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Today, the combined use of Oriental herbal medicines and Western biomedical medicines has been a prevalent yet controversial practice. Case reports and healthy volunteer trials have had conflicting results on the effect Panax ginseng has on warfarin's pharmacologic action, some reporting a reductive and others a potentiating influence.This study investigated the interaction between warfarin and P. ginseng by observing the prothrombin time (PT) and the international normalized ratio (INR) in ischemic stroke patients who did not have a history of taking warfarin.Randomized, open-label, controlled study.Twenty-five (25) patients newly diagnosed with ischemic stroke by brain computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging in the Korean Medical Hospital, Kyung Hee University (Seoul, Republic of Korea).Ischemic stroke patients were randomized into 2 groups: the ginseng group (n = 12), given both P. ginseng and warfarin, and the control group (n = 13), given only warfarin, both for 2 weeks. The warfarin dose was restricted to 2 mg in the first week and 5 mg in the second week.The peak values and the international normalized ratio (INR) and prothrombin time (PT) areas under the curve (AUC) in both groups significantly increased compared to those at baseline. However, there was no statistically significant difference in peak values and INR and PT AUC between groups in both the first and second weeks.This study suggests that coadministration of P. ginseng and warfarin in ischemic stroke patients does not influence the pharmacologic action of warfarin.

Graves' disease, the most common cause of hyperthyroidism, is an autoimmune disorder. Antithyroid drugs have been selected as the first-line treatment of Graves' disease in Korea, Japan, and European countries. However, antithyroid drugs such as methimazole (MMI) and prophylthiouracil (PTU) have limitations in clinical applications because of their side effects. In this study, we performed a clinical trial and in vitro study to investigate the clinical effects and action mechanism of Ahnjeonbaekho-tang (AJBHT), an herbal remedy for Graves' disease. In a clinical study of Graves' disease patients who had side effects from antithyroid drugs, we found that treatment by AJBHT resulted in a reduction of serum triiodothyronine (T3) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels and an increase in thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels (T3: p

Sasang constitutional medicine classifies mankind into four constitutional types according to individual psychologic and physical traits. We hypothesized that differences among constitutional types might be explained by genetic variations.To evaluate the hypothesis, we determined the possible association in ischemic stroke patients (n = 134) of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-gamma with four constitutional types of Sasang medicine. The constitutional type of each patient and control subject (n = 129) was classified and genotyped for PPAR-gamma polymorphism Pro12Ala by polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) methods.The distribution of the Pro/Ala genotypes in the ischemic stroke patients was not significantly different from that of healthy controls [odds ratio (OR)= 0.46; p = 0.1214]. However, very interestingly, we observed that all six Pro/Ala genotypes in ischemic patients were Taeeumin, one of four constitutional types of Sasang medicine. Statistical analysis revealed that Pro/Ala genotype in Taeeumin increases almost 15-fold the susceptibility to ischemic stroke compared to other constitutional types, Taeyangin, Soyangin or Soeumin (OR= 14.72; p = 0.0110).From the results in this study, we might suggest that Pro/Ala genotype in Taeeumin is associated with the susceptibility to ischemic stroke. To the author's best knowledge, this is the first report to study on genetic level the potential relationship between ischemic stroke and Sasang constitutional medicine, one of traditional Korean medicines (TKM). Authors hope that this study could provide a new approach for the study of ischemic stroke and merit further research.

Mesangial cell (MC) proliferation, mediated by platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, and cyclin-dependent kinases (CDK), is the common feature of glomerulosclerosis. Magnolia officinalis, stem bark of Machilus thunbergii S., has multiple pharmacological effects. In this study, we investigated the influence of aqueous extract of Magnolia officinalis on MC proliferation, DNA synthesis, and expression of PDGF-BB, TGF-β1, CDK1, CDK2, and CDK4 in fetal bovine serum (FBS)-activated human MC. Magnolia officinalis inhibited the MC proliferation, DNA synthesis, and the expression of PDGF-BB, CDK1, and CDK2 gene and CDK1, CDK2, and TGF-β1 protein. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of Magnolia officinalis on MC proliferation may be mediated by regulation of PDGF-BB and TGF-β1expressions and by modulation of CDK1 and CDK2 expression. Keywords:: Magnolia officinalis, mesangial cell, proliferation

The present study examined the inhibitory effect of aqueous extract from the gall of Rhus chinensis (AEGRC) on alpha-glucosidase activity, an enzyme responsible for digestion of carbohydrate to monosaccharides in the process of intestinal absorption. AEGRC inhibited Bacillus alpha-glucosidase acitvity with an IC(50) of 0.9 micro g/ml. Its inhibition on alpha-glucosidase was determined to be noncompetitive and reversible when the enzyme-substrate mixture was simultaneously treated with AEGRC as an inhibitor. In addition, when it was orally administered to rats with sucrose (2g/kg), AEGRC (250-1000mg/kg) significantly suppressed the increase of blood glucose levels after sucrose loading in a dose dependent manner. These results suggest that AEGRC might exert anti-diabetic effect by suppressing carbohydrate absorption from intestine, and thereby reducing the postprandial increase of blood glucose.

In the present study, we investigated the influences of a high fat diet (HD) fed for 12 weeks, on lipid peroxidation and antioxidant enzyme using 4-hydroxy-2E-nonenal (HNE)-modified proteins (HNE-mp) and Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase (SOD1) in the hippocampal CA1 region (CA1) in C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice. Body weights and body weight gains were significantly higher in HD fed C57BL/6N mice than in low fat diet (LD) fed C57BL/6N and LD or HD fed C3H/HeN mice. In the HD fed C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice, HNE-mp immunoreactivity and protein levels were much higher than in the LD fed C57BL/6N or C3H/HeN mice. In particular, HNE-mp immunoreactivity and protein levels in HD fed C57BL/6N mice was higher than that in the HD fed C3H/HeN mice. SOD1 immunoreaction was detected in the non-pyramidal cells of C57BL/6N mice, while in the C3H/HeN mice SOD1 immunoreaction was observed in CA1 pyramidal cells. The SOD1 immunoreactivity in the LD fed C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice was slightly, but not significantly decreased compared to that in the HD fed C57BL/6N and C3H/HeN mice, respectively. In addition, ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (Iba-1) immunoreactive microglia in the HD fed C57BL/6N showed hypertrophy of cytoplasm, which is the characteristics of activated microglia. These results suggest that HD fed C57BL/6N mice are more susceptible to lipid peroxidation in the CA1 than in LD fed C57BL/6N and LD or HD fed C3H/HeN mice without any differences of SOD1 expression.

Graves' disease, the most common cause of hyperthyroidism, is an autoimmune disorder. Antithyroid drugs have been selected as the first-line treatment of Graves' disease in Korea, Japan, and European countries. However, antithyroid drugs such as methimazole (MMI) and prophylthiouracil (PTU) have limitations in clinical applications because of their side effects. In this study, we performed a clinical trial and in vitro study to investigate the clinical effects and action mechanism of Ahnjeonbaekho-tang (AJBHT), an herbal remedy for Graves' disease. In a clinical study of Graves' disease patients who had side effects from antithyroid drugs, we found that treatment by AJBHT resulted in a reduction of serum triiodothyronine (T3) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels and an increase in thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) levels (T3: p0.0001, FT4: p=0.0012, TSH: p=0.0370, respectively). In vitro, AJBHT significantly inhibits FRTL-5 cell proliferation, DNA synthesis, cyclic AMP production, T4 synthesis, and the expression of thyroglobulin (Tg) mRNA in comparison with the control. These results suggest that AJBHT might suppress T(4) synthesis by modulating adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cAMP) and Tg expression, and therefore, AJBHT could be an alternative therapy for Graves' disease patients who have side effects from antithyroid drugs.

Enhanced release of proinflammatory cytokines may contribute to the pathogenesis of ischemic stroke. Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) is an anti-inflammatory cytokine, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and IL-1beta are proinflammatory cytokine. To determine the role of cytokines in genetic susceptibility to ischemic stroke, we genotyped ischemic stroke patients (n = 152) and the healthy control subjects (n = 165) for IL-1Ra, TNF-alpha and IL-1beta polymorphism by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism methods. The analysis shown the association of IL1RN*1, IL1RN*2 allele (IL1RN*1, OR=0.44, P = 0.0206 IL1RN*2, OR=2.90, P = 0.0141) and TNF1, TNF2 allele (TNF1, OR=2.16, P = 0.0225; TNF2, OR=2.16, P = 0.0225) to ischemic stroke. However, the genetic polymorphism of IL-1beta was not associated with ischemic stroke. Our results suggest that IL-1Ra and TNF-alpha gene polymorphism is associated with the susceptibility to ischemic stroke.