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.

Background : This study was conducted to select candidates from among plant resources with the potential to improve Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common form of dementia. AD has been linked to a deficiency in the brain neurotransmitter acetylcholine (ACh), and is also correlated with cholinergic system abnormalities coupled with progressive cognitive impairment and altered behavior. The activity of ACh in the brain is terminated by the hydrolysis action of cholinesterase (ChEs). An inhibitor of these enzymes could contribute to improving the level of ACh and to augmenting the activity of surviving cholinergic neurons in patients with AD. Methods and Results : Plant extracts were prepared by solvent extraction and tested for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) inhibitory activity by using the Ellman colorimetric method. One hundred and eighty-four extracts at a final concentration of 100 ㎍/㎖ were preliminarily screened for their AChE inhibition capacity. From the experiment, the AChE inhibitory activity of five extracts including a methanol extract of Coptis chinensis (rhizome), a methanol extract of Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn (stamen/ovary), a methanol extract of Persicaria tinctoria H.GROSS (flower), and both a methanol extract and a water extract of Phellaodendron amurense Rupr (bark) showed comparatively higher AChE inhibitory effects, ranging from 38.3 to 63.1%, than other extracts. The five selected extracts were retested for their AChE inhibition activity at final concentrations of 25, 50, 100, and 200 ㎍/㎖, and compared with tacrine (0.1 ㎍/㎖) as the positive control. In the experiment, the five extracts effectively inhibited AChE at each of the set concentrations. Conclusion : The results of this study indicate that the five plant extracts mentioned above could be utilized as candidates for improving the ACh level and for ameliorating AD.

Background : Several members of the genus Clausena have a great potential as a candidate for the identification of new drug lead molecules, but lack of their genomic information can be a hindrance for the verification of the genetic background for future use. To broaden and delve into the genomic features of this genus, Clausena excavata, an important medicinal plant in many Asian countries, was used for RNA-seq analysis. Methods and Results : A ten ㎍ of the total RNA was used for mRNA isolation using oligo-dT beads and random sheared mRNAs were used to prepare a cDNA library for a illumina hiseq 2500 analysis. In total, 17,580,456 trimmed clear reads from the illumina hiseq 2500 were used for de novo assembly using three assemblers, CLC genomics workbench, velvet-oases, and Trinity. A total of 16,638 non-redundant unigenes with an average length of 755 bp were generated by the assembly. The functional categorization of the identified unigenes by a gene ontology (GO) term resulted in 2,305 genes in the cellular component, 5,577 in the biological processes, and 8,056 in the molecular functions, respectively. The top sub-category in biological processes was the metabolic process with 4,374 genes. Among annotated genes, 3,006 were mapped to 123 metabolic pathways by KEGG metabolic pathway analysis tool. The search for simple sequence repeats (SSRs) resulted in 845 SSRs from 749 SSR-containing unigenes and the most abundant SSR motifs was AAG/CTT with 179 occurrences. Twelve SSR markers were tested for cross transferability among five Clausena species; eight of them exhibited polymorphism. Conclusion : In the present study, genomic resources of the genus Clausena were enriched through RNA-seq and SSR markers, which will serve as valuable resources for genomic/genetic studies of the genus Clausena and close relatives.

Background: Allergic diseases like such as atopic dermatitis, asthma, and rhinitis have recently increased both domestically and globally. The present study was undertaken to select candidates with anti-allergic activity from plant resources. Methods and Results: Fifty-six plant extracts at 20㎍/㎖ were screened against β-hexosaminidase production and interleukin (IL)- 4 release in degranulated rat basophilic leukemia (RBL)-2H3 cells. The anti-allergy activity of three plant extracts selected from the preliminary screening experiment, Polygonatum sibiricum F. Delaroche (root), Pyrus pytifolia var. culta (Makino) Nakai (leaf), and Rehmannia glutinosa (Gaertn.) Libosch. ex Steud (root) were measured at concentrations of 2 - 250㎍/㎖ in three cell lines as RBL- 2H3, HaCaT and Jurkcat T cells. The assay showed the root extract of R. glutinosa to have an inhibitory activity of 4.2% - 28.6% on β-hexosaminidase production from IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. Each extract of P. sibiricum and R. glutinosa reduced IL-4 release in IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells, respectively. The leaf extract of P. pyrifolia var. culta showed a significantly potent suppressive effect of 10.2% - 74.7% on the mRNA expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in HaCaT cells sensitized with TNF-a and INF-g, and showed inhibitory effect of –8.6% - 90.9% on the mRNA expression of IL-2 in Jurkat T cells sensitized with PMA and A23187. Conclusions: The results showed that the root of R. glutinosa and leaf of P. pyrifolia var. culta could be useful candidates as antiallergy materials.

This study was carried out to investigate the vascular plants of Mt. Nochu (1,322m) from April, 2014 to October, 2015. The vascular plants were summarized as 515 taxa, including 89 families, 304 genera, 448 species, 4 subspecies, 57 varieties and 6 forms. Among the investigated 515 taxa, 11 Korean endemic plants and 14 rare and endangered plants were included. The floristic regional indicator plants found in this area were 11 taxa of grade IV, 30 taxa of grade III. Naturalized plants consisted of 24 taxa that made up 4.6% of the total vascular plants in this area. Medicinal plants of the Korean Pharmacopoeia and Korean Herbal Pharmacopoeia distributed in this area consisted of 67 taxa.

Background : Allergy is a common disease caused by type I hypersensitivity reaction of the immune system. Unfortunately, there is no proper treatment for allergy. Therefore, the discovery of therapeutic drugs for allergy is essential. In this study, the crude extracts of 56 plant parts were screened for anti-allergy effects in RBL-2H3 cells. Methods and Results : IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells were individually treated with 56 extracts of medicinal herbs at the final concentration of 20 ㎍/㎖ and stimulated with the antigen DNP-BSA. β-Hexosaminidase release, interleukin-4 (IL-4) secretion, and cell viability in the sample treated cells were measured. Among the tested samples, extracts from the root of Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim., aerial part of Acer triflorum Kom., and leaf of Pyrus pyrifolia var. culta (Makino) Nakai showed inhibitory effects on β-hexosaminidase release. The aerial part of Peucedanum japonicum Thunberg and seed of Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. showed suppressive activities on IL-4 secretion. All of the extracts were not cytotoxic at the tested concentration. Conclusion : From the result, six extracts including Polygonatum stenophyllum Maxim. (root) and Acer triflorum Kom. (aerial part) inhibited both β-hexosaminidase release and IL-4 secretion in IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells. The use of these extracts for developing anti-allergy materials is suggested.

The HWND_G02 (Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, Crataegus pinnatifida, Polygonum multiflorum Thunberg, Cnidium officinale Makino) and HWND_G03 (Cinnamonum cassia Blume, Salvia miltiorrhiza Bunge, Crataegus pinnatifida, Polygonum multiflorum Thunberg, Cnidium officinale Makino, Allium macrostemon Bunge) are new natural mixture composed with several oriental herbs. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of HWND extracts on high cholesterol diet (HCD)-induced hyperlipidemic rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into five groups: control, HCD, atorvastatin (5 ㎎/㎏, po), ethanolic extracts of HWND_G02 (1,000 ㎎/㎏, po) and HWND_G03 (1,000 ㎎/㎏, po) were administered to the HCD-induced hyperlipidemic rats for 4 weeks to evaluate their anti-hyperlipidemic activities. HWND extracts markedly decreased body and liver wight gain, and recovered serum lipid levels, such as total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C) in the HCDinduced hyperlipidemic rats. Furthermore, the lipid levels (TC and TG) and the lipid accumulation were significantly lowered in the liver tissue of HWND-administrated rats. After a HCD, each group had a lower atherogenic index (AI) compared to the HCD group. In conclusion, these data suggest that HWND extracts could be the candidate for the material to prevent hyperlipidemia.

본 연구는 반추위 메탄저감용 약용식물 첨가제 개발을 위해 유산균을 이용하여 발효한 두충 및 감초 추출물의 항균활성, 항산화활성 및 in vitro 반추위 발효시험을 실시하였다. 발효 약용식물 추출물 제조를 위해 접종된 종균의 성장효율을 조사하기 위해 실시한 생균수 측정 결과 L. curvatus NJ40, L. brevis NJ42 및 L. plantarum NJ45가 두충과 감초 모두에서 유의적으로 높은 균주 성장을 나타냈다(p<0.05). 항균활성측정 결과는 두충과 감초 추출물에서 공통적으로 L. curvatus NJ40 및 L. plantarum NJ45 로 발효한 추출물이 일부 병원균에 대한 항균효과를 나타내는 것으로 조사되었다. In vitro 반추위 발효시험에서 두충 및 감초 발효 추출물을 적용한 결과, 감초 추출물에서 메탄 저감효과가 나타났다. 특히 반추위내 미생물 발효 특성을 대표할 수 있는 휘발성지방산 생성효율을 향상 시키면서, 전반적 반추위 발효에 부정적 영향이 없는 것으로 나타났다.

국내 식물자원 및 약용식물들의 식물 생장촉진 효과를 조사하기 위하여 64종 65점의 추출물 시료를 조제하여 벼(Oryza sativa) 유묘 생장에 미치는 영향을 평가하였다. 그 결과, 11종 12점의 쑥(Artemisia princeps) 경엽, 엉겅퀴(Cirsium japonicum var. maackii) 전초, 진달래(Rhododendron mucronulatum) 가지와 잎, 갈대(Phragmites communis) 줄기, 율무(Coix lacrymajobi var. mayuen) 전초, 싸리(Lespedeza bicolor) 가지와 잎, 산수국(Hydrangea serrata f. acuminata) 전초, 속단(Phlomis umbrosa) 전초, 감초(Glycyrrhiza uralensis) 근경, 감초(G. uralensis) 경엽, 당귀(Angelica gigas) 뿌리 및 천궁(Cnidium officinale) 근경 추출물은 벼 유묘 생장을 촉진시키는 것으로 나타났다. 본 결과에 따라 상기 식물 종의 부위들은 식물 생장 촉진용 농가 자가제조 액비 개발을 위한 소재로써 활용가능성이 있는 것으로 판명되었다.