Melia azedarach is commonly used in traditional and folk medicine in Korea and China to treat a variety of diseases including diarrheal, diabetic, rheumatic, and hypertensive disease. The aim of this study was to determine the potential prophylactic and therapeutic effects of Melia azedarach against a broad spectrum of viruses in in vitro cell culture model and the protective effect against different influenza A subtypes in BALB/c mice model. An effective dose of pre-treatment, co-treatment, and post-treatment of Melia azedarach significantly reduced the replication of coxsackievirus, herpes simplex virus, influenza A virus, enterovirus, and bovine rhinovirus in both epithelial and macrophage cell lines. Melia azedarach treatment remarkably promoted the phosphorylation of the key molecules associated with the type-1 interferon and NF-κB signaling pathways. Furthermore, it induced the secretion of type-1 interferon and pro-inflammatory cytokines and the subsequent stimulation of the antiviral state in both epithelial and macrophage cells. Interestingly, oral inoculation of an effective dose of herb extract significantly improved viral clearance in the lungs of BALB/c mice, thus exhibiting protection against several subtypes of influenza A virus. Together with our results indicate that an extracts of Melia azedarach and its components could exhibit a potential natural source of an antiviral drug candidate for a broad spectrum of viruses in animal and humans.

본 연구는 식 약용 등 여러 방면에서 활용성이 높은 멀구슬나무 종자의 저장방법, 온도조건 및 전처리에 따른 발아특성을 구명하고자 하였다. 종자 저장방법 중에서는 노천매장 조건에서 가장 높은 발아율을 나타내어 난저장성 종자로 추정되었다. 적정 발아온도 조건은 35℃로 나타났으며, 항온조건 보다는 변온조건이 발아에 더 효과적이었다. 또한, 종피파상 및 발아촉진제를 처리한 결과, 파상처리 및 GA3 100 ppm 및 KNO3 1.0% 처리시 발아특성이 증진되었다. 이상의 결과로 보아 난저장성인 멀구슬나무 종자는 변온처리 및 파상처리와 발아촉진제 처리에 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났으나 저장방법, 온도조건 및 전처리의 복합처리에 대한 발아특성이 구명되지 않았으므로 이들의 복합처리에 따른 결과를 도출하여 묘목생산시 활용하여야 할 것이다.

In the present study, the anti-cancer activity of 80% ethanol extracts from 120 kinds of medicinal herbs and native plants were investigated. Among them, the barks of Melia azedarach L. var. japonica Makino showed the highest cytotoxicity in HCT-15 human colon cancer cell. With this result, we carried out hollow fiber (HF) assay and anti-metastasis study to confirm the anti-cancer effects of M. azedarach var. japonica. In MTT assay, M. azedarach var. japonica.inhibited the proliferation of HCT-15 cells in dose-dependent manner. HF assay was carried out using A549 human adenocarcinoma cell, HCT-15 and SK-Hep1 human liver cancer cell via intraperitoneal (IP) and subcutaneous (SC) site. As a results, SK-Hep1 implanted in IP site showed the highest cytotoxicity. The result from metastatic model using B16/BL6 mouse corresponded to that of HF assay. These results suggest that the ethanol extract from M. azedarach var. japonica. might have a potent anti-cancer activity and advanced study is needed for the development of novel natural anti-cancer drug.

In vitro-grown axillary buds of Melia aredarach were successfully cryopreserved by vitrification. On the MS medium supplemented with BA 1 mg/L, multiple shoots were developed within 4~5 weeks. Plantlets of Melia azedarach were cold-hardened at 10℃ for a 16-hr photo-period for 6 weeks. Excised axillary shoot-tips from hardened plantlets were precultured on a solidified Murashige & Skoog agar medium (MS) supplemented with 0.7 M sucrose for 1 day at 25℃. Axillary shoot-tip meristems wert dehydrated using a highly concentrated vitrification solution (PVS2) for 60 min at 0℃ prior to a direct plunge into liquid nitrogen (LN). The PVS2 vitrification solution consisted of 30% glycerol (w/v), 15% ethylene glycol (w/v), 15% DMSO (w/v) in MS medium containing 0.4M sucrose. After short-term warming in a water bath at 40℃, the meristems were transferred into 2 ml of MS medium containing 1.2M sucrose for 15 min and then planted on solidified MS culture medium. Successfully vitrified and warmed meristems resumed growth within 2 weeks and directly developed shoots without intermediary callus formation. The survival rate of cold-hardened plantlets for 3 and 4 weeks was 90%. We did not find any difference in PCR-band patterns between control and cryopreserved plants. This method appears to be a promising technique for cryopreserving axillary shoot-tips from in vitro-grown plantlets of Medicinal plants.