Humulus japonicus (HJ) is a widely used herbal medicine for pulmonary tuberculosis, hypertension, leprosy, and venomous wounds in Asia, particularly in China. Although HJ has certain physiological activities, such as longitudinal bone growth, antioxidation and alleviation of rheumatism, its anticancer activities, other than in colorectal and ovarian cancer, are yet to be studied. In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer activity and mechanism of methanol extracts of HJ (MeHJ) against human FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. MeHJ suppressed FaDu cell viability without affecting normal cells (L929), which was demonstrated using the MTT and Live & Dead assays. Furthermore, MeHJ effectively inhibited colony formation of FaDu cells, even at non-cytotoxic concentrations, and significantly induced apoptosis through the proteolytic cleavage of caspase-9, -3, -7, poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase and through the downregulation of BCL-2 and upregulation of BAX in FaDu cells, as determined by DAPI staining, flow cytometry, and western blot analyses. Collectively, these findings suggest that the inhibitory effects of MeHJ on the growth and colony formation of oral cancer cells may be mediated by caspase- and mitochondrial-dependent apoptotic pathways in human FaDu hypopharyngeal squamous carcinoma cells. Therefore, MeHJ has the potential to be used as a natural chemotherapeutic drug against human oral cancer.

Humulus japonicus is an ornamental plant in the Cannabaceae family. Although the mode of action of Humulus japonicus is not fully understood, a strong relationship was observed between anti-inflammatory and anticancer in some types of cells. Recent studies also have shown that Humulus japonicus possesses anti-inflammatory activities and may significantly improve antioxidant potential in Raw 264.7 macrophage cells. Thus, the aim of this study was eva-luated the effect of Humulus japonicus extract on sperm motility and subsequent preimplantation developmental com-petence of the bovine embryos. After in vitro maturation, the oocytes with sperms were exposed in in vitro fertilization (IVF) medium supplemented with Humulus japonicus extract (0.01, 0.05, 0.1 μg/mL, respectively) for 1 day. In our results, exposure of IVF medium to Humulus japonicus extract did not affect sperm motility and percentage of pene-trated oocytes but ROS intensity was significantly decreased by 0.01 μg/mL compared with other groups (p< 0.05). Moreover, treatment with 0.01 μg/mL of Humulus japonicus extract was higher the frequency of blastocyst formation than the any other groups (p<0.05). Otherwise, treatment with 0.01 μg/mL of Humulus japonicus extract not increased the total cell number but reduced apoptotic-positive nuclei number. In conclusion, our results indicate that supple-mentation of Humulus japonicus extract in IVF medium may have important implications for improving early embryo-nic development in bovine embryos

To evaluate the antioxidant and potential of Humulus japonicus, total polyphenol and flavonoid content, radical scavenging activities, and antitumor activities were measured. The total polyphenol and flavonoid contents of the methanol extracts from Humulus japonicus were 30.13±1.13 and 13.61±0.49 ㎎ gallic acid equivalent/g extract, respectively. DPPH radical and hydroxyl radical scavenging activities of methanol extracts of Humulus japonicus were 60% and 35%, respectively. The Humulus japonicus higher activities of anticancer activities on liver cancer cell lines compared to other cancer cell lines.

우리 나라에서 자생하고 있는 식물중 기능성식품원료로 이용 가능성이 높은 쑥, 한삼덩굴, 돌외의 주년생산과 우량계통 선발을 위한 기초자료를 얻고자 이들에 대한 수집종간 및 재배방법간의 재배학적 특성과 성분을 분석(分析)하였던 바 얻어진 주요 결과는 다음과 같다. 1. 쑥의 생산량(건초량)은 수원에서 수집한 뺑쑥에서 제일 많았으나 정유함양(精油含量)은 음성에서 수집한 약쑥과 음성에서 수집한 쑥은 각각 0.15%, 옹진에서 수집한 쑥은 0.12%, 뺑쑥은 0.09%이었다. 2. 돌외의 수량은 관행재배에 비해 지주(支柱)를 세워 덩굴손이 지주를 감아 신장시킨 재배에서 48% 많았고, 돌외의 지상부에서는 rutin이 함유되어 있는 것으로 나타났다. 3. 환삼덩굴의 수량은 계룡상에서 수집한 종이 음성에서 수집한 종에 비해 12% 많았고, 환삼덩굴의 지상부에서 phenol성(性) 성분인 isoquercitrin이 함유되어 있는 것이 정성적으로 확인되었다.