• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.35 no.4 s.139
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• pp.330-337
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• 2004

Based on the traditional application of Carthamus tinctorious L. (CF) as a component of Korean medicinal decoctions, in the present study, we investigated in vitro an immunomodulatory activity of water extract of CF(WECF). Water extract of CF significantly increased the in vitro proliferative responses of spleen cells (SPC). However, addition of WECF during anti-CD3 activation resulted in a significant decrease in SPC proliferation. Flow cytometric analysis showed that WECF addition chanced T and B cell frequencies in anti-CD3-activated spleen cell populations. Using purified cells, it was revealed that WECF is mitogenic to B cells but rather inhibitory to T cell Proliferation. Upon anti-CD3 stimulation, high concentration (1 mg/ml) of WECF significantly inhibited T cell proliferation until day 2 of stimulation. At day 3, anti-CD3-activated cells exposed to WECF recovered their proliferation to the level comparable to control. Although B cell proliferation was also inhibited in proliferation at day 1, it recovered sooner and then was rather augmented by WECF at day 3. These data indicate that WECF down-regulates lymphocyte proliferation at early phase of activation but T cells are more vulnerable than B cells to WECF, However, CD4+ and CD8+ T cells did not differ in WECF-mediated immunotoxicity. Data of propidium iodide (PI) staining showed that WECF accelerates activated T cell, but not B cell, apoptosis and WECF concurrently inhibited cytokine production of activated T cells. Taken together, WECF exhibits B cell mitogenic activity and differential toxicity more pronounced to T cells, suggesting a possible in vivo application of WECF for specific control of T cells without alteration of B cell activity.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.698-704
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• 1998

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of diet of Korean safflower(Carthamus tinctorious L.) seed powder on bone tissue during the recovery of rib-fracture in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats of 10 weeks old, weighing 370$\pm$5g, were divided into two groups including the control group(C group, AIN-76 semipurified diet) and safflower seed group(S group, AIN-76 semipurified diet+10% safflower seed powder) and were fed experimental diets for 12 days after adaptation period. After this period, the 9th right rib was fractured surgically and sham-operation was also performed. Rats were fed with experimental diets for up to 30 more days after rib-fracture. The degree of bone repair was evaluated during the recovery period at the 8th, 11th, 16th, 21st, 30th days after the surgical operation by microscopic observation of the fractured rib tissue. In callus formation, the portion of hyaline cartilage was noticably higher in S group than C group. The intracatilagenous ossification was observed at the 8th day in S group, but at 11th day in C group. The intramembranous ossification in callus was widely found over the 8th day to the 11th day in S group, but it was shown over the 11th day to the 16th day in C group. Bone resorption was also occured more rapidly in S group as indicated by large numbers of osteoclasts observed. At the 30th day, most of trabecular bones were disappeared in S group, whereas still shwon in C group over wide ranges of fractured ribs. These results imply that the supplementation of Korean safflower seed powder influences in the recovery of bone fracture by accelerating the process of bone repair.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.31 no.6
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• pp.1049-1056
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• 1998

This study was carried out to investigate the effects of Korean safflower(Carthamus. tinctorious L.) seed powder supplementation on bone metabolism during the recovery of rib-fracture induced by surgical operation in rats. Male Sprague-Dawley rats of 10 weeks old, weighing 370$\pm$5g, were divided into two groups after arrival : the control group(C group, AIN-76 semifurified diet) and safflower seed group(S group, AIN-76 semifurified diet+10% safflower seed powder). They were fed experimental diets for 12 days before the rib fracture operation and for 30 more days after the operation. A number 9 rib was fractured surgically and sham-operation was also performed. After the rib-fracture operation, rats were sacrificed on the 8th, 11th, 16th, 21st, and 30th day, respectively. The body weights were decreased on the 8th day after operation in both groups but recovered gradually thereafter. The fractured sections of the S group were more strongly adhered and more rapidly repaired than those of C group. Effects of safflower seed powder supplementation on indices of bone metabolism during the repairing of rib-fracture can be summarized as following. There were no differences between C and S group. In the levels of PTH and calcitonin, which regulate the concentration of plasma calcium. However, PTH level on the 8th day was significantly higher than that on the 16th day in control group. There were also no differences between groups or within groups in the levels of calcitonin. Osteocalcin levels, one of the bone-formation indices, were similar in two groups. Activities of total-ALP in plasma were highest at the 8th day in both groups and decreased thereafter, except on the 30th day in control group. The activities of bone-specific ALP that is directly related to bone calcification, showed higher levels in the S group than in the C group throughout the experimental period. They were significantly increased in the S group on the 11th, 16th, and 21st days. In comparisons of plasma calcium and phosphate levels, Ca levels were tended to be lower in the S group than in the C group and P levels showed the opposite trend. It seems that the fractured ribs were more rapidly repaired in rats supplemented with safflower seed powder than in control rats, possibly due to stimulation of bone calcification from increased activity of bone-specific ALP. (Korean J Nutrition 31(6) : 1049-1056, 1998)

• Korean Journal of Medicinal Crop Science
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.225-231
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• 2001

This studies were conducted to provide the basic information on safflower collections and to identify the variations which could be utilized in safflower breeding programs, The RAPDs was used to clarify the genetic relationships among safflower collections and to classify them into distint genetic groups. Among 30 of 10 mer primers in RAPD analysis, twenty were selected as the appropriate primers for identification of the genetic characters in safflower collections. Amplified PCR showed the highly reproducible bands at $3.0{\sim}0.2kb$. The number of bands amplified with the each primer showed the variations ranged from 2 to 11, with the average of 5.6. Total of 111 bands were identified among 20 selected primers used in PCR reaction and 84 bands (75.7%) showed polymorphism. Based on the similarity value of 0.14 in dendrogram derived from the cluster analysis using RAPD-PCR, the 30 safflower collections were classified into 11 groups. The two main groups, VII and VIII included 7 collections (23%) and 8 collections (27%), respectively. Most of the collections in group VII were the Korean collections (85%).

• Korean Journal of Plant Resources
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2005

This study was carried out to investigate the possibility of double cropping of safflower(Carthamus tinctotious L.) in vinyl house for rainshield culture. Planting methods, i.e., direct seeding as the first crop and direct seeding and transplanting as the second crop, were investigated. Growth characters and establishment were better in the first crop than in the second crop. Between direct seeding and transplanting of the second crop, growth was not significantly different, but establishment was much higher in direct seeding than in transplanting. Seed yield of the second crop was lower $30\~74\%$ than that of the first crop. In planting methods of the second crop, seed yield was higher in direct seeding than in transplanting. Therefore, optimum method of the second crop for double cropping of safflower in the middle parts of Korea was estimated as direct seeding.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.116-123
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• 2001

This study was undertaken to find out the effect of Korean safflower seed powder on histopathological changes of cadmium toxicity in mice. Fifty BALB/c mice were divided into a control group(A) and four experimental groups(B, C, D, E) : group A received tap water and basal diet, group B received tap water and diet supplemented with 3% Korean safflower seed powder alone, group C received basal diet and 300 $\mu\textrm{g}$/g of cadmium, group D and E received basal diet supplemented with 3% and 10% Korean safflower seed powder and 300$\mu\textrm{g}$/g of cadmium respectively. Cadmium dissolved in tap water was used, and the Korean safflower seed powder were mixed with feed. All mice were dissected on the 56th day. Histopathological changes in liver, kidney, lung, cortical osseous tissue of femoral shaft, bone trabecular of femur, and epiphyseal cartilage plate of femur were observed. Group B showed no significant changes compared with the control group. But group C showed the unclearness of specific cells in liver, the loss of architecture and focal necrosis of hepatocyte, the glomerular swelling, degeneration and necrosis of convoluted tubules, desquamation and vacuolization of the greater part of the renal tubular epithelium, the marked congestion and thickness of the wall of alveolus in lung, slightly thinning of the cortical osseous tissue in femoral shaft, reduction of cancellous bone volume and marked narrowness of bone trabecular, marked thinning of epiphyseal cartilage plate and irregular arrangement of columnar structure of cartilage cells. On the other hand, Korean safflower seed powder-treated group showed a little convalescent changes and maintained their normal architectures in liner, kidney, lung, cortical osseous tissue of femoral shaft, bone trabecular of femur and epiphyseal cartilage plate of femur.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.912-918
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• 1999

The chemical compositions of korean and Chinese safflower (Carthamus tinctorious L.) seed were compared in this study. The proximate compositions were 0.73 and 0.05% of moisture, 19.74 and 18.82% of crude protein, 15.47 and 14.61% of crude fat, 3.78 and 3.87% of crude ash, 14.53 and 10.46% of crude fiber, 46.49 and 52.23% of N-free extracts in the non-roasted safflower seed (NRS) and roasted safflower seed (RS), respectively. Crude fat contents in non-roasted chinese safflower seed (NRCS) and roasted chinese safflower seed (RCS) were 33.30 and 31.22%, which were higher than those of NRS and RS. Unsaturated fatty acid in NRS was 83.2% and 90.9% in NRCS. Linoleic acid was the most predominant fatty acid in NRS (74.0%) and NRCS (74.2%). Sucrose (216.5 mg/100 g) and raffinose (117.5 mg/100 g) were major free sugars in NRS, but sucrose, glucose, fructose and raffinose were in NRCS. Glutamic acid, aspatic acid and arginine were major in total amino acids. 24 kinds of free amino acid were detected in NRS and 11 kinds in RS. Total essential amino acid in NRS ($28.0\;{\mu}g/100\;g$) was higher than that in NRCS ($9.2\;{\mu}g/100\;g$). The organic acids in safflower seed were composed of formic acid, succinic acid, malic acid, oxalic acid and fumaric acid. The content of vitamin E $({\alpha}-tocopherol)$ in NRS and NRCS were 10.5 mg/100 g, 6.2 mg/100 g, NRCS and RCS were 12.8 mg/100 g, 9.4 mg/100 g, respectively. Total carotenoid content in NRCS was $452.0\;{\mu}g/100\;g$ and it was higher than in NRS. The major minerals of safflower seed were K, P, Ca, Mg.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.31-39
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• 2014

Objectives: This study was performed to analyze the toxicity and to find the lethal dose of the test substance Water-soluble Carthami-flos pharmacopuncture (WCF) when used as a single intravenous-dose in 6-week-old, male and female Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: The experiment was conducted at Biotoxtech according to Good Laboratory Practices. 20 female and 20 male Spague-Dawley rats were divided into 4 groups of 5 female and 5 male animals per group. The rats in the three experimental groups received single intravenous injections with 0.125-mL, 0.25-mL and 0.5-mL/animal doses of WCF, Groups 2, 3, and 4, respectively, and the control group, Group 1, received a single intravenous injection with a 0.5-mL dose of normal saline. Clinical signs were observed and body weight measurements were carried out for 14 days following the injections. At the end of the observation period, hematology, clinical chemistry, histopathological tests and necropsy were performed on the injected parts. Results: No deaths occurred in any of the groups. Also, no significant changes in body weight, hematological parameters or clinical chemistry test results between the control group and the experimental groups were observed. Visual inspection after necropsy showed no abnormalities. Histopathological tests on the injected parts showed no significant differences, except for Group 1 females; however, the result was spontaneous generation and had no toxicological meaning because it was not dose-dependent. Therefore, this study showed that WCF had no effect on the injected parts in terms of clinical signs, body weight, hematology, clinical chemistry, and necropsy. Conclusion: As a result of single intravenous-dose tests of the test substance WCF in 4 groups of rats, the lethal dose for both males and females exceeded 0.5 mL/animal. Therefore, WCF is a relatively safe pharmacopuncture that can be used for treatment, but further studies should be performed.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.27-34
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• 2014

Objectives: This experiment was conducted to examine the toxicity of Water soluble Carthmi-Flos herbal acupuncture (WCF) by administering a single intramuscular dose of WCF in 6-week-old, male and female Sprague-Dawley rats and to find the lethality dose for WCF. Methods: The experiment was conducted at Biotoxtech according to Good Laboratory Practices under a request by the Korean Pharmacopuncture Institute. This experiment was performed based on the testing standards of "Toxicity Test Standards for Drugs" by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety. Subjects were divided into 4 groups: 1 control group in which normal saline was administered and 3 test groups in which 0.1, 0.5 or 1.0 mL of WCF was administered; a single intramuscular dose was injected into 5 males and 5 females in each group. General symptoms and body weights were observed/measured for 14 days after injection. At the end of the observation period, hematological and clinical chemistry tests were performed, followed by necropsy and histopathological examinations of the injected sections. Results: No mortalities were observed in any group. Also, symptoms, body weight, hematology, clinical chemistry and necropsy were not affected. However, histopathological examination of the injected part in one female in the 1.0-mL group showed infiltration of mononuclear cells and a multi-nucleated giant cell around eosinophilic material. Conclusion: Administration of single intramuscular doses of WCF in 3 groups of rats showed that the approximate lethal dose of WCF for all rats was in excess of 1.0 mL, as no mortalities were observed for injections up to and including 1.0 mL.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.36-43
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• 2015

Objectives: Water-soluble carthami flos (WCF) is a new mixture of Carthami flos (CF) pharmacopuncture. We conducted a 4-week toxicity test of repeated intramuscular injections of WCF in Sprague-Dawley rats. Methods: Forty male and 40 female rats were divided into 4 groups of 10 male and 10 female SD rats: The control group received 0.5 mL/animal/day of normal saline whereas the three experimental groups received WCF at doses of 0.125, 0.25, and 0.5 mL/animal/day, respectively. For 4 weeks, the solutions were injected into the femoral muscle of the rats alternating from side to side. Clinical signs, body weights, and food consumption were observed; opthalmological examinations and urinalyses were performed. On day 29, blood samples were taken for hematological and clinical chemistry analyses. Then, necropsy was conducted in all animals to observe weights and external and histopathological changes in the bodily organs. All data were tested using a statistical analysis system (SAS). Results: No deaths were observed. Temporary irregular respiration was observed in male rats of the experimental group for the first 10 days. Body weights, food consumptions, opthalmological examinations, urinalyses, clinical chemistry analyses, organ weights and necropsy produced no findings with toxicological meaning. In the hematological analysis, delay of prothrombin time (PT) was observed in male rats of the 0.25- and the 0.5-mL/animal/day groups. In the histopathological test, a dose-dependent inflammatory cell infiltration into the fascia and panniculitis in perimuscular tissues was observed in all animals of the experimental groups. However, those symptoms were limited to local injection points. No toxicological meanings, except localized changes, were noted. Conclusion: WCF solution has no significant toxicological meaning, but does produce localized symptoms. No observed adverse effect level (NOAEL) of WCF in male and female rats is expected for doses over 0.5 mL/animal/day.