Abstract
We have previously reported that hot water extract of pine cone of Pinus parviflora Sieb et Zucc. (PCE) contained substance (s) which induced differentiation of human myeloblastic leukemic cell line ML-1 into macrophage-like cells. In this study, we purified this substance approximately 327-fold with an overall yield of 11%, by Sephadex G-200 gel filtration and DEAE-Sepharose CL-6B ion exchange chromatography. The purified substance migrated as a single brownish band on 7.5% polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and the major differentiation-inducing activity was recovered from the gel slice corresponding to this band, which was PAS-stainable. These findings suggest that the differentiation-inducing substance of PCE contained acidic roun (s) and sugar moiety in the molecule.
