• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.529-532
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• 1997

A $CHCl_3$:MeOH extract of the fruit of Lycium chinense Mill. (Solanaceae) was found to afford significant protection against carbon tetrachloride-induced toxicity in primary cultures of rat hepatocytes. Subsequent activity-guided fractionation resulted in the isolation of zeaxanthin and zeaxanthin dipalmitate as antihepatotoxic components. Incubation of injured hepatocytes with zeaxanthin dipalmitate reduced the levels of glutamic pyruvic transaminase (GPT) and sorbitol dehydrogenase (SDH) released from damaged cells to 60.5% and 76.3% of those released from untreated controls, respectively. Zeaxanthin also reduced the levels of GPT and SDH to 68.5% and 61.3% of the levels of those released from the untreated contro. The results confirm the hepatoprotective activities of zeaxanthins. Antihepatotoxic activities of zeaxanthins are comparable to that of silybin.

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.117-119
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• 1991

In continuation of previous isolation of two lignan components, Gomisin A and -N, from Korean Red Ginseng the presence of the two lignans was identified in the hexane extract of Korean White Ginseng by gas chromatographic analysis.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.67-74
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• 2005

The ethanolic extracts of the leaves and bulbs of Allium victorialis var. platyphyllum (Liliaceae) collected from Daegwallyoung (D) and Ullung Island (U) in Korea were obtained using three different extracting methods. The first extracts, DL-1 DB-1, UL-1 and UB-1, were obtained from leaves (L) and bulbs (B) dried at $90^{\circ}C$, respectively, and the second extracts, DL-2, DB-2, UL-2 and UB-2, were obtained by extracting the leaves and bulbs of fresh plant parts. The third extracts DL-3, DB-3, UL-3 and UB-3 were obtained by incubating leaves and bulbs at $36^{\circ}C$. The six extracts obtained from A. victorialis var. platyphyllum at Daegwanllyoung (cultivated site) were orally administered to examine for a possible antihepatotoxic effect in $CCl_4-induced$ rats. DL-1 exhibited the most pronounced effect. The extracts inhibited serum ALT, AST, SDH, ${\gamma}-GT$, ALP and LDH activities elevated by $CCl_4$ injection and attenuated decreased glutathione S-transferase, glutatione reductase and ${\gamma}-glutamylcysteine$ synthetase activities and a decreased hepatic glutathione. However, the extracts obtained from Ullung Is. (native site) were less active than the extracts from Daegwallyoung, suggesting that A. victorialis var. platyphyllum from the cultivated site is more useful for functional food than of native site. These results also suggest that the antihepatotoxic effect is due to a higher content of hepatic glutathione. Gas chromatography of the twelve extracts showed significantly different sulfides, disulfides or trisulfides contents belonging to volatile sulfur substances (VSS). Nine components were identified on the basis of their mass spectra, namely, dimethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide, diallyl disulfide, dipropyl disulfide, allyl methyl sulfide, allyl methyl trisulfide, 2-vinyl-4H-1,3-dithiin, 3,4-dihydro-3-vinyl-1,2-dithiin, and allithiamine. Extract DL-1 had the highest VSS content. Dried plant materials contained larger amounts of the VSSs than other extracts, and the leaves contained larger amount than the bulbs. These results suggest that heat treatment increases the antiheaptotoxic ability of A. victorialis var. platyphyllum by increasing the proportion of VSSs.

• KOREAN JOURNAL OF CROP SCIENCE
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• v.41 no.spc1
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• pp.123-144
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• 1996

This review deals briefly with the various medicinal components(mainly saikosaponins), their biological activities and the variation of their contents by different cultivation environment and plant parts in Bupleurum species. Bupleuri radix, a crude drug, is the root of Bupleurum falcatum L. (Korea, Japan), B. chinense(China), and their related species (Umbelliferae). There are over 120 species in Bupleurum genus throughout world, mainly Asian area, and over 5 species in Korea, investigated up to now. These plants contain many physiological active compounds and the principal components are saikosaponins. Major activities of this crude drug and saikosaponins are the anti-inflammatory and antihepatotoxic activities. Saikosaponins and their derivatives in Bupleurum spp. have been chemically studied, isolated and identified over 70 compounds in over 50 species. Other components, physiologically active ones, also have been investigated, which are the groups of lignan, flavonoid, essential oil, polyacetylene, polysaccharide, etc. Saikosaponins belong to the group of triterpenoid saponin chemotaxonomically and occur the accumulation and turnover in plant tissues through secondary metabolism, mevalonic acid pathway. The contents and kinds of saikosaponins and other components in Bupleurum spp. plants are various due to different species and growing environments, as the plant growth characters and yield are various. Most of medicinal plants as well as Bupleurum species are very useful as agricultural products and traditional medicines, and also are very valuable as genetic resources and natural products. So we need to collect, evaluate, preserve, and utilize various medicinal plants, and also to under-stand secondary metabolism and improve the breeding and cultivation techniques for the safe production of crude drugs with high quality and yielding.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.166-173
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• 2006

Silymarin is an antihepatotoxic substance isolated from the fruits of silybum mariamum. Possibly due to their antioxidant and membrane stabilizing properties, the compounds was shown to protect various organs and cells against a number of insults (Kvasnicka et al., 2003). Among the main silymarin components, [silybin($SB_A,\;SB_B$, isosilybin ($ISB_A,\;ISB_B$) silydianin (SD) and silychristin (SC)], silybin is the major pharmacologically active compound. Korean Pharmaceutical Codex (2nd ed.) describes silybin as the main substance of Cardus Marianus extract as supportive treatment of chronic inflammatory liver disorders. The aim of this work was to analyze silybin from various preparations containing cardus marianus extract, nicotinamide, and riboflavin (CNR). Nine commercial products were tested using reversed-phase HPLC-PDA assay. The limits of detection and quantification were $0.2\;{mu}g/ml$ and $1\;{mu}g/ml$, respectively. Calibration curve showed a good linearity ($r^2$=1.00000) in the range of $1{\sim}500\;{\mu}g/ml$ of silybin standard solutions.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.49 no.6
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• pp.676-684
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• 2017

The present study aimed to examine the hepatoprotective effects of ethanol extracts from steam-dried ginseng berry (SGBE) in both $\text\tiny{D}$-Galactosamine/Lipopolysaccharide ($\text\tiny{D}$-GalN/LPS)-sensitized mice and in vitro models. Our results clearly demonstrated that SGBE significantly reduced the level of aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and lactate dehydrogenase in blood, and $TNF{\alpha}$ was normalized in 8 h after the treatment with $\text\tiny{D}$-GalN/LPS. Coincidently, major organs remained unimpaired when compared to $\text\tiny{D}$-GalN/LPS control group. Moreover, p38, which stimulates expression of NAFLD-associated cytokines, was markedly inhibited when treated with SGBE. In vitro analysis revealed that the main components of SGBE, linoleic acid and ginsenoside Re/Rd, may play a role in protecting liver from $\text\tiny{D}$-GalN/LPS-induced toxicity. Finally, we concluded that SGBE may be a promising therapeutic agent for preventing damage to the liver.