Possible nematicidal effects of plant extracts of 25 species uninfected by M. hapla were observed at the 5 times dilutions in all treatments and at the 10 times dilutions in Anemarrhena asphodeloides, Acorus calamus, Achyranthes japonica, Agrimonia pilosa, Dianthus chinensis, Geum aleppicum, Houttuynia cordata, Rudbeckia bicolor, Ricinus communis, Scrophularia buergeriana, Sesamum iindicum, Sedum kamtschaticum, and Sanguisorba officinalis. The 13 species plant extracts of 5 times dilutions were evaluated for the suppression effects on reducing densities of M. hapla by treating to C. lanceolata sown and transplanted later in pots. All the plant extracts showed suppressive effects on M. hapla except for A. pilosa. The suppressive effects of A. asphodeloides, A. japonica, A. calamus, D. chinensis, R. communis, and S. buergeriana were over 80%. When the selected plants had been incorporated into the soil before C. lanceolata was sown, the numbers of root galls, egg sacs and J₂ appeared lower in the treatment of 12 plant species than ill control except for S. indicum. But the suppressive effects were lower than the effects of selected plants being cultivated simultaneously in the field. A. calamus and A. japonica exhibited over 70% suppressive effects, among the tested plants.

Total 90 species of medicinal plants were surveyed to see if they have any suppressive effects on the dinsity of M. hapla at the exhibition field in the Chinan medicinal herbs experiment station. In 70 species including Achyranthes japonica, root-knot and/or egg sac of M. hapla was not found and these plants were planted in C. lanceolata field to check the degree of M. hapla infection. In 26 species including A. japonica, M. hapla infection was not observed. Simultaneously, 30 species were planted in pots to find out degree of infection by M. hapla. Dianthus chinensis, Rudbeckia bicolor, Sedum kantschaticum, Ricinus communis, Anemarrhena asphodeloides, Malva verticillata, Chelidonium majus, Sesamum indicum, Agrimonia pilosa, Geum aleppicum, Sanguisorba officinalis and Scrophularia buergeriana were free from infection. While the number of galls and density of M. hapla in soil were higher to high innoculation density, and the growth of C. lanceolata was rower.

This study was carried out in order to provide the basic information for the development of medicinal plants in Ulleung island, Korea. This area had very rich and diverse flora; 495 taxa with l05 familes, 231 genera, 418 species, 1 subspeies, 63 varieties and 13 forms. The 94 medicinal plants were distributed in Ulleung. They were composed of 10 endemic species, 22 rare species and 62 economic species respectively.

In order to study the antitumoral effect of Selaginella tamariscina extracts, the cytotoxicities to human histiocytic leukemia cells (U937) and lymphocyte were measured by MTT method. The water extract of Selaginella tamariscina was partitioned into chloroform (CHCl₃), ethylacetate (EtAc), n-butanol (BuOH) and water (H₂O), successively. CHCl₃, EtAc and BuOH fractions of Selaginella tamariscina showed the cytotoxicity to the U937 cells but they had no effect on the cytotoxicity of lymphocyte under the same conditions. The tumor-specific cytotoxicity of Selaginella tamariscina fractions might have been attributed to their genotoxic effect on actively proliferating cells. The expression of p53 tumor suppressor gene was then evaluated by northern blotting. The increased expression of p53 was induced by Selaginella ramariscina fraction V but no expression of p53 was induced by CHCl₃, EtAc, and BuOH fractions of Selaginella tamariscina. These results suggested that the increased expression of p53 induced by Selaginella tamariscina water extract (fraction V) should be required for the cytotoxicity on U937 and the other fractions of Selaginella tamariscina mediated the U937 disruption.

우리나라와 일본(日本)에서 야생 또는 재배되고 있는 약용식물(藥用植物)의 바이러스병을 조사한 결과 33종의 식물이 자연상태에서 오이 모자이크 바이러스(CMV)에 감염되어 있음을 알았다. 이들 중에서 개맨드라미(Celosia argenteia)와 쇠비름(Portulaca oleracea)의 모자이크병(가칭(假稱)), 쥐방울덩굴(Aristolochia debilis)과 번행초(Tetragonia expansa)의 괴저(壞疽)모자이크병(가칭(假稱)), basella(Basella rubra)윤문병(輪紋病)(가칭(假稱)), 석결명(Cassia torosa)과 시호(Bupleurum falcatum), 당귀(Angelica acutiloba), 구릿대(A. keiskei), 회향(Foeniculum vulgare), peucedanum(Peucedanum japanicum)의 반문병(斑紋病)(가칭(假稱))등 11종의 바이러스병명(病名)을 새로히 명명(命名)하였다.

Background : Curcumae Longae Rhizoma (薑黃) is listed in「The Korea Pharmacopoeia (K P)」as the original plant of Curcuma longa L (Zingiberaceae). Meanwhile, Zeodariae Rhizoma (莪朮) is listed in 「The Korea Pharmacopoeia (KP)」as the original plant of C. phaeocaulis, C. aromatica and C. Kwangsiensi (Zingiberaceae). Due to the morphological similarities of the dried roots of this plant to those of C. phaeocaulis, C. aromatica and C. Kwangsiensis which is used as a substitute herbal for C.longa, distinguish these four species is extremely difficult. Methods and Results : A total of 90 collected samples were used in this study, In order to clearly distinguish of Curcumae Longae Rhizoma and Zeodariae Rhizoma were analysis based on sequence of the chloroplast DNA (trnK, rbcL, trnL-F, atpB-rbcL) and nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS2). The present study aimed to analyze the percent of variable sites were provided the highest trnK (2.3%), in oder to develop a species-specific primer that can distinguish C.longa form C. phaeocaulis, C. aromatica and C. Kwangsiensis. In addition, the complete chloroplast genome of C. longa were sequenced by a 454 sequencing platform, and the structure of the obtained chloroplast genome was also analyzed. the result used that INDEL (insertion/deletion) marker for distinguish C.longa form C. phaeocaulis, C. aromatica and C. Kwangsiensis. Conclusion : The INDEL markers were developed based on the divergence of each sequence, and it is possible now to identify the four species of Curcumae Longae Rhizoma with just a single performance of PCR. This will not only prevent misused of the plant, but also to maintain the quality of the herbal medicine as well as to verify and guarantee safety for public health.

Background : The 1,2-unsaturated PAs, reported to be widely present in medicinal plants belonging to Asteraceae, Boraginaceae, and Fabaceae, cause hepatotoxicity and genotoxicity in humans and animals. Hence, there is a need for an analytical method that allows these dangerous plant toxins to be determined. In this study, we developed a method that can be used for the rapid and accurate determination of nine toxic PAs in medicinal plants using ultra-pressure liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization–quadrupole–time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF). Methods and Results : The compounds were eluted onto a C18 column with 0.1% formic acid and acetonitrile, and separated with good resolution within 11 min. all analytes was characterized by its precursor ions generated by ESI-Q-TOF and fragment ions produced by collision-induced dissociation (CID), which were used as a reliable database. The proposed analytical method was verified with reference to the ICH guidelines. The proposed UPLC-ESI-Q-TOF method was applied to four medicinal plants, and lycopsamin, echimidine, senkirkine and senecionine were detected by matching with reference standard, and additional six PAs were tentatively identified though chemical profiling. In addition, the QuEchERS method was the most efficient in comparison with methods like hot water and methanol in extraction efficiency of pyrrolizidine alkaloids. Conclusion : The our proposed method can determine PAs rapidly and accurately in medicinal plants and will be utilize as an important data for other researchers who need analytical information of PAs.

Lung cancer, the most common malignant disease worldwide, is the predominant cause of cancer deaths, particularly amongst men. Therefore, various researchers have focused on the growth inhibitory effects of medicinal plants used in traditional Korean medicine. This study aimed to investigate the growth inhibitory effects of ethanol extracts of Rubiae radix, Inulae flos, Nelumbinis receptaculum, Astilbe radix, and Lagerstroemia flos on NCI-H1229 cells. Method and Results: The viability of NCI-H1229 cells was evaluated in vitro using an MTS assay. Treatment with the ethanol extracts of the selected medicinal plants at 500 ㎍/㎖ reduced NCI-H1229 cell viability and increased apoptotic cell death and caspase-3 activation. In addition, treatment with ethanol extracts of Inulae flos and Astilbe radix increases DNA fragmentation, as measured by the TUNEL assay. Conclusions: These results indicated that ethanol extracts of Rubiae radix, Inulae flos, Nelumbinis receptaculum, Astilbe radix, and Lagerstroemia flos exhibited growth inhibitory effects, inducing apoptotic cell death, DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 activation in NCI-H1229 cells. Therefore, these medicinal plant extracts may be used in the development of natural medicines to inhibit the growth of lung cancers. However, further study is needed to determine the active ingredients of the ethanol extracts from medicinal plants that are reposible for the inhibitory effect on lung cancer cell grwoth.