This study was carried out to investigate the effects of the Cirsium japonicum var. ussuriense (C. japonicum)extract on serum level of hormones from induced osteoporosis by ovariectomized rats. Two month-old rats were ovariecto-mized (OVX), remained untreated for 8 weeks, and were subsequently administered C. japonicum (200㎎/㎏) every day for8 weeks. We examined the effects of treated C. japonicum on ovariectomy-related changes in Insulin-like Growth Factors(IGF), Insulin-like Growth Factor binding protein-3 (IGBF-3), Estrogen, Calcium, and Phosporus. After 8 weeks, the serumlevels of IGF-I, -II, and IGFBP-3 were higher presented as compared to the other two groups (P<0.05), in the C. japonicumextract treatment on OVX rats. There were differences between OVX and C. japonicum extract treated OVX rats in serumlevels of Ca2+, but Ca2+ levels for the normal group was higher than for the other two groups. The C. japonicum extractincreased both serum IGFs and IGFBP-3 levels on induced osteoporotic rat by ovariectomized. Thus, these results revealedthat the C. japonicum extract is a possible role for improvement of osteoporosis induced-ovariectomized rats and has a greatpotential as an alternative tool for the treatment of osteoporosis.

The purpose of this study was to research for anti-oxidation and anti-wrinkle effects of Acar mono Sap (AM). To cosmetic effect of AM, safety effect (MTT assay), anti-wrinkle effect (elastase, MMP-1 inhibition assay) and anti-oxidant effect (DPPH assay) were measured. When water extract of AM was used for cell viability, it was over 100% at 6% (6 ml/100 ml in phosphate buffer) concentration. AM showed 45.7% elastase inhibition and 23.7% MMP-1 inhibition at 50% (50 ml/100 ml in phosphate buffer) concentration so that it had good anti-wrinkle characteristic. And AM showed 68.9% antioxidation capacity at 50% concentration by using a DPPH assay. Consequently, AM can be used as natural materials or additives for human skin owing to their beneficial biologic functions, including the anti-wrinkle effect, for cosmetic compositions.

This study was performed to investigate the enhancement of immunomodulatory activities of Lithospermum erythrorhizon by extreme process. The extracts are WE100 (water extract for 24 hours at 100℃), WE80 (water extract for 24 hours at 80℃), EE (70% ethyl alcohol extract for 24 hours at 80℃) and EPE (extreme process for 30 minutes at 25℃, 500 MPa after 70% ethyl alcohol extracts for 3 hours at 40, 50, 60℃). Extraction yield was increased up to 5~10% by extreme process, compare to the normal extraction such as water solvent extraction, 70% ethyl alcohol solvent extraction. The cytotoxicity of the extracts was showed in the range of 12.68~15.89% at 1.0mg/ml for human lung cell (HEL299). The EPE40 was showed the lowest cytotoxicity 12.68%. The EPE60 extracted by extreme process increased the growth of human B and T cells up to 12.12×104 cells/ml and 14.88×104 cells/ml, respectively and the EPE60 greatly increased the cytokine secretion of both IL-6 and TNF-α. The extracts by extreme process also exhibited higher levels of nitric oxide production from macrophages than the lipopolysaccaharides. It can be concluded that Lithospermum erythrorhizon has immune activities and The extreme process could increase higher immune activities possibly by immunomodulatory compounds.