• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.604-614
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• 2020

Chronological aging and photoaging affect appearance, causing wrinkles, pigmentation, texture changes, and loss of elasticity in the skin. Phragmites communis is a tall perennial herb used for its high nutritional value and for medicinal purposes, such as relief from fever and vomiting and facilitation of diuresis. In this study, we investigated the effects of ethanol extract of P. communis rhizome (PCE) on skin aging. The total flavonoid and total phenolic content in PCE were 2.92 ± 0.007 ㎍ of quercetin equivalents (QE) and 231.8 ± 0.001 ㎍ of gallic acid equivalents (GAE) per 100 mg of dried extract (n = 3). The half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of PCE for 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radical (DPPH) and hydrogen peroxide scavenging activities were 0.96 and 0.97 mg/mL, respectively. PCE showed inhibitory effects on tyrosinase when L-tyrosine (IC50 = 1.25 mg/mL) and L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (IC50 = 0.92 mg/mL) were used as substrates. PCE treatment up to 200 ㎍/mL for 24 h did not cause any significant cytotoxicity in B16F10 melanocytes, human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs), and HaCaT keratinocytes. In B16F10 melanocytes, PCE (25 and 50 ㎍ /mL) inhibited melanin production and cellular tyrosinase activity after challenge with α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH; p < 0.05). In HDFs, PCE suppressed the mRNA expression of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP-1) and reduced the activity of elastase (p < 0.05). In addition, ultraviolet B (UVB)-mediated downregulation of hyaluronic acid synthase-2 gene expression in HaCaT keratinocytes was also effectively suppressed by PCE treatment. Overall, our results showed that PCE has potential anti-skin aging activity associated with the suppression of hyperpigmentation, wrinkle formation, and reduction in dryness. PCE is a promising candidate for the development of an anti-skin aging cosmetic ingredient.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.341-347
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• 2019

In this study, the following is the result of measuring the quality characteristics of herbal wine and the active inhibition of Glutathione S-transferase in order to measure the release of physiological active substances according to the concentration of extracts. The pH level of herbal wine was 4.4, up from 3.9 before fermentation. These changes are attributed to fermentation and organic acids during alcoholic fermentation. The acidity of herbal wine was 0.55%, about six times higher than the pre-fermentation control of 0.09%. These results show that organic acids are used for flavor formation, ether, in combination with alcohol. The inhibitory activity of glutathione S-transferase were $5.1{\pm}0.31$ in herbal wine 15%, $6.5{\pm}0.6$ in herbal wine 20%, $7.6{\pm}0.6$ in herbal wine 25%, $8.4{\pm}0.2$ in herbal wine 30% and $9.7{\pm}0.7$ in herbal wine 35%. As the extract concentration was increased the inhibitory activity of glutathione S-transferase were significantly increased (<0.05).

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.716-728
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• 2022

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: An imbalanced adipokine profile in obesity increases the susceptibility to obesity-related cardiometabolic alterations, including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. The mulberry plant has been reported to have health benefits, such as hypolipidemic and hepatoprotective effects. This study examined the effects of a mulberry (Morus alba L.) fruit ethanol extract (MBEE) on dyslipidemia, liver steatosis, and adipokine imbalance in response to a high-fat diet. MATERIALS/METHODS: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were assigned to one of 4 groups containing 6 rats each and fed either a control diet (CON), a high-fat diet (HFD), or a high-fat diet with MBEE of 150 mg/kg/day (LMB) or 300 mg/kg/day (HMB). The triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) activities were measured spectrophotometrically. The leptin, adiponectin, and plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) levels were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. RESULTS: The plasma TG levels were similar in the 4 groups. Plasma cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and TC/HDL-C ratio increased in the HFD group compared with the CON group, whereas those values decreased in the LMB group (P < 0.05), indicating that MBEE had a plasma lipid-lowering effect. HDL-C decreased in the HFD group, but MBEE did not affect the HDL-C level. The HFD rats significantly increased hepatic TG and cholesterol levels and plasma ALT and AST activities compared to the CON group. The hepatic TG level and ALT and AST activities were reduced markedly by the MBEE treatment. The HFD group showed a higher PAI-1 level, whereas MBEE treatment, especially in the HMB group, significantly reduced leptin level, and leptin/adiponectin and PAI-1/ adiponectin ratios. These findings suggest that MBEE altered the imbalance between the pro-and anti-inflammatory adipokines to a more anti-inflammatory state. CONCLUSIONS: MBEE could protect against abnormal lipid metabolism and hepatic steatosis induced by a high-fat diet, lowering plasma cholesterol, LDL-C and TC/HDL-C, and hepatic TG. These findings are associated with the regulating effect of MBEE on the leptin/adiponectin and PAI-1/adiponectin ratios.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.183-190
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• 2023

Red yeast rice, also known as Hong Qu and red Koji, has been used for a long time in Asian functional food and traditional medicine. It consists of multiple bioactive substances, which can potentially be used as nutraceuticals. Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) can range from simple steatosis or inflammation to fibrosis and cirrhosis, possibly through leaky gut and systemic endotoxemia. This study examined the liver and gut effects of red yeast rice (RYR) (Monascus purpureus) ethanol extract against binge ethanol-induced liver injury in mice. RYR extract was orally administered to C57BL/6N mice at a concentration of 200 mg/kg body weight per day for 10 days. Then, mice were administered binge alcohol (5 g/kg/dose) three times at 12 hr intervals. Binge alcohol exposure significantly elevated the endotoxin, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and alanine transaminase (ALT) activity of plasma, as well as hepatic triglyceride levels; however, RYR treatments reduced these levels. In addition, RYR pretreatment significantly reduced the alcohol-induced oxidative maker protein and apoptosis maker in binge alcohol-induced gut and liver injuries. These results suggest that RYR may prevent alcohol-induced acute leaky gut and liver damage.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.22-26
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• 2005

Hygrophila auriculata (K. Schum.) Heine is a wild herb commonly found in moist places on the banks of tanks, ditches and paddy fields throughout India and is one of the main sources of Ayurvedic 'Rasayana' drug. The free radical scavenging potential of 50% aqueous alcoholic extract of H. auriculata (HAEt) was studied for DPPH scavenging activity, nitric oxide, hydroxyl radical and ferryl bipyridyl complex scavenging activity along with lipid peroxidation and total antioxidant capacity inhibition using Thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) in rat liver homogenate. Integral antioxidative capacity was determined by photochemiluminescence assay. HAEt showed good radical scavenging activity at various concentrations $(200-1000\;{\mu}g/ml)$ against 1,1 diphenyl, 2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) (32.32-77.02%) with moderate scavenging activity against Nitric oxide (12.46-52.84%), hydroxyl radical (11.69-55.26%), ferryl bipyridyl complex (17.66-58.67%) and lipid peroxidation (0.829-0.416nmoles/mg protein). The above results indicate HAEt to be very effective antioxidant. It was suggested that the varied therapeutic activities claimed for the plant in the Indian indigenous systems of medicine may be in the part due to the free radical scavenging and/ or potent antioxidant activity.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.21 no.2
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• pp.98-103
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• 2015

Pueraiae Radix (PR), Pueratia Folium (PF) and Sorbus commixta (SC) mixture, namely GS-SP (PR (1)/PF (2)/SC (0.5): v/v/v) was developed as hangover-relieving elixir and its effects on alcoholic metabolism have been investigated. The enzymatic activity of alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH) and acetaldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) of GS-SP was shown higher than those of single treatment with PR, PL, SC, and the positive control group (YM-808). The survival rate of mouse liver cell line NCTC clone 1469 in the presence of acetaldehyde was 30.6, 22.2, and 8.7% at the GS-SP dosage level of 50, 100, and 200 μg/mL respectively. Different concentrations of 50, 100 and 200 mg/kg of GS-SP showed efficient activity for ADH and ALDH than YM-808 in rat fed with 25% ethanol. The levels of blood alcohol and acetaldehyde after oral administration of 200 mg/kg of GS-SP showed efficient activity of 11.7% and 37% than those of YM-808. These results have been supported to the potential for GS-SP to serve as an excellent potential in providing hangover relief and liver protection.

• Toxicological Research
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• v.30 no.1
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• pp.49-54
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• 2014

In this study, we investigated the hepatoprotective effects of aged black garlic (ABG) in rodent models of liver injury. ABG inhibited carbon tetrachloride-induced elevation of aspartate transaminase (AST) and alanine transaminase (ALT), which are markers of hepatocellular damage, in SD rats. D-galactosamine-induced hepatocellular damage was also suppressed by ABG treatment. However, ABG does not affect the elevation of alkaline phosphatase (ALP), a marker of hepatobilliary damage, in rats treated with carbon tetrachloride or D-galactosamine. We also examined the effect of ABG on high-fat diet (HFD)-induced fatty liver and subsequent liver damage. ABG had no significant effect on body weight increase and plasma lipid profile in HFD-fed mice. However, HFD-induced increase in AST and ALT, but not ALP, was significantly suppressed by ABG treatment. These results demonstrate that ABG has hepatoprotective effects and suggest that ABG supplementation might be a good adjuvant therapy for the management of liver injury.

• Journal of the Korean Applied Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.290-299
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• 2010

The bioactive effects of ethanol extracts from fly maggot (ME) on reduction of plasma lipids levels in rats fed high-fat diets (Expt. Ⅰ), and on liver function recovery of hepatotoxicity rats by intraperitoneal injection of carbon tetrachloride ($CCl_4$) or by orally administration of alcohol (Expt. II) were investigated. In expt. I, twenty seven, male rat SDS(sprague dawley strain) were randomly assigned to three treated groups, including normal control group, HF (group with high fat diets which have no extracts) and HFE (HF plus orally administered doses of ME extract at 5.0 mg/100g of body weight). In expt. II, forty five, male rats (SDS) were randomly assigned to each of the five groups: T1 (control), T2 (intraperitoneal injection of $CCl_4$), T3 (intraperitoneal injection of $CCl_4$ after orally administered with ME), T4 (orally administered with combination of ME and alcohol), T5 (orally administration of ME after orally administered with alcohol). There were significant decreases in plasma (TAG), (TC), (LDL-C) in the HFE group with orally administered doses of ME at 5.0 mg/100g of body weight, respectively, however, the (HDL-C) were significantly increased in HFE group as compared to HF group with high fat diets which have no extracts (p<0.05). The levels of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), ${\gamma}$-glutamyl transferse(${\gamma}$-GTP) and bilirubin were highest in T2 or T3, and high in order T4 or T5, and lowest in T1 except for bilirubin which has same with T4, T5 (p<0.05). The high recovery of liver damage by $CCl_4$ from the light microscopic appearance was observed in rats (T3) with extracts, and also high in T4 than T5 by orally administrated with alcohol. In conclusion, the ethanol extracts from fly maggot may have a bioactive effects to prevent for human lipids disorder and alcoholic disease.

• Journal of health informatics and statistics
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2018

Objectives: In recent years, there has been an increased need for a way to extract desired information from multiple medical literatures at once. This study was conducted to confirm the usefulness of unstructured data analysis using previously published medical literatures to search for new indications. Methods: The new indications were searched through text mining, network analysis, and topic modeling analysis using 5,057 articles of atorvastatin, a treatment for hyperlipidemia, from 1990 to 2017. Results: The extracted keywords was 273. In the frequency of text mining and network analysis, the existing indications of atorvastatin were extracted in top level. The novel indications by Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF) were atrial fibrillation, heart failure, breast cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, combined hyperlipidemia, arrhythmias, multiple sclerosis, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, contrast-induced acute kidney injury and prostate cancer. Conclusions: Unstructured data analysis for discovering new indications from massive medical literature is expected to be used in drug repositioning industries.

• The Journal of Pediatrics of Korean Medicine
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.12-21
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• 2019

Objectives Coptidis Rhizoma and Glycyrrhiza Uralensis are herbs that treat obesity and dampness-phlegm. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of Coptidis Rhizoma and Glycyrrhiza Uralensis on lipid deposition with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). Methods Male 6-week-old C57BL/6 male mice were divided into three groups: control group (Ctrl), high fat diet group (HFF), and high fat diet with Coptidis Rhizoma and Glycyrrhiza Uralensis extract administration group (CGT). Each 10 mice were allocated to each group (total of 30 mice). All mice were allowed to eat fat rich diet freely throughout the experiment. To examine the effect of Coptidis Rhizoma and Glycyrrhiza Uralensis, we observed weight changes, total cholesterol and glucose levels, lipid blot distributions, PGC-1, p-$I{\kappa}B$, and p-JNK. Results Body weights for all mice were measured and analyzed the difference between the groups. Weight gain was significantly lower in CGT group than the HFF group. Total cholesterol and glucose levels were significantly lower in CGT group. The distribution of lipid blots and positive reaction of PGC-1 were significantly lower in CGT group. The positive reaction of p-$I{\kappa}B$ in hepatic tissues was significantly lower in CGT group. The positive reaction of p-JNK in hepatic tissues was significantly lower in CGT group. Conclusions Coptidis Rhizoma and Glycyrrhiza Uralensis have the effect of improving non - alcoholic fatty liver induced insulin resistance through regulation of lipid metabolism.