• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.28-38
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• 2002

Objective : This study is aimed to investigate the effects of bee venom and purified bee venom on cell death in synovial cell line. Methods : It was evaluated by using MTT assay, morphological method, flow cytometry, immunocytochemistry analysis, RT-PCR. Results : The result obtained is as follows. 1. The MTT assay demonstrated that synovial cell viability was significantly inhibitted dose-dependently by treatment with BV and PBV in comparison with control. And the inhibitory effect of BV and PBV was almost same. 2. The morphologic study demonstrated that synovial cell showed apoptotic body resulted from apoptosis after treatment with BV and PBV for 6 hours using microscope. 3. The Flow cytometry demonstrated that apoptosis of synovial cell treated with BV and PBV was related with stop of cell cycle in stage of G0/G1. 4. Immunocytochemistry assay demonstrated that COX-II and iNOS were slightly expressed by treatment with BV and PBV in comparison with control group. 5. RT-PCR analysis demonstrated that COX-II were almost down-regulated by high dose treatment with BV and PBV in comparison with control group. iNOS were well down-regulated by treatment with $5{\mu}g/ml$ BV and PBV whereas it was well expressed in control group. Conclusion : These results suggest that bee venom and purified bee venom have significant effect on cell death in synovial cell line and further study is needed in vivo.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.29 no.4
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• pp.194-201
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• 2016

The stability comparison tests on purified bee venom (PBV) and bee venom melittin (BVM) in different conditions of temperature, solvent, and concentration were studied. High purity BVM (98.2 %) was separated from PBV by prep-HPLC (column, C₄) and used to stability tests in aqueous phase. The stability of the PBV has been increased in the saline solution, while BVM was reduced. In distilled water, the stability of PBV has been reduced, while BVM showed an increasing result. As a result, the appropriate conditions for maintaining the long term stability of BVM were found to be the low temperature (4 ℃), distilled water, and concentration (1.0 mg/mL).

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.203-207
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• 2015

This study was performed to examine the antigenic potential of purified bee venom (Apis mellifera L., PBV) collected using bee venom collector. Antigenic potential of PBV was examined by active systemic anaphylaxis (ASA) in guinea pigs. PBV was subcutaneously administered at 0.025 and 0.05 mg/kg and also as a suspension with adjuvant (Freund's complete adjuvant, FCA). Ovalbumin (OVA) as a suspension with adjuvant was used to introduce positive control response. In the weight measurement and clinical observation, experimental groups didn't show any significant changes compared with control group. In the autopsy of body, the abnormalities of lung were detected only in the positive control. In the ASA test, experimental groups didn't show any symptoms of anaphylaxis like piloerection, hyperpnea and staggering gait. These results suggested that PBV didn't have antigenic potential in guinea pig.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.47 no.1
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• pp.43-48
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• 2016

The aim of the study was performed to examine the anticariogenic potential of purified bee venom (Apis mellifera L., PBV) collected using bee venom collector from cariogenic bacteria, Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sanguis, Porphyromonas gingivalis, and Fusobacterium nucleatum. The anticariogenic effect of purified bee venom was evaluated by agar well diffusion method, minimum inhibitory concentraion (MIC), minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC), and postantibiotic effect (PAE). The human lower gingiva epithelial cell cytotoxicity of purified bee venom was also evaluated. Purified bee venom exhibited significant inhibition of bacterial growth of S. mutans, S. sanguis, P. gingivalis, and F. nucleatum with MIC value of 0.68, 0.85, 3.49, and $2.79{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. The MBC value of purified bee venom against S. mutans, S. sanguis, P. gingivalis, and F. nucleatum was 1.34, 1.67, 8.5, and $6.8{\mu}g/ml$. Furthermore, the results of PAE values against S. mutans, S. sanguis, P. gingivalis, and F. nucleatum showed the bacterial effect with 3.3, 3.45, 2.0, and 2.0. The concentration below 1 mg/ml of purified bee venom had no cytotoxicity in the human lower gingiva epithelial cell. These results suggested that purified bee venom have great potenial as anticariogenic agents.

• Journal of Apiculture
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2020

Bee (Apis mellifera L.) venom is used for the treatment of various human diseases due to its known anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties. This study investigated the effect of purified bee venom (PBV) on adipogenesis in 3T3-L1 preadipocytes. There was no cytotoxicity while cells were treated with PBV by various concentrations. In the PBV treated cells increases in fat storage were inhibited and also confirmed by oil red o staining. To understand the underlying mechanism at the molecular level were examined on the expression of the genes involved in adipogenesis by using real-time PCR. In this cell model, the mRNA level of adipogenic genes such as peroxisome-proliferator-activated receptors gamma (PPARγ) and CAAAT/enhancer binding protein alpha(C/EBPα) were decreased by PAE treatment, comparing with those of control group. Theses results suggest that PBV inhibits adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 cells and can be used as an efficient natural substance to manage anti-obesity.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.43 no.2
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• pp.167-172
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• 2012

Osteoarthritis (OA) is an age-related joint disease characterized by degradation of articular cartilage and its association with chronic pain. Purified Bee venom (PBV) has been traditionally used to the treatment for inflammatory diseases. The purpose of the current study is to examine whether PBV regulates the pro-inflammation against a mouse model of knee OA induced by papain. We studied the effect of PBV on papain-induced OA in the knee joints of mice. Mice were split into following groups: normal control, papain induced OA, OA treated with PBV, OA treated with meloxicam as positive control. Proteoglycan deposition was analyzed by safranin O-fast green staining and H&E staining. Papain injection significantly degraded the proteoglycan in OA mice at 42 days. Cartilage proteoglycan density was significantly higher in PBV treated OA group than those of the positive control groups. These results demonstrate that PBV efficiently suppresses pathological processes in an OA model. Thus, PBV could be a potential therapeutic strategy for the treatment of OA.

• Journal of Sericultural and Entomological Science
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• v.52 no.1
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• pp.6-9
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• 2014

This study was for the investigation of the stability of purified bee venom (PBV) during the treatment in the pH range from pH2 to pH9 for 24 hours, respectively. Changes of components and physiological functionalities in PBV were by evaluated silver staining, and melittin contents were measured by liquid chromatography. The antimicrobial activity against bacteria by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and effect of the cell regeneration were measured by 3-[4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay using human dermal fibroblast (HDF) cell. The main proteins such as melittin and phospholipase $A_2$ showed no characteristic changes. The antimicrobial activity and effect of cell regeneration showed no difference from pH2 to pH9. From this study, we suggest that components and physiological functionalities of PBV against treated pH were kept stability at from pH2 to pH9.