• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.37-42
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• 2003

The present study was conducted to determine whether administration of heat extract of Lepidii Semen has an inhibitory effect on neutrophil-derived oxidative injury following dermal scald burn in rats. Acute lung injury was induced by scald burn (15% of TBSA) in rats. To identify acute edematous lung injury, protein concentrations and numbers of polymorphonuclear leukocytes were measured in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) at 5 h after skin burn. In addition, the level of lung KC (neutrophil chemoattractant cytokine) and activity of lung myeloperoxidase (MPO) were measured, and histopathological changes were observed as well. Lung weight and concentration of BAL protein, the index of lung injury, were clearly increased at 5 h postburn compared with those of sham-operated group. Administration of heat extract of Lepidii Semen after scald burn inhibited the production of KC in lung tissue and decreased the activity of lung MPO related to infiltration of neutrophils. In histopathological changes in lung tissue, infiltration of inflammatory cells and pulmonary edema induced by skin burn were decreased by administration of heat extract of Lepidii Semen after scald burn. These results suggest that Lepidii Semen may be an effective medical stuff for acute lung injury induced by skin burn.

• The Korea Journal of Herbology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.83-88
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• 2012

Objects : This study was performed in order to observe the effects of water extract of Dendrobii herba on intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH), Method : ICH was induced by the stereotaxic intrastriatal injection of bacterial collagenase type IV in Sprague-Dawley rats. After the water extracts of Dendrobii herba were administrated orally once a day for 3 days, hematoma volume, percentage of brain edema, expression of iNOS and MPO were observed using immunohistochemistry. Results : Rats fed with water extracts of Dendrobii herba showed reduction of hematoma volume and percentage of brain edema compared with controls. In addition, Infiltration of myeloperoxidase (MPO) expressing neutrophil and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthatase(iNOS) were significantly reduced in rats fed with water extracts of Dendrobii herba. Conclusion : These results demonstrated that water extracts of Dendrobii herba reduced brain damage of intracerebral hemorrhage(ICH) and subsequent ICH-induced cerebral edema, and inhibited neutrophil infiltration.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.169-174
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• 2007

In the present study, we investigated the neuroprotective effects of standardized Ginkgo biloba extract (GBB) (total terpene trilactones, 13 ${\pm}$ 3%; biflavone, 4.5 ${\pm}$ 1.5%; flavonol glycoside, < 8%; proanthocyanidine, under detection limit) on ischemia-reperfusion-induced brain injury in the rats. Ischemia was induced by the intraluminal occlusion of the right middle cerebral artery for 2 h and reperfusion was continued for 22 h. GBB was orally administered, promptly prior to reperfusion and 2 h after. Total infarction volume in the ipsilateral hemispheres of ischemia-reperfusion rats were significantly reduced by treatment with GBB in a dose-dependent manner (P<0.05). The therapeutic time window of GBB was 3 h in this ischemia-reperfusion rat model. Furthermore, GBB also significantly inhibited increased neutrophil infiltration of ischemic brain tissue, as estimated by myeloperoxidase activity. These findings suggest that GBB plays a crucial protective role in ischemia-induced brain injury, in part, via inhibition of neutrophil infiltration, and suggest that this GBB could serve as a neuroprotective agent following transient focal ischemic brain injury.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.111-116
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• 2014

Human neutrophils play an essential role in the innate immune response and are involved in the pathogenesis of the severe and corticosteroid-resistant asthma. Asthma is characterized by an infiltration of inflammatory cells into the lung and by a cytokine release. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of a bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) on the chemotaxis and apoptosis of neutrophils which were isolated from healthy subjects. The BALF of subjects with asthma induces the blood neutrophil chemotaxis in the opposite of that in normal subjects. The IL-8, IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) levels in BALF were higher in subjects with asthma than in normal subjects. The BALF of normal and asthmatic subjects has no effect on neutrophil apoptosis of BALF. MCP-1 delays the constitutive apoptosis of normal blood neutrophils, but has no effect in normal BALF neutrophils. These results may indicate that inflammatory factors secreted by the lung tissue of patients with asthma trigger the neutrophil chemotaxis and also induce the neutrophil dysregulation.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.44 no.2 s.138
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• pp.101-116
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• 2006

Vaginal trichomoniasis, caused by Trichomonas vaginalis, is the most common sexually transmitted disease. More than 170 million people worldwide are annually infected by this protozoan. In the Republic of Korea, 10.4% of women complaining of vaginal symptoms and signs were found to be infected with T. vagina/is. However, despite its high prevalence, the pathogenesis of T. vaginalis infection has not been clearly characterized although neutrophil infiltration is considered to be primarily responsible for the cytologic changes associated with this infection. We hypothesized that trichomonads in the vagina sometime after an acute infection secrete proteins like excretory-secretory product that have a chemotactic effect on neutrophils, and that these neutrophils are further stimulated by T. vaginalis to produce chemokines like IL-8 and $GRO-\alpha$, which further promote neutrophil recruitment and chemotaxis. Thus, neutrophil accumulation is believed to maintain or aggravate inflammation. However, enhanced neutrophil apoptosis induced by live T. vaginalis could contribute to resolution of inflammation. Macrophages may constitute an important component of host defense against T. vaginalis infection. For example, mouse macrophages alone and those activated by lymphokines or nitric oxide are known to be involved in the extracellular killing of T. vaginalis. In the host, T. vaginalis uses a capping phenomenon to cleave host immunoglobulins with proteinases and thus escape from host immune responses. Recently, we developed a highly sensitive and specific diagnostic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique using primers based on a repetitive sequence cloned from T. vaginalis (TV-E650), and found that the method enables the detection of T. vaginalis at concentrations as low as 1 cell per PCR mixture.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.22 no.7
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• pp.907-916
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• 2012

Burkholderia cepacia is an important pathogen that often causes pneumonia in immunocompromised individuals. Here, it was demonstrated that the TLR5 agonist flagellin could locally activate innate immunity. This was characterized by rapid expressions of IL-$1{\beta}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, and iNOS mRNA and a delay in the expression of IL-10 mRNA. A significant elevation in the IL-$1{\beta}$, TNF-${\alpha}$, and nitric oxide levels was also noted. In the respiratory tract, flagellin induced neutrophil infiltration into the airways, which was observed by histopathological examination and confirmed by the neutrophil count and level of myeloperoxidase activity. This was concomitant with a high activity of alveolar macrophages that engulfed and killed B. cepacia in vitro. The flagellin mucosal treatment improved the B. cepacia clearance in the mouse lung. Thus, the present findings illustrate the profound stimulatory effect of flagellin on the lung mucosal innate immunity, a response that needs to be exploited therapeutically to prevent the development of respiratory tract infection by B. cepacia.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.192.2-193
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• 2001

• Journal of Ginseng Research
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• v.38 no.2
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• pp.89-96
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• 2014

The protective effect of ginsenoside Re, isolated from ginseng berry, against acute gastric mucosal lesions was examined in rats with a single intraperitoneal injection of compound 48/80 (C48/80). Ginsenoside Re (20 mg/kg or 100 mg/kg) was orally administered 0.5 h prior to C48/80 treatment. Ginsenoside Re dose-dependently prevented gastric mucosal lesion development 3 h after C48/80 treatment. Increases in the activities of myeloperoxidase (MPO; an index of neutrophil infiltration) and xanthine oxidase (XO) and the content of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS; an index of lipid peroxidation) and decreases in the contents of hexosamine (a marker of gastric mucus) and adherent mucus, which occurred in gastric mucosal tissues after C48/80 treatment, were significantly attenuated by ginsenoside Re. The elevation of Bax expression and the decrease in Bcl2 expression after C48/80 treatment were also attenuated by ginsenoside Re. Ginsenoside Re significantly attenuated all these changes 3 h after C48/80 treatment. These results indicate that orally administered ginsenoside Re protects against C48/80-induced acute gastric mucosal lesions in rats, possibly through its stimulatory action on gastric mucus synthesis and secretion, its inhibitory action on neutrophil infiltration, and enhanced lipid peroxidation in the gastric mucosal tissue.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.799-806
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• 2011

This study was performed in order to evaluate the neuroprotective effect of Boyanghwano-tang (BYT) water extract on intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). ICH was induced by the stereotaxic intrastriatal injection of bacterial collagenase type IV in Sprague-Dawley rats. BYT was orally given once a day for 3 days after ICH. Hematoma volume and percentage edema were examined. As imflammatory markers, myeloperoxidase (MPO)-positive neutrophils infiltration and iNOS expression in the peri-ICH regions were examined using immunohistochemistry. As cellular damage markers, c-Fos, Bax, and HSP72 positive cells in the peri-ICH regions were measured also. BYT significantly reduced the hematoma volume and percentage edema of the ICH-induced rat brain. In the peri-hematoma regions, BYT significantly reduced MPO-positive neutrophil infiltration and iNOS expression of the ICH-induced rat brain. Additionally, BYT significantly reduced c-Fos, Bax, and HSP72 positive cells in the peri-hematoma regions of the ICH-induced rat brain. These results suggest that BYT plays a neuroprotective role against ICH through suppression of inflammatory responses, apoptosis and cellular damage.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.272-277
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• 2014

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: This study investigated the antioxidant activities and hepatoprotective effects of Schisandra chinensis Baillon extract (SCE) against tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP)-induced oxidative hepatic damage in rats. MATERIALS/METHODS: Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats were pretreated with SCE (300, 600, and 1,200 mg/kg BW) or saline once daily for 14 consecutive days. On day 14, each animal, except those belonging to the normal control group, were injected with t-BHP (0.8 mmol/kg BW/i.p.), and all of the rats were sacrificed 16 h after t-BHP injection. RESULTS: Although no significant differences in AST and ALT levels were observed among the TC and SCE groups, the high-dose SCE group showed a decreasing tendency compared to the TC group. However, erythrocyte SOD activity showed a significant increase in the low-dose SCE group compared with the TC group. On the other hand, no significant differences in hepatic total glutathione (GSH) level, glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities were observed among the TC and SCE groups. Hepatic histopathological evaluation revealed that pretreatment with SCE resulted in reduced t-BHP-induced incidence of lesions, such as neutrophil infiltration, swelling of liver cells, and necrosis. In particular, treatment with a high dose of SCE resulted in induction of phase II antioxidant/detoxifying enzyme expression, such as glutathione S-transferase (GST) and glutamate-cysteine ligase catalytic subunit (GCLC). CONCLUSIONS: Based on these results, we conclude that SCE exerts protective effects against t-BHP induced oxidative hepatic damage through the reduction of neutrophil infiltration, swelling of liver cells, and necrosis. In addition, SCE regulates the gene expression of phase II antioxidant/detoxifying enzymes independent of hepatic antioxidant enzyme activity.