• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.10
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• pp.1037-1042
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• 2004

Study of the effects of the methanolic extract of Tagetes patula roots on blood pressure led to the isolation of well known citric (1) and malic acid (7) as hypotensive, and pyridine hydrochloride (4) as hypertensive constituents of the plant along with a new constituent, 2-hydroxy, 5- hydroxymethyl furan (9). Citric acid and malic acid caused 71% and 43% fall in Mean Arterial Blood Pressure (MABP) of rats at the doses of 15 mg/kg and 30mg/kg respectively while pyridine hydrochloride produced 34% rise in the MABP of rats at the dose of 30mg/kg. $LD_{50}\;and\;LD_{100}$ of citric acid in mice have been determined as 545 mg/kg and 1000 mg/kg, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Food Science and Technology
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.315-319
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• 1992

Korean green tea leaves which were harvested three times(May, June, August) were treated with anaerobic conditions and were measured changes of ${\gamma}-aminobutyric$ acid(GABA) and other constituents. In anaerobically treated green tea leaves, the content of ${\gamma}-aminobutyric$ acid(GABA) and alanine increased while glutamic acid decreased. Whereas theanine, arginine, caffeine and tannin showed little change and the content of vitamine C slightly decreased with the passing of the anaerobic treatment time. Formation of GABA, a hypotensive constituents, was proportioned to the content of glutamic acid and the optimum time of the anaerobic treatment was about 12 hours. In the anaerobic treatment of green tea leaves, effect of nitrogen gas and vacuum condition was no difference between two.

• Preventive Nutrition and Food Science
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.14-18
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• 2010

Stevia rebaudiana (SR) is an herb used traditionally as a sweetener in Paraguay and Brazil, whose use is spreading to other countries, such as Japan, Korea and China. In addition to its low calorie sweet taste, SR appears to have other beneficial properties, such as hypotensive capabilities and inflammation reduction. To identify the bioactive natural constituents exerting anti-inflammatory activities, we examined the EtOAc fraction of SR. In the inflammatory mediator inhibitory assay from lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages, the EtOAc fraction significantly, and dose dependently, inhibited the enhanced production of nitric oxide (NO) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expression. We also found that treatment of cells with the EtOAc fraction significantly inhibited LPS-stimulated nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ (NF-${\kappa}B$) reporter gene expression. Such inhibition of NF-${\kappa}B$ was closely associated with the inhibition of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1). Therefore, we suggest that SR has the potential for development as a functional food for the treatment of immune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus.