• The Journal of Korean Medical History
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.77-86
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• 2014

The paper describes the practice and purpose of the medical missionaries research on the traditional Chinese drugs(中藥). Searches were made using the journal of the China Medical Missionary Association. The China Medical Missionary Association established the committee of the Chinese Materia Medica in 1890. This committee aimed to research on the traditional Chinese drugs. Then why did the medical missionaries study traditional Chinese drugs? This is because the western drugs(西洋藥）was not easy to acquire, especially in land areas. Also, some western drugs have poor quality and expensive. Therefore they need to understand that Chinese drugs will help in the production of the western drugs. But from around 1920, the main purpose of the research was changed. The scientific and systematic investigation on the Chinese medicine itself became more important. And this change partly influenced that medical missionaries' views on traditional Chinese drugs.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.10
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• pp.5599-5608
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• 2013

With the high morbidity and mortality caused by cancer, finding new and more effective anti-cancer drugs is very urgent. In current research, biotransformation plays a vital role in the research and development of cancer drugs and has obtained some achievements. In this review, we have summarized four applications as follows: to exploit novel anti-cancer drugs, to improve existing anti-cancer drugs, to broaden limited anti-cancer drug resources and to investigate correlative mechanisms. Three different groups of important anti-cancer compounds were assessed to clarify the current practical applications of biotransformation in the development of anti-cancer drugs.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
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• 1998.11a
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• pp.114-117
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• 1998

Chinese traditional drugs have a long history to be used in clinics to treat various diseases and are confirmed to be effective approach through thousands of years of medical practice. Therefore, as a common understanding, the drug development from traditional Chinese medicines could be considered as a “shortcut” way with less blindness and more saving of time and money since development of new Chinese drugs has a different approach from that of western new drugs. Firstly, Chinese new drug development can be simplified as “from men to animal” process rather than “from animal to men” in western medicines. Hence the successful rate would be higher. Secondly, the original drugs or prescriptions from which the new drugs are planned to develop have been known what symptoms they are indicated for. Therefore, the developing procedure is actually a refine process with much less blindness than that of western drugs.

• The Korean Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.229-237
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• 2024

Cough is a common symptom of several respiratory diseases. However, frequent coughing from acute to chronic often causes great pain to patients. It may turn into cough variant asthma, which seriously affects people's quality of life. For cough treatment, it is dominated by over-the-counter antitussive drugs, such as asmeton, but most currently available antitussive drugs have serious side effects. Thus, there is a great need for the development of new drugs with potent cough suppressant. BALB/c mice were used to construct mice model with cough to investigate the pharmacological effects of pectolinarigenin (PEC). Hematoxylin-eosin and Masson staining were used to assess lung injury and airway remodeling, and ELISA was used to assess the level of inflammatory factor release. In addition, inflammatory cell counts were measured to assess airway inflammation. Airway hyperresponsiveness assay was used to assess respiratory resistance in mice. Finally, we used Western blotting to explore the potential mechanisms of PEC. We found that PEC could alleviate lung tissue injury and reduce the release of inflammatory factors, inhibit of cough frequency and airway wall collagen deposition in mice model with cough. Meanwhile, PEC inhibited the Ras/ERK/c-Fos pathway to exhibit antitussive effect. Therefore, PEC may be a potential drug for cough suppression.

• Plant Resources
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.75-84
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• 2001

Narcotic drugs generally refer to serious and habitual hidden rash such as opium, heroin, methyphetamin, nabinol, cocaine, and so forth. At present, narcotic drugs are spread unchecked and are causing a big social problem. So many countries and narcotists are making every effort to set up a barricade against narcotic drugs. And there is a limit suitable treatment for them. Thus Tuo Yin Tang Jiang is developed. As indicated by Chinese letters, Tuo Yin Tang Jiang(TYTJ) is a crude drug. It is a traditional chinese medicine developed by the study done from June in 1998 to June in 1999 that Hubeisheng was entrusted with by People's Republic of China. This study is a treatise on etiology and syntomatology of narcotism. TYTJ is a medicine which is in accord with Pharmacopeia of the People's Republic of Chinal) in order to remove from the body the toxic materials resulting from narcotic drugs such as opium and heroin. According to the standard diagnosis on narcotism, 105 cases are studied and treated at the Rehabilitation Center attached to Enshi Autonomous Region Hospital in Hubeisheng. 105 cases are divided into 2 groups by double-blind method. One is the experimental group which has 56 cases. The other is the control group which has 49 ones.13 cases among 105 cases are addicted by intravenously injections. 9 cases are by oral takings. It took 10 days for this experiment to be performed. Two groups didn't show a striking individual variation based on the age, gender, period of taking drugs, withdrawal symptoms, complication, and state of health. The experimental group had a higher effect of treatment than the control group had. TYTJ treats diseases effectively and has no side effect, irrespective of the serious or slight addiction to opium and morphine.

• Proceedings of the Plant Resources Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.10a
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• pp.34-51
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• 2000

Narcotic drugs generally refer to serious and habitual hidden rash such as opium, heroin, methyphetamin, nabinol, cocaine, and so forth. At present, narcotic drugs are spread unchecked and are causing a big social problem. So many countries and narcotists are making every effort to set up a barricade against narcotic drugs. And there is a limit suitable treatment for them. Thus Tuo Yin Tang hang is developed. As indicated by Chinese letters, Tuo yin Tang Jiang(TYTJ) is a crude drug. It is a traditional chinese medicine developed by the study done from lune in 1998 to lune in 1999 that Hubeisheng was entrusted with by People's Republic of China. This study is a treatise on etiology and syntomatology or narcotism. TYTJ is a medicine which is in accord with Pharmacopeia of the People's Republic of China in order to remove from the body the toxic materials resulting from narcotic drugs such as opium and heroin. According to the standard diagnosis on narcotism, 105 cases are studied and treated at the Rehabilitation Center attached to Enshi Autonomous Region Hospital in Hubeisheng. 105 cases are divided into 2 groups by double-blind method. One is the experimental group which has 56 cases. The other is the control group which has 49 ones. 13 cases among 105 cases are addicted by intravenously injections. 9 cases are by oral takings. It took 10 days for this experiment to be performed. Two groups didn't show a striking individual variation based on the age, gender, period of taking drugs, withdrawal symptoms, complication, and state of health. The experimental group had a higher effect of treatment than the control group had. TYTJ treats diseases effectively and has no side effect, irrespective of the serious or slight addiction to opium and morphine.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.205-209
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• 2003

The Korean peninsula, located between the vast Chinese mainland and Japan, has a unique cultural background that goes back five thousand years. In ancient times, the region was deeply influenced by Chinese culture, and traditional medicine in Korea was no exception. The Korean character, HAN GUL (24 alphabets), was invented at in the early 1400s by The Great King Sejong (1397-1450) of the Chosun dynasty. But few changes were made to traditional medicines for about 500 years thereafter. At the start of the 20th century, missionaries from western countries introduced new concepts and techniques of medicine. During the last century, there was enormous development in modern medical sciences. Even today, however, natural medicine -including folk medicine (or traditional Chinese medicine) - plays an important role in Korean health care. In this paper, we will review and discuss traditional Korean medicines as it has evolved over the past three thousand years.

• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.4807-4814
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• 2012

Purpose: The chemoresistance of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) to cytotoxic drugs, especially intrinsic or acquired multidrug resistance (MDR), still remains a major challenge in the management of HCC. In the present study, possible mechanisms involved in MDR of HCC were identified using a 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)-resistant human HCC cell line. Methods: BEL-7402/5-FU cells were established through continuous culturing parental BEL-7402 cells, imitating the pattern of chemotherapy clinically. Growth curves and chemosensitivity to cytotoxic drugs were determined by MTT assay. Doubling times, colony formation and adherence rates were calculated after cell counting. Morphological alteration, karyotype morphology, and untrastructure were assessed under optical and electron microscopes. The distribution in the cell cycle and drug efflux pump activity were measured by flow cytometry. Furthermore, expression of potential genes involved in MDR of BEL-7402/5-FU cells were detected by immunocytochemistry. Results: Compared to its parental cells, BEL-7402/5-FU cells had a prolonged doubling time, a lower mitotic index, colony efficiency and adhesive ability, and a decreased drug efflux pump activity. The resistant cells tended to grow in clusters and apparent changes of ultrastructures occurred. BEL-7402/5-FU cells presented with an increased proportion in S and G2/M phases with a concomitant decrease in G0/G1 phase. The MDR phenotype of BEL-7402/5-FU might be partly attributed to increased drug efflux pump activity via multidrug resistance protein 1 (MRP1), overexpression of thymidylate synthase (TS), resistance to apoptosis by augmentation of the Bcl-xl/Bax ratio, and intracellular adhesion medicated by E-cadherin (E-cad). P-glycoprotein (P-gp) might play a limited role in the MDR of BEL-7402/5-FU. Conclusion: Increased activity or expression of MRP1, Bcl-xl, TS, and E-cad appear to be involved in the MDR mechanism of BEL-7402/5-FU.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 1994

The screening of 150 Chinese drugs which are most frequently prescribed in Korean traditional medicine showed that at least 30% of the drugs affected barbiturate-induced hypnosis. This effect was mainly attributable to the alteration of drug metabolism. Phytochemical works resulted in the isolation of furanocoumarins, lignans, sesquiterpenes and saponins as drug metabolism modifiers. The structure-activity relationship is discussed.

• CELLMED
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• v.2 no.2
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• pp.18.1-18.16
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• 2012

An oncology-specific database called OncoRx (http://bit.ly/cancerRx) was previously set up in cyberspace to aid clinicians in identifying interactions of anticancer drugs (ACDs) and chemotherapy regimens with traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs). Since then, users have requested the drug-CAM interactions (DCIs) of 5 specific CAMs (cranberry, melatonin, co-enzyme Q10, huachansu, reishi mushroom) to be updated in the database. Pharmacokinetic properties (metabolism, enzyme induction/inhibition, elimination), TCM properties and DCIs of each CAM were collated with 117 ACDs using 9 hardcopy compendia and online databases as resources. Additionally, individual ACDs and CAMs were used as keywords for PubMed searches in combination with the terms 'anticancer drugs', 'drug interactions', 'herb-drug/drug-herb interactions', 'pharmacokinetic interactions' and 'pharmacodynamic interactions'. DCI parameters consisted of interaction effects, evidence summaries, proposed management plans and alternative non-interacting CAMs, together with relevant citations and update dates of the DCIs. OncoRx is also used as a case to introduce the "Four Pharmaco-cybernetic Maxims" of quality, quantity, relationship and manner to developers of digital healthcare tools. Its role in Hayne's "5S" hierarchy of research evidence is also presented. OncoRx is meant to complement existing DCI resources for clinicians and alternative medicine practitioners as an additional drug information resource that provides evidence-based DCI information for ACD-CAM interactions.