BackgroundAtopic dermatitis is a chronic, allergic inflammatory skin disease that is accompanied by markedly increased levels of inflammatory cells, including eosinophils, mast cells, and T cells. Arctium lappa L. is a traditional medicine in Asia. This study examined whether a butanol extract of A. lappa (ALBE) had previously unreported anti-allergic or anti-inflammatory effects.MethodsThis study examined the effect of ALBE on the release of β-hexosaminidase in antigen-stimulated-RBL-2H3 cells. We also evaluated the ConA-induced expression of IL-4, IL-5, mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and nuclear factor (NF)-κB using RT-PCR, Western blotting, and ELISA in mouse splenocytes after ALBE treatment.ResultsWe observed significant inhibition of β-hexosaminidase release in RBL-2H3 cells and suppressed mRNA expression and protein secretion of IL-4 and IL-5 induced by ConA-treated primary murine splenocytes after ALBE treatment. Additionally, ALBE (100 μg/mL) suppressed not only the transcriptional activation of NF-κB, but also the phosphorylation of MAPKs in ConA-treated primary splenocytes.ConclusionsThese results suggest that ALBE inhibits the expression of IL-4 and IL-5 by downregulating MAPKs and NF-κB activation in ConA-treated splenocytes and supports the hypothesis that ALBE may have beneficial effects in the treatment of allergic diseases, including atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an allergic, inflammatory skin disease characterized by chronic eczema and mechanical injury to the skin, caused by scratching. Korean red ginseng (RG) has diverse biological activities, but the molecular effects of RG on allergic diseases, like AD, are unclear. The present study was designed to investigate whether RG inhibits 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene (DNCB)-induced AD in a mouse model. DNCB was applied topically on the dorsal surface of Balb/c mice to induce AD-like skin lesions. We observed the scratching behavior and examined the serum IgE level and interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-10 in splenocytes compared with dexamethasone. We also evaluated the DNCB-induced mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), NF-κB, and Ikaros activities after RG treatment using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction, Western blotting, and ELISA. Our data showed that the topical application of RG significantly improved the AD-like skin lesions and scratching behavior. RG decreased not only the mRNA expression of IL-4 and IL-10, but also the secretion of IL-4 protein and serum IgE in mice. Additionally, RG treatment decreased the DNCB-induced MAPKs activity and subsequent Ikaros translocation irrespective of NF-κB. We suggest that RG may be useful as a therapeutic nutrition for the treatment of AD.

The comparative immunomodulatory effects of β-glucans isolated from mushroom fungi (Coriolus versicol), yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and bacteria (Agrobacterium) on the major functions of macrophages were evaluated. As parameters of macrophage functions, we examined tumoricidal activity, phagocytosis, nitric oxide (NO) production, and the induction of inducible NO synthetase (iNOS) in RAW264.7 cells, following treatments with β-glucans from the three different sources. The results indicated that all β-glucan treatments significantly induced tumoricidal activity in the RAW264.7 cells, with a remarkable effect shown by the beta-glucan from Agrobacterium at a concentration of 10 µg/mL. There was also a significant increase in iNOS-NO system activity in macrophages treated with β-glucans extracted from yeast; however, iNOS-NO system activity was not markedly changed by the treatment of β-glucans from C. versicolor mushroom fungi or Agrobacterium. Furthermore, the βglucans from C. versicolor had a significant phagocytotic effect at concentrations of 1, 10, and 100 µg/mL. Taken together, the present data suggest that these β-glucans, isolated from three different sources, have different effects on macrophage function, and therefore, may have different clinical uses in different for various types of diseases.

It has been reported that Astragalus membranaceus, an Asian traditional herb, has an estrogenic effect in vitro. To examine the possible role of A. membranaceus extract with supplemental calcium (Ca) on bone status in calcium-deficient (LCa) ovariectomized (OVX) rats, a total of 48 female rats were divided into six groups: (1) normal control, (2) sham operation with LCa (sham-LCa), (3) OVX with LCa (OVX-LCa), (4) A. membranaceus supplementation with OVX-LCa (OVX-MLCa), (5) Ca supplementation with OVX (OVX-Ca), and (6) A. membranaceus and Ca supplementation with OVX (OVX-MCa). A. membranaceus ethanol extract (500 mg/kg BW) and/or Ca (800 mg/kg BW) were administered orally for 8 weeks along with a Ca-deficient diet. Results revealed that Ca supplementation with or without A. membranaceus extract significantly improved bone mineral density, biomechanical strength, and ash weight of the femur and tibia in OVX rats. High Ca with A. membranaceus combination supplementation significantly increased the ash weight of the femur and tibia and decreased urinary Ca excretion compared with supplementation of Ca alone. Uterine weight was not changed by A. membranaceus administration in OVX rats. These results suggest that A. membranaceus extract combined with supplemental Ca may be more protective against the Ca loss of bone than A. membranaceus or supplementation of Ca alone in calcium-insufficient postmenopausal women.

Six lignans including two new lignans were obtained as the principal components of the Forsythia koreana flowers via silica gel (SiO ), octadecyl SiO (ODS) as well as Sephadex LH-20 column chromatography. In addition to two new lignans, named koreanaside A ((7R,8S,7'R,8'S)-7,7'-diepoxy-5'-hydroxy-3,3'-dimethoxylignan 4-O-β-d-glucopyranoside) and koreanaside B ((7R,8S,7'S,8'R)-7,9'-epoxy-9,5',7'-trihydroxy-3,3'-dimethoxylignan 4-O-β-d-glucopyranoside), four known lignans were identified to be (+)-phylligenin, (-)-epipinoresinol, pinoresinol, and tinosposide A. The structures and absolute configurations of koreanasides A and B were established by means of analysis of spectroscopic data (NMR, IR, FAB-MS, and CD), whereas the structures of known lignans were identified by comparison their NMR and MS values with those in the reported literature. Their chemical structures including configuration were established by means of analysis of spectroscopic data (NMR, IR, FAB-MS, and CD) but also comparison of their NMR and MS values with those in the reported literature. This is the first article for isolation of six lignans of F. koreana flowers. Koreanasides A and B showed high radical scavenging activity with oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) values of 0.97 ± 0.01 and 1.02 ± 0.01, respectively. Koreanaside A also prohibited expressing VCAM-1 in MOVAS cells with 80.5% at 25 mg/mL.

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-In the present study, the anti-oxidative properties of 80% ethanol extracts from 140 kinds of natural plants were investigated. Persicaria perfoliata had the highest anti-oxidative relative potency(VitaminE, ORACPE=1.0), followed by Sorbaria sorbifolia var. stellipila, Rosa multiflora, Lysimachia vulgaris var. davurica, Quercus aliena, Quercus mongolica and Lespedeza bicolor (ORACPE ≥ 1.50). Among them, the anti-oxidative activity values of the n-hexane, CH2Cl2, EtOAc, n-BuOH, and water fractions of the 80% EtOH extracts of P. perfoliata and S. sorbifolia in the ORAC assay system were 1.13 ± 0.002, 1.10 ± 0.004, 3.67 ± 0.232, 1.62 ± 0.049 and 1.05 ± 0.003; 1.02 ± 0.007, 1.00 ± 0.016, 2.94 ± 0.130, 1.80 ± 0.019 and 1.04 ± 0.012, respectively, with marked anti-oxidative activity in the ethyl acetate fraction from selected the 2 plant extracts. 연구논문 Key words -

Coriolus versicolor (known as "Yun Zhi"), a mushroom fungus of the Basidiomycetes family, has been used in Asia for the prevention of infectious diseases and in the United States as a dietary supplement for surgery, chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and rehabilitation (Kidd, 2000;Ho et al., 2005). These mushrooms contain biologically active polysaccharides, most of which belong to the β-glucan group. β-Glucans are naturally occurring (1→3)-β-D-linked polymer glucoses that are found in the cell walls of certain pathogenic bacteria, fungi, mushrooms, algae, and cereal grains (Williams et al., 1992;Muller et al., 1996) Different sources and types of β-glucans result in diverse physicochemical properties, such as solubility, primary structure, molecular weight, and branching. Interestingly, these variables in the β-glucan group can induce distinct biological activities, depending on their origins (Yadomae, 2000) such as antitumor effects (Ross, 2000) and anti-infective propThe mushroom Coriolus versicolor contains biologically active polysaccharides, most of which belong to the β-glucan group. Diverse physicochemical properties, due to different sources and isolated types of β-glucans, can induce distinct biological activities. We investigated the effects of β-glucans from C. versicolor on phagocytic activity, nitric oxide (NO), TNF-α production, and signaling of dectin-1, a well-known β-glucan receptor, in macrophages. β-Glucans increased phagocytic activity and TNF-α and NO-iNOS/eNOS production. Laminarin, a specifi c inhibitor of dectin-1, showed strong inhibitory effects on phagocytosis and subsequent TNF-α, iNOS, and eNOS production increased by β-glucans, indicating that β-glucans reacts with dectin-1 receptors. We examined whether the aforementioned cytokines were involved in the signaling pathway from the dectin-1 receptor to phagocytosis, and found that the inhibition of iNOS, eNOS, and TNF-α receptors signifi cantly decreased β-glucan-induced phagocytosis. In conclusion, our study showed that dectin-1 signaling, triggered by β-glucans, subsequently elicited TNF-α and NO-iNOS/eNOS production, and that these molecules seem to act as secondary molecules that cause eventual phagocytosis by macrophages. These fi ndings suggest that C. versicolor could be used as a nutritional medicine that may be useful in the treatment of infectious disease. Key