ABSTRACT. Methods to identify Pinelliae Tuber and Arisaematis Rhizoma are required because of frequent reciprocal substitution between these two herbal medicines and the existence of several closely related plant materials. As a result of the morphological similarity of dried tubers, correct discrimination of authentic herbal medicines is difficult by conventional methods. Therefore, we analyzed DNA barcode sequences to identify each herbal medicine and the common adulterants at a species level. To verify the identity of these herbal medicines, we collected five authentic species (Pinellia ternata for Pinelliae Tuber, and Arisaema amurense, A. amurense var. serratum, A. erubescens, and A. heterophyllum for Arisaematis Rhizoma) and six common adulterant plant species. Maturase K (matK) and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit (rbcL) genes were then amplified using universal primers. In comparative analyses of two DNA barcode sequences, we obtained 45 species-specific nucleotides sufficient to identify each species (except A. erubescens with matK) and 28 marker nucleotides for each species (except P. pedatisecta with rbcL). Sequence differences at corresponding positions of the two combined DNA barcodes provided genetic marker nucleotides that could be used to identify specimens of the correct species among the analyzed medicinal plants. Furthermore, we generated a phylogenetic tree showing nine distinct groups depending on the species. These results can be used to authenticate Pinelliae Tuber and Arisaematis Rhizoma from their adulterants and to identify each species. Thus, comparative analyses of plant DNA barcode sequences identified useful genetic markers for the authentication of Pinelliae Tuber and Arisaematis Rhizoma from several adulterant herbal materials.

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Abstract. Actinidia polygama has been used as a herbal folk medicine for treating pain, gout, rheumatoid arthritis and inflammation. In the present study, the anti-obesity properties of Actinidia polygama extract (APE) were investigated in mice with high-fat diet-induced obesity. APE treatment of high-fat diet (HFD)-fed obese mice significantly reduced body weight, adipose tissue mass and serum triglyceride and leptin levels relative to the HFD-fed mice. Food intake did not differ between the HFD and HFD+APE groups, although the food efficiency ratio (FER) was significantly decreased in the HFD+APE group compared with the HFD group. Histological examination showed that the sizes of the adipocytes were significantly smaller in the HFD+APE group compared with the HFD group. Serum levels of aspartate transaminase were significantly decreased in the HFD+APE mice compared with the HFD-fed mice, but serum levels of alanine transaminase (ALT), blood urea nitrogen and creatinine were not significantly changed in the HFD+APE mice compared with the levels in the normal diet (ND)-fed and HFD-fed mice. These results suggest that APE may be useful for treating metabolic diseases, including obesity and hyperlipidemia, without toxic side-effects.

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This study was conducted to find the levels of reduction in rice yield and to determine economic threshold levels as affected by densities of Scirpus planiculmis and Lindernia dubia in wet seeding rice cultivation. In wet seeding rice cultivation, yield of rice in densities of S. planiculmis (192 per m 2) and L. dubia (384 per m 2) was reduced by 43 and 22%, respectively. Relationship between rice yield and densities of weeds were predicted with these equations of Y=531.3kg/(1+0.003931x), r 2 =0.964 for S. planiculmis and Y=547.0kg/(1+0.000792x), r 2 =0.922 for L. dubia. According to Cousens' method, economic threshold densities of S. planiculmis and L. dubia were calculated by 7.2 and 34.9 per m 2 , respectively. This result indicated that yield of rice in wet seeding rice cultivation could be reduced by over economic threshold densities of S. planiculmis and L. dubia.