• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.208-212
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• 2009

The heartwood of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (Anacardiaceae) is widely used for a medicinal plant to treat diabetes mellitus and lingering intoxication in the folkloric society of Korea, while the stem bark has been traditionally used to treat menstrual disorder and helminthiasis. We previously reported that a flavonoid, fustin, isolated from the heartwood of R. verniciflua is effective in Alzheimer‘s disease and rheumatoid arthritis. To explore the possibility to produce more flavonoid-rich fraction from this plant, the MeOH extracts from the plant parts of stem bark, outer heartwood, and inner heartwood were quantitatively analyzed by HPLC. Phenolic or flavonoid compounds (chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, sulfuretin, fustin, fisetin, luteolin and astragalin) were detectable in the HPLC chromatogram. The orange-colored inner heartwood was found to contain the highest levels of fustin (16.96 mg/g) and sulfuretin (2.22 mg/g). Moreover, the inner heartwood accumulated fustin and sulfuretin at least 4-fold higher level as compared to the stem bark and outer heartwood. The levels of total phenolic compounds positively correlated with the extents of antioxidant properties. Therefore, the inner heartwood of R. verniciflua could be used to increase fustin concentration of the extract which is capable of treating Alzheimer‘s disease and rheumatoid arthritis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.332-339
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• 2002

The pathogenesis of cholestatic liver injury as well as the modulation of hepatic fibrogenesis is causally associated with involvement of reactive oxygen species and free radical reactions. In this study, we investigated whether flavonoids (fustin, sulfuretin) which were isolated from Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RCS) have antioxidant and antihepatotoxicity effect under the biliary liver fibrosis condition. After surgery (control) and posttreated RCS methanol extract (250mg/kg), ethyl acetate extract (250mg/kg) and flavonoids were administered p.o. 10mg/kg/day in two weeks for control groups. The concentration of clinical parameters and product of hepatic lipid peroxidation and the hydroxyproline content were significantly increased in liver fibrosis developed rats. Among the clinical parameters of serum, value of ALT, AST, SDH, total bilirubin and ${\gamma}$ -GT in posttreated RCS components-group showed significantly lower than in control-group. The content of hydroxyproline in posttreated RCS components-group showed lower than in control group and then the value of MDA in posttreated RCS components-group was also significantly reduced to 40~60% of that in control group. The hepatic xanthine oxidase and aldehyde oxidate activities were posttreated RCS components-group showed significantly lower than in control-group. The hepatic SOD and glutathione peroxidase activities were posttreated RCS components-group showed significantly higher than in control-group. Hence we concluded that active components of fustin and sulfuretin which were isolated from R. verniciflua Stokes were hepatoprotective effect in experimental liver fibrosis.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.13 no.6
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• pp.775-781
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• 2003

In this study, we investigated to elevate the modulatory effect of flavonoid(fustin, sulfuretin, 10 mg/kg) which was isolated from Rhus verniciflua Stokes(RVS) in male Sprague-Dawley rats for 2 weeks on the toxicity of paraquat. In the flavonoids pretreated groups, glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, glutamic pyruvic transaminase, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, malondialdehyde and alkaline phosphatase activity in serum and malondialdehyde, alkaline phosphatase activity and collagen in lung tissue which was induced paraquat toxicity were slightly decrease compared to the normal group. In the lung tissue of flavonoids pretreated groups, malodialdehyde value, G-6-phosphatase activity and collagen synthesis were recovered to tile normal values and alkaline phosphatase activity was increased. From these results, we concluded that flavonoids which were isolated from RVS is an effective agent to inhibit the pulmonary and internal toxicities and hence we concluded that acitive components of fustin and sulfuretin which were isolated from RVS might be removed free radicals induced by paraquat.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.1
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• pp.97-103
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• 2015

This study investigated changes in phenolic contents of different parts of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RV) according to extraction conditions. Bark and xylem parts of RV were extracted at 80, 100, 120, 140, and $160^{\circ}C$ for 1, 3, and 5 h, respectively. Major phenolic compounds (gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, fustin, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein) of RV were analyzed. The gallic acid, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein contents significantly increased as extraction temperature increased. Protocatechuic acid and fustin contents increased as increasing extraction temperature to $120^{\circ}C$ and decreased afterward. The gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, and butein contents of bark were higher than those of xylem extracts. The optimal extraction conditions of gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, fustin, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein were $160^{\circ}C/3h$ (380.22 mg%), $120^{\circ}C/1h$ (9.25 mg%), $100^{\circ}C/3h$ (206.97 mg%), $140^{\circ}C/5h$ (93.84 mg%), $140^{\circ}C/5h$ (16.07 mg%) and $160^{\circ}C/5h$ (1.49 mg%), respectively. These results suggest that the optimum extraction temperature and time considering RV extraction yield and cost are $140^{\circ}C$ and 3 h, respectively.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.74-79
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• 2004

Dietary flavonoids are currently receiving considerable attention in developing novel cancer-preventive approaches because of their potential capacities to actively induce apoptosis of cancer cells. In our previous report, a flavonoid fraction, which consisted mainly of protocatechuic acid, fustin, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein and named RCMF (RVS chloroform-methanol fraction), was prepared from a crude acetone extract of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) that is traditionally used as food additive and herbal medicine. In this study, we evaluated the effects of the RCMF on cell proliferation and apoptosis using SV40-transformed tumorigenic hepatocytes, BNL SV A.8. Tritium uptake assay showing the proliferative capacity of the cells was strongly suppressed in the presence of RCMF. This anti-proliferative effect was further confirmed through trypan blue exclusion. RCMF-mediated suppression of cell growth was verified to be apoptotic, based on the increase in DNA fragmentation, low fluorescence intensity in nuclei after propidium iodide staining, and the appearance of DNA laddering. Collectively, this study demonstrated that RCMF can be approached as a potential agent that is capable of significantly inhibiting cell growth of hepatic cancer cells.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.47 no.2
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• pp.158-163
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• 2015

Fustin comprised >98 and 73.0-86.7% of the total flavonoid content in the bark, and the stems and lignum of Rhus verniciflua, respectively. The butein, fisetin, and sulfuretin content varied between 0.31-2.17, 0.27-3.32, and 0.15-0.80 mg/g on a dry weight basis, respectively, in different parts of Rhus verniciflua. The urushiol content was 5.09-6.29, 55.05-56.30, and 0.38-0.39 mg/100 g on a dry weight basis in the stems, bark, and lignum, respectively. This showed that the bark of the tree had the highest urushiol content. C15:3 (pentadecatrienyl catechol), C15:1 (pentadecenyl catechol), and C15:2 (pentadecadienyl catechol) comprised 63, 33-35, and 2-3% of urushiol congeners in the tree bark, respectively.

• Journal of the Korean Wood Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.51-57
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• 2002

Antimicrobial and antioxidative activites on heartwood extractives of domestic species were investigated to develop a natural fungicide or preservative. One steroid, stilbene derivatives and two flavonoids were isolated from heartwood of Robinia pseudo-acacia which has been selected due to its high antioxidative activity among the tested species. The structures were determinded as: 3-𝛽-stigmast-5-en-3-ol(daucosterol), 3,3'4,5-tetrahydroxystilbene, 3,3'4'5,7-pentahydroxyflavone(robinetin) and 3,3'4'7-tetrahydroxyflavanone(fustin) respectively on the basis of spectroscopic data and chemical correlations. According to the results of free radical scavenging activity, 3,3'4'5,7-pentahydroxyflavone was evaluated as the highest antioxidative compound among the four compounds and showed higher radical scavenging activity than those of 𝛼-tocopherol and butylated hydroxytoluene(BHT), one of the strongest synthetic antioxidants. 3,3'4'5-Tetrahydroxystilbene and 3,3'4'7-tetrahydroxyflavanone showed higher antioxidative activities than that of 𝛼-tocopherol. However, 3-𝛽-stigmast-5-en-3-ol did not show free radical scavenging activity. In this regard, it could inferred that high antioxidative activity of extractives of R. pseudo-acacia was derived from 3,3'4'5'7-pentahydroxyflavone, 3,3'4'5-tetrahydroxystilbene and 3,3'4'7-tetrahydroxyflavanone.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.10 no.6
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• pp.296-301
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• 2004

Previously, a flavonoid fraction, which consisted mainly of protocatechuic acid, fustin, fisetin, sulfuretin, and butein, here named RCMF $({\underline{R}}VS\;{\underline{c}}hloroform-{\underline{m}}ethanol\;{\underline{f}}raction)$, was prepared from a crude acetone extract of Rhus verniciflua Stokes (RVS) which is traditionally used as a food additive and as an herbal medicine. In this study, we evaluated the effects of RCMF on the antioxidant defense system using embryonic normal hepatic cell line (BNL CL.2) and its SV40-mediated transformed cell line (BNL SV A.8). This study demonstrates that RCMF selectively stimulated the antioxidant defense system of normal cells, as BNL CL.2 cells proved to be more sensitive to RCMF-mediated increases of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione, and glutathione reductase than BNL SV A.8 cells. In particular, RCMF caused a significant increase in the malonaldehyde content of BNL SV A.8 cells, which is believed to be closely associated with cytotoxicity of RCMF and RCMF-mediated growth inhibition. Collectively, our findings suggest that the flavonoid fraction, RCMF, selectively stimulates the antioxidant defense system in normal rather than hepatic tumor cells.

• Journal of Korean Traditional Oncology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.31-39
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• 2006

Rhus Verniciflua Stokes has been used for long history to treat blood stasis and cancer in Oriental Medicine. But urushiol, a constituent of Rhus Verniciflua Stokes has T-cell mediated allergic reaction, so it has made clinical limitation. Nexia is allergen removed extract of Rhus Verniciflua Stokes and its extraction process as well as quality control is needed to be standardized. The optimized extraction condition is as follow; temperature is $90{\sim}95^{\circ}C$, volume of slovent 10 times, extraction time >6 hours, pressure $, slovnet water or EtOH(60%), yield 8.1${\sim}$9.8(w/w). HPLC pattern and isolation study showed Nexia contain fisetin(>13.0%), fustin(>7.0%) and no urushiol.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.347-352
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• 2002

The present study was undertaken to evaluate the anti-rheumatoidal arthritis effect of the R. verniciflua heartwood extract, its EtOAc fraction, and its primary flavonoids, sulfuretin and fustin. All test samples showed variably significant inhibitory effects on hind paw edema and trypsin inhibitor activity induced by Freund's complete adjuvant reagent (FCA reagent), and on vascular permeability caused by acetic acid. Treatment with 10 mg/kg (i.p.) sulfuretin for seven days inhibited edema formation by 54.2$\pm$3.0%. Test samples, especially sulfuretin, shifted the values of biochemical parameters such as serum-cholesterol, serum-triglyceride and serum-total protein toward the normal and restored the numbers of leucocytes and platelets. These results suggest that the heartwood of R. verniciflua reduces immunological injuries caused by FCA reagent provides evidence that suluretin is an active anti-rheumatoid arthritis agent.