• Journal of Life Science
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• v.20 no.10
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• pp.1443-1450
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• 2010

Honokiol is a small molecular weight ligand originally isolated from the Chinese medicinal herb Magnolia officinalis, a plant used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine [9]. In a previous study, the effects of honokiol were shown to have anti-angiogenic, anti-invasive and anti-proliferative activities in a variety of cancers [1,3,4,11,13,17,24,29,30]. We showed previously that direct production of nitric oxide (NO) by treatment of NO donor, sodium nitroprusside (SNP), led to apoptosis in rabbit articular chondrocytes [15,16]. This study confirmed that NO-induced apoptosis was suppressed by honokiol treatment in a dose-dependent manner as determined by cell phenotype, MTT assay, Western blot analysis and FACS analysis in articular chondrocytes. Treatment of honokiol inhibited SNP-induced expression of p53 as well as DNA fragmentation in articular chondrocytes, but increased expressionof pro-caspase-3. Inhibition of SNP-induced apoptosis by honokiol treatment was rescued by LY294002, the specific inhibitors of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI-3K) in articular chondrocytes. Our results indicate that honokiol inhibits NO-induced apoptosis via PI-3K/AKT pathway in rabbit articular chondrocytes.

• Journal of the East Asian Society of Dietary Life
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.446-454
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• 2008

The traditional Korean drink "Jehotang", which is one of the most commonly prescribed drugs for treatment of the heat stroke accompanied by high fever, severe sweat and thirst, it is effective far quenching thirst strengthening the stomach, stopping diarrhea and regulating intestinal function. It is also known to play a role in activating the growth of useful microbes in the intestine and in multiplying intestinal immune cells. Thus, this study investigated all aspects of the drink in an effort to develop a new functional beverage. In the course of this study, the analytical research into the literature concerning Jehotang an error in the secrets of preparing the drink. The Japanese apricot, which was given the botanical name, "Prunusmume", should only be used with the flesh (scientifically referred to as "Fructusmume"), which is fumigated with straw fire before drying. and the seed should be thrown away. The honey should only be used after it is heated with a gentle fire, before removing the white foam that farms on its surface to make the "Yeonmil". Two kinds of cooking processes were found in the ancient literature. One procedure boiling down the powered Fructus mume mixed with the Yeonmil, while the other procedure involved preparing the Fructus mume's water by adding water to it and blending the water with the Yeonmil and the rest of the raw ingredient before boiling them down. The current procedure, in which the cooking is done in a double boiler, has been widely adopted to its simplicity. The finished Jehotang is put in porcelain, kept at room temperature, and consumed after mixing with cold water.