamide. The bark of U. macrocarpa, commonly known as the Chinese elm, has been used as a pharmaceutical material in Korean traditional medicine to treat bacterial inflammation and induce wound healing. In this study, water extract of U. macrocarpa, named DEU-7, was used for its immunomodulating functional activity. DEU-7 increased the weight of the spleen and the number of splenocytes but did not significantly affect the liver, kidney, and thymus in vivo. A splenocyte viability assay confirmed that DEU-7 influenced ex vivo splenocyte survival. DEU-7 also increased the levels of cytokines, such as IL-2 and IL-4, and immunoglobulins, such as IgM, IgG, and IgA. These results indicated that DEU-7 is involved in the activation of T and B lymphocytes. In addition, DEU-7 was able to maintain the production of cytokines, such as TNF-α, IL-12, and IFN-γ, in the condition of cyclophosphamide-induced immune suppression, suggesting that DEU-7 activated innate immune cells, even under immune suppression. We concluded that DEU-7 aids immunological homeostasis, thereby preventing immune suppression, and aids both innate and adaptive immune response by maintaining the levels of various cytokines and immunoglobulins. Consequently, it is worth investigating the potential of DEU-7 as a supplemental source for immune-enhancing agents.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.454-464
• /
• 2018

Black soybeans are used as food sources as well as for traditional medicines because they contain an abundance of natural phenolic compounds. In this study, total phenolic contents (TPCs) of Korean black seed coat soybean varieties Socheongja (SCJ), Socheong 2 (SC2) and Cheongja 2 (CJ2) as well as their antioxidant capacities were investigated. Among them, TPCs were abundantly present in the order of CJ2$H_2O_2$-stimulated HaCaT human keratinocytes. Our results revealed that treatment with SCJ and SC2 prior to $H_2O_2$ exposure significantly increases the viability of HaCaT cells, indicating that the exposure of HaCaT cells to SCJ and SC2 conferred a protective effect against oxidative stress. SCJ and SC2 also effectively inhibited $H_2O_2$-induced apoptotic cell death through the blocking of mitochondrial dysfunction. SCJ and SC2 also attenuated the phosphorylation of Histone H2AX. Furthermore, they effectively induced the levels of thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) 1, a potent antioxidant enzyme, which is associated with the induction of nuclear transcription factor erythroid-2-like factor 2 (Nrf2); however, the protective effects of SCJ and SC2 were significantly reversed by Auranofin, a TrxR inhibitor. These results indicate that they have protective activity through the blocking of cellular damage related to oxidative stress via the Nrf2 signaling pathway. In conclusion, our study indicated that SCJ and SC2 might potentially serve as novel agents for the treatment and prevention of skin disorders caused by oxidative stress.

• Journal of Science and Technology Studies
• /
• v.5 no.1 s.9
• /
• pp.55-92
• /
• 2005

The factors contributing to the formation of an important scientific concept in South Korea and its circulation in the society are the scientific knowledge that had been already formed, matured, and established in the U.S.A, Europe and Japan and has been introduced into Korea, and the institutions that have been formed during the recent modernization in South Korea. The concept of 'genetic information' cannot be an exception in this context. The concept of genetic information is the one that has been extended and intensified by the genomics and bioinformatics formed and matured through the Human Genome Projects from the former concept of inheritance or heredity within the framework of classical and molecular genetics. The purpose of this study was to find out 'how the production structure of genetic information in South Korea has been formed', under the perspective of the conceptual, epistemic, and institutional holisticity or integratedness in the concept and knowledge production structure idealized in Western advanced nations. The discourse of genetic engineering popular in the mid 1980's in South Korea has catalyzed the development of molecular biology. However, the institutional balance that had been established for the biochemistry departments in Natural Science College and Medical College was not formed between the genetic engineering and genetics departments in South Korea. Therefore, they were unable to achieve the more integrative and macro-level disciplinary impact on life sciences, largely due to institutional lack of the capable (human) genetics departments in some leading Korean colleges of Medicine. In genomics, the cutting-edge reprogramming and restructuring of the traditional genetics in the West, South Korea has not invested, even meagerly, in the infrastructure, fund, and research and development (R & D) for the Basic or First Phase of the research trajectory in the Human Genome Project. Without a minimal Basic Phase, the genomics research and development in Korea has been running more or less for the Advanced or Second Phase. Bioinformatics has started developing in Korea under a narrow perspective which regards it as a mere sub-discipline of information technology (IT). Having developed itself in parallel with genomics, bioinformatics contains its own unique logics and contents that can be both directly and indirectly connected to the information science and technology. As a result, bioinformatics reveals a defect in respect of being synergistically integrated into genetics and life sciences in Korea. Owing to the structural problem in the production, genetic information appears to be produced in a fragmented pattern in the Korean society since its fundamental base is weak and thin. A good example of the conceptual and institutional fragmentedness is that 'the genetics of individual identification' is not a normal integrated part of the Korean genetics, but a scientific practice exercised in the departments of legal medicine in a few Medical Colleges. And the environment contributing to the production structure of genetic information in South Korea today comprises 'sangmyung gonghak'(or life engineering) discourse and non-governmental organization movement.

• THE JOURNAL OF KOREAN ORIENTAL ONCOLOGY
• /
• v.4 no.1
• /
• pp.37-53
• /
• 1998

The sprig of Jinryungtang Gagambang has been used for curing as a traditional medicine without any experimental evidence to support the rational basis for their clinical use. This experiment was carried out to evaluate the possible therapeutic or antitumoral effects of Jinryungtang Gagambang extract against cancer, and to study some mechanisms responsible for its effect. The cytotoxic and antitumor effects were evaluated on human cell liens (A549, hep3B, Caki-1, Sarcoma 180) after exposure to Jinryungtang Gagambang extract using in ILS, colony forming efficency and SRB assay which were regarded as a valuable method for cytotoxic and antitumor effects of unknown compound on tumor cell lines. The results obtained in this studies were as follows. 1. As a result of exposure to Jinryungtang Gagambang extract, the proliferation of A549, hep3B, Caki-1, good correlations were shown from the results of SRB assay and those of clogenetic assay. 2. The oral administration of Jinryungtang Gagambang extract showed significant effects of increase of MST(mean survival time) and ILS(increased life span) depending on the increasing concentration. 3. Against squamous cell carcinoma induced by MCA, Jinryungtang Gagambang decreased not only the frequency of tumor production but also the number and weight of tumors per tumor bearing mice(TBM). Jinryungtang Gagambang also significantly suppressed the development of 3LL cell-implanted tumors by frequency and their size, and some developed tumors were regressed by the continuous treatment of Jinryungtang Gagambang extract into TBM. 4. Jinryungtang Gagambang extract also increased NK cell activities. According to the above results, it could be suggested that Jinryungtang Gagambang extract has prominent antiutmor effect.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
• /
• v.25 no.5
• /
• pp.791-805
• /
• 2015

Foxtail millet (Setaria italica L. Beaur) is a native Korean herbal medical food and a native millet, and Koreans have eaten it as a substitute for rice since ancient times. Foods using foxtail millet (Setaria italica L. Beaur) have been recorded not only in cookbooks but also in Korean traditional medical books several times. Therefore, the purposes of this study was to investigate Food-Therapy (食治) using foxtail millet (Setaria italica L. Beaur) recorded in the literature from 1300 to 1600 from early to mid-Joseon (朝鮮) and provide data required to develop menus for Yaksun (藥膳, herbal food). This study examined Food-Therapy using foxtail millet (Setaria italica L. Beaur) in 10 types of literatures from the 1300s to the 1600s. and is described in the literature a total of 63 times. According to classification by cooking method, porridge (粥) was most frequently mentioned in the literature at 27 times. The cooking method of Soup (湯) is described 11 times. Cooking methods such as porridge juice and soup are frequently used since those methods are digestive and absorptive. Other food ingredients described using foxtail millet (Setaria italica L. Beaur) are white leek (Allii Fistulosi Bulbus) ginger (Zingiber officinale), chicken egg, Allium chinense, sparrow (Passer montanus), rooster liver, Du-si, crucian carp (Carassius auratus L), and white broiler. Other medicinal herbs described with Setaria italica are Panax ginseng (人蔘), Poria cocos (茯笭), Angelica acutiloba (當歸), Ziziphus jujuba (大棗), Liriopeplatyphylla (麥門冬), and cinnamon (肉桂). Food-Therapy using Setaria italica L. Beauv was described as a prescription for stomach and spleen (脾胃), stomach reflux (反胃), defecation and urinary disorder (大小便難), cholera, deficiency syndrome (虛症), and tonification (補益). This focus on promoting health and preventing diseases by strengthening the stomach and spleen and improving defecation and urination using Food-Therapy when herbal medicine was rare.

• Korean Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science
• /
• v.50 no.1
• /
• pp.37-43
• /
• 2018

Chamaecyparis obtusa (CO) has recently been attracting attention because of its beneficial effects on skin allergies, atopic dermatitis, and skin diseases, such as acne and eczema. In the present study, the extract from CO leaf grown in Jangseong gun, Jeollanam-do, Korea was evaluated for its anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergic effects in vitro. The total polyphenol content of the CO leaf extract was $25.89{\pm}0.31mg$ gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g. Gas-chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis revealed the presence of six compounds in the CO leaf extract: ${\alpha}-terpinene$ (3.03 mg/g), ${\alpha}-terpineol$ (9.48 mg/g), limonene (5.96 mg/g), borneol (59.78 mg/g), myrcene (4.85 mg/g), and sabinene (11.31 mg/g). The $RC_{50}$ values of the CO leaf extract for $H_2O_2$ and ABTS radical were $5.47{\pm}0.13mg/mL$ and $4.00{\pm}0.01mg/mL$, respectively. In addition, the CO leaf extract showed significant inhibitory effects on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells and IgE-induced release of ${\beta}-hexosaminidase$ (degranulation) in mast-cell like RBL-2H3 cells. The cell viability assay showed that the CO leaf extract ($100{\sim}800{\mu}g/mL$) did not affect the viability of human normal skin fibroblast CCD-986sk cells significantly. Overall, these results suggest that the CO leaf extract is a potential functional cosmetic ingredient that can exert anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergic effects.

• The korean journal of orthodontics
• /
• v.30 no.3 s.80
• /
• pp.367-375
• /
• 2000

If a mandibular prognathic patient has an extremely unnatural anteroposterior and vertical maxilla or keen esthetical perception for facial profile, orthognathic surgery must be performed along with orthodontic treatment, which alone cannot provide satisfactory results in this case. Esthetical improvement becomes an important factor in the satisfaction level of the patient's treatment result, but an attempt to objectively measure beauty holds many problems. Therefore, in the end, the patient submits the final esthetical evaluation based on his/her subjective viewpoint. Because Korean people have a tendency to prefer the facial appeareance of westerners, they favor an oval shaped face over the traditional round face. This research was conducted in response to the complaints raised by patients who claim that their face had become more round from widening of facial width after the orthognathic surgery for manidibular prognathism than before the surgery. The following results were obtained on the changes in facial appearance and patient satisfaction level by analyzing the skull P-A analysis of total of 14 patients (8 male and 6 female) who underwent orthognathic surgery primarily chief complaint for manidibular prognathism and from their responses on questionnaires. These results are to be used in the research on the pre- and post- operative changes in facial height and width from orthognatic surgery. 1. Three ($21.4\%$) of 14 patients said that their face had widened. 2. The A group showed no change in mandibular width but B group showed a 0.7mm reduction. The facial width increased by 0.45mm and 0.66mm in groups A and B, respectively, after the orthognathic surgery 3. After the surgery the facial length changed by an 0.52mm increase in upper facial height , 1.19mm reduction in lower facial height, and 0.7mm reduction in mandibular height in group A. In group B group, there was a 0.67mm reduction in upper facial height, 3.66mm reduction in lower facial height, and 5mm reduction in mandibular height. 4. In reference to facial width, the facial height showed $1.5\%$ reduction in group A and $3.6\%$ reduction in group B after the surgery. 5. In reference mandibular height-to-facial width ratio, there was a $1.3\%$ reduction in group A, and $4.4\%$ reduction in group B after the surgery. 6. In reference to the mandibular height-to-width ratio, there was a $1.3\%$ reduction in group A and $4.3\%$ reduction in group B after the surgery. 7. Although the change in the facial width due to surgery can be ignored, sufficient explanation should be Provided to the patient before surgery on the fact that the face can appear to be relatively wide because of the reduced facial length as result of the surgery.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
• /
• v.55 no.3
• /
• pp.187-194
• /
• 2010

The soybean stay green mutant genotype (SSG) derived from the nuclear gene, d1d2, and cytoplasmic gene, cytG, inhibit the breakdown of chloroplast in the leaves, pod walls, seed coats, and embryos during maturity. Soybean seed with black seed coat and green cotyledon (SBG) are preferred than black seed coat with yellow cotyledon (SBY) especially for cooking with rice and as source of traditional food in Korea. The researchers evaluated the seed's chlorophyll content of SSG and introduced SSG to the SBG variety breeding program. The seed chlorophyll content of SSG with d1d2 was $39.93{\sim}60.80\;{\mu}g/g$ and SSG with cytG $38.08{\sim}39.89\;{\mu}g/g$. The Korean SBG variety which was derived from SSG with cytG, contains $16.35{\sim}37.73\;{\mu}g/g$. The composition of seed chlorophyll differs according to the genetic background of SSG genotype. Inheritance study showed that cotyledon color was segregated 15:1 (yellow:green) at $F_2$ seed indicating two recessive genes control green cotyledon as revealed by previous study. Only less than 3% soybean lines showed black seed coat with green cotyledon among crosses SBY and SSG (d1d2). Results showed that SSG with d1d2 can be used as a good source for SBG with high chlorophyll content in the seed cotyledon, but due to the complex genetic behavior, breeding resource of SBG with d1d2 should be prepared to improve the breeding efficiency for development SBG variety.

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
• /
• v.32 no.2
• /
• pp.116-123
• /
• 2019

Angelica gigas Nakai (AGN) is a traditional medicinal herb especially in Korea. It contains pyranocoumarins, which are major active components including decursin (D) and decursinol angelate (DA). This study was carried out to determine the change in active component content and antioxidant activity depending on the root diameter of AGN. Several processing steps are involved to use AGN roots as medicine. The dried AGN roots are divided into body (B), thick root (TkR), medium root (MR) and thin root (TnR) according to their diameter before cutting into medicine. The recovery rates of each root parts per 100 kg were measured as $32.3{\pm}2.5$, $9.0{\pm}1.0$, $39.3{\pm}2.1$ and $15.0{\pm}1.0%$, respectively and the mean diameters were measured as $51.95{\pm}4.55$, $7.05{\pm}0.89$, $2.88{\pm}0.49$ and $1.57{\pm}0.32mm$. Two index components, D and DA, were analyzed. The change of both D and DA content showed a similar tendency. Both D and DA content were increased as the root diameter decreased (higher in TnR). In addition, antioxidant activity was higher in B and TnR, and lower in TkR and MR than control. This study showed that the thinner the root diameter, the higher the D and DA content in AGN roots and that TnR has excellent antioxidant activity compared to other root parts, suggesting that the thinner root part of AGN could be used as a potential material.