• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.13 no.3
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• pp.240-245
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• 1990

Asymmetric 2, 6-dimethyl-4-aryl-1, 4-dihydropyridine-3, 5-dicarboxylate with [N-(3, 4-methylenedioxybenzyl)-N-methyl] aminoethyl group as the ester moiety and related 1, 4-dihydropyridine derivatives were prepared and tested for the effects on vascular smooth muscles. 2-6-dimethyl-4-(3'-nitrophenyl)1-4-dihydropyridine-3, 5-dicarboxylic acid 3-[N-(3', 4-methylenedioxybenzyl-N-methyl] aminoethyl ester 5-methyl ester (11) and 2, 6-dimethyl-4-(3'-nitrophenyl)-1, 4-dihydropyridine-3, 5-icarboxylic acid 3-[N-2', 3'-methylenedioxybenzyl)-N-methyl] aminoethyl ester 5-ethyl ester (150 showed potent vasodilating activities $IC_{50}$($10_{-8}M$) was 2, 6 and 2.7 for 11 and 15, compared with 3.5 for nicardipine.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.65-72
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• 1985

These studies were conducted to investigate the effect of 'Inchungbaek' water extract on analgesic and sedative actions, the relaxing action of isolated ileums, vasodilating action and blood pressure. The results of these studies were summarized as follows: Analgesic and sedative actions of 'Inchungbaek' were recognized in mice and rats. The relaxing action of isolated ileums were seen in mice and rabbits, antagonist action was seen acetylcholine and $BaCl_2-induced$ contraction of isolated ileums, and then recognized direct action in the ileum smooth muscle. Hypotensive and vasodilating actions due to vascular smooth muscle relaxation were noted in rabbits and cats.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.421.3-422
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• 2002

Carvedilol is a nonselective $\beta$-adrenoblocking agent with vasodilating activities. The pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of carvedilol were studied in healthy volunteers following single oral administration. After oral administration of carvedilol 25mg. blood samples were collected for a period of 30 hours. Plasma concentrations of carvedilol were determined by HPLC with spectrofluorometric detection. The effects of carvedilol on systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) were measured during the same period. (omitted)

• Applied Biological Chemistry
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• v.51 no.2
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• pp.102-107
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• 2008

Nitric oxide (NO) is a potent antihypertensive and vasodilator which plays an important role in regulating vascular tones. In this study, we investigated the effects of adventitious root extracts of wild ginseng on NO production and NO linked physiological activities. When human endothelial cell line (ECV304) was incubated with either water extracts of wild ginseng adventitious root (WE) or aqueous fraction of butanol extracts of wild ginseng adventitious root (ABE), considerable amounts of NO were released by the cells. The level of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) expression was unchanged and about 6% of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) was inhibited with treatment of ABE. The vasodilating activities of pulmonary artery rings in response to different doses of extracts were shown as 44.8% and 91.3% in 2.5 mg/ml WE and 0.1 mg/ml ABE, respectively. The blood pressure lowering effect was observed from the oral administered spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHR) with the lowest blood pressure (154.5${\pm}$8.6 mmHg) after 8 h. The blood pressure was recovered to the initial level after 24 h.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 1998.06a
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• pp.146-159
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• 1998

A new processed ginseng with fortified activity is developed. The process comprise with the heat treatment of fresh or white ginseng at higher temperature and pressure than those used for the preparation of red ginseng. This new processed ginseng showed 7 times higher antioxidant activity and more than 30 times stronger vasodilating activity than those shown in raw ginseng. Other activities found in the new processed ginseng include cancer chemoprevention, antinephrotoxic, and antineurotoxic activities. Less polar ginsenosides isolated from processed ginseng exhibited anti-platelet aggregation activity and anti-cancer activity. Many ginsenosides were isolated from this new processed ginseng, namely 20(S)-$Rg_3$,20(R)-$Rg_3$, $Rg_5$, $Rg_6$, $F_4$, $Rh_4$,20(S)-$Rg_3$,20(R)-$Rg_3$ and $Rg_4$. In addition to these known compounds, seven new ginsenosides, named as gisenoside $Rk_1$, $Rk_2$, $Rk_3$, $Rs_4$, $Rs_5$, $Rs_6$, and $Rs_7$ were isolated. The major constituents of new processed ginseng were 20(S)-$Rg_3$,20(R)-$Rg_3$, $Rk_1$ and $Rg_5$ which are minors in red ginseng. Since the chemical constituents and biological activities of this new processed ginseng are quite different from those of white or red ginseng, we designated it as $'$sun ginseng (仙蔘)$'$.s;$.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.311-317
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• 2009

Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba) extract is a widely used phytomedicine for the oral treatment of peripheral vascular disease. Cilostazol is a synthetic antiplatelet and vasodilating agent for the treatment of intermittent claudication resulting from peripheral arterial disease. It is likely to use concomitantly G. biloba extract and cilostazol for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease, which raises a concern of increasing their adverse effects of herbal-drug interactions. To clarify any possible herbal-drug interaction between G. biloba extract and cilostazol, the effect of the G. biloba extract on the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol was investigated. As cilostazol is known to be eliminated mainly by cytochrome P450 (CYP)-mediated metabolism, we investigated the effects of G. biloba extract on the human CYP enzyme activities and the effect of G. biloba extract on the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol after co-administration of the two agents to male beagle dogs. The G. biloba extract inhibited more or less CYP2C8, CYP2C9, and CYP2C19 enzyme activities in the in vitro microsomal study with $IC_{50}$ values of 30.8, 60.5, and $25.2{\mu}g/ml$, respectively. In the pharmacokinetic study, co-administration with the G. biloba extract had no significant effect on the pharmacokinetics of cilostazol in dogs, although CYP2C has been reported to be responsible for the metabolism of cilostazol. In conclusion, these results suggest that there may not be a pharmacokinetic interaction between G. biloba extract and cilostazol.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.113-122
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• 1986

In order to investigate the pharmacological activities of the combined preparation of crude drugs, Chunghyulgangki-Tang was studied. Chunghyulgangki-Tang has been widely used to cerebral apoploxy, hypertension and arteriosclerosis, etc. In this study, water extract of Chunghyulgangki-Tang was conducted in attempt to investigate for analgesic, sedative, antipyretic, isolated ileum and heart, blood vessels and blood pressure action in mice, frogs, rats, guinea-pigs and rabbits. The following results were obtained; Analgesic action by the acetic acid stimulating method in mice was recognized. Sedative activities by the wheel cage method and rotor rod method in mice were shown. Prolonged action against the hypnotic duration induced by thiopental-Na was significantly noted in mice. The effect of antipyretic in endotoxin febrile rats was significantly recognized. Spontaneous motility of the isolated ilem of mice was suppressed and contractions of the isolated ileum of mice and guinea-pigs induced by acetylcholine chloride, barium chloride and histamine were remarkably inhibited. Acceleration of isolated heart motility was shown in frogs. Vaso-dilating and hypotensive actions were recognized in rabbits. According to the above results, effects based on the oriental medicinal references were approximate to the actural experimental results.

• Proceedings of the Ginseng society Conference
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• 2007.12a
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• pp.57-58
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• 2007

Purpose: Ginseng is a well-known medical plant used in traditional Oriental medicine. Korean red ginseng (KRG) has been known to have potent biological activities such as radical scavenging, vasodilating, anti-tumor and anti-diabetic activities. However, the mechanism of the beneficial effects of KRG on diabetes is yet to be elucidated. The present study was designed to investigate the anti-diabetic effect and mechanism of KRG extract in C57BL/KsJ db/db mice. Methods: The db/db mice were randomly divided into six groups: diabetic control group (DC), red ginseng extract low dose group (RGL, 100 mg/kg), red ginseng extract high dose group (RGH, 200 mg/kg), metformin group (MET, 300 mg/kg), glipizide group (GPZ, 15 mg/kg) and pioglitazone group (PIO, 30 mg/kg), and treated with drugs once per day for 10 weeks. During the experiment, body weight and blood glucose levels were measured once every week. At the end of treatment, we measured Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c), blood glucose, insulin, triglyceride (TG), adiponectin, leptin, non-esterified fatty acid (NEFA). Morphological analyses of liver, pancreas and white adipose tissue were done by histological observation through hematoxylin-eosin staining. Pancreatic islet insulin and glucagon levels were detected by double-immunofluorescence staining. To elucidate an action of mechanism of KRG, DNA microarray analyses were performed, and western blot and RT-PCR were conducted for validation. Results: Compared to the DC group mice, body weight gain of PIO treated group mice showed 15.2% increase, but the other group mice did not showed significant differences. Compared to the DC group, fasting blood glucose levels were decreased by 19.8% in RGL, 18.3% in RGH, 67.7% in MET, 52.3% in GPZ, 56.9% in PIO-treated group. With decreased plasma glucose levels, the insulin resistance index of the RGL-treated group was reduced by 27.7% compared to the DC group. Insulin resistance values for positive drugs were all markedly decreased by 80.8%, 41.1% and 68.9%, compared to that of DC group. HbA1c levels in RGL, RGH, MET, GPZ and PIO-treated groups were also decreased by 11.0%, 6.4%, 18.9%, 16.1% and 27.9% compared to that of DC group, and these figure revealed a similar trend shown in plasma glucose levels. Plasma TG and NEFA levels were decreased by 18.8% and 16.8%, respectively, and plasma adiponectin and leptin levels were increased by 20.6% and 12.1%, respectively, in the RGL-treated group compared to those in DC group. Histological analysis of the liver of mice treated with KRG revealed a significantly decreased number of lipid droplets compared to the DC group. The control mice exhibited definitive loss and degeneration of islet, whereas mice treated with KRG preserved islet architecture. Compared to the DC group mice, KRG resulted in significant reduction of adipocytes. From the pancreatic islet double-immunofluorescence staining, we observed KRG has increased insulin production, but decreased glucagon production. KRG treatment resulted in stimulation of AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) phosphorylation in the db/db mice liver. To elucidate mechanism of action of KRG extract, microarray analysis was conducted in the liver tissue of mice treated with KRG extract, and results suggest that red ginseng affects on hepatic expression of genes responsible for glycolysis, gluconeogenesis and fatty acid oxidation. In summary, multiple administration of KRG showed the hypoglycemic activity and improved glucose tolerance. In addition, KRG increased glucose utilization and improved insulin sensitivity through inhibition of lipogenesis and activation of fatty acid $\beta$-oxidation in the liver tissue. In view of our present data, we may suggest that KRG could provide a solid basis for the development of new anti-diabetic drug.