Journal of Traditional Medicines
Online ISSN : 1881-3747
Print ISSN : 1880-1447
ISSN-L : 1880-1447
Volume 21, Issue 5
Displaying 1-6 of 6 articles from this issue
Award of Medical and Pharmaceutical Society for WAKAN-YAKU, 2003
  • Hiroichi NAGAI
    2004 Volume 21 Issue 5 Pages 205-214
    Published: 2004
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2007
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Over the last two decades, the incidence of allergic patient has been risen worldwide. Which much effort has been paid to develop a new anti-allergic drug, allergic disease has not yet been completely conquered. Drug development for allergic disease has been directed at improving existing agents and expanding new modalities that target the allergic inflammation.
    Both strategies are important to develop a new anti-allergic drug, one more important study is to elucidate the scientific mechanism of the efficacy of traditional Chinese medicines which are using for treatment of allergic diseases in Japan. In this manuscript, our studies on anti-allergic action of natural products and crude extract of herbal medicine or traditional Chinese medicine are described.
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Regular Article
  • Yasunori MAEDA, Maho SUMIYOSHI, Yoshiyuki KIMURA
    2004 Volume 21 Issue 5 Pages 215-220
    Published: 2004
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2007
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    There are a number of reports that n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in fish oils have various physiological effects such as anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-thrombosis and anti-tumor actions. UFA such as oleic acid, linoleic acid, docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) in tuna oil are composed in triacylglycerols (TAG). In the present study, we examined the antitumor and antimetastatic activities of tuna triacylglycerols. Tuna triacylglycerols (1000 mg/kg) significantly inhibited the tumor growth in the spleen of mice with intrasplenically implanted Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC). In the LLC-bearing mice, the liver metastasis was inhibited by orally administered tuna triacylglycerols (1000 or 2000 mg/kg). DHA mainly contains as the fatty acids in the tuna triacylglycerols. We found that free DHA inhibited the DNA synthesis in LLC cells and human microvascular endothelial cells (HMVEC), and Matrigel-induced capillary-like tube formation by HMVEC in vitro. In conclusion, it seems likely that the antitumor and antimetastatic activities of tuna triacylglycerols may partly be associated with the inhibition of the DNA synthesis in tumor and endothelial cells, and tumor-induced angiogenesis by free DHA produced from tuna oils.
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  • Michio NISHI, Han Sun CHANG, Fumio ISHIKAWA, Toshimitsu UCHIYAMA
    2004 Volume 21 Issue 5 Pages 221-230
    Published: 2004
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2007
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This study was aimed at reconfirming the antitumor activity of Panax ginseng-fruit extract (PG-FE) and examining its antitumor mechanism in viewpoint of its cytokine productions. Female ICR mice (7-week-old) were used. Mice were orally pretreated with PG-FE (50mg/kg/day) for 10 days, and were intraabdominally [for life span, cluster of differentiation (CD)4+ and CD8+ T-cells, helper T (Th)1 and Th2 cells, cytokines] and axillo-subcutaneously (for tumor inhibition ratio) inoculated with Sarcoma-180 (S-180) (2×106 or 1×103 cells) one day after the last day of its pretreatment. We collected blood and extirpated spleens on Day-1 and -7 after the inoculation to determine the above parameters. We prepared floating spleen-cell-solutions in culture media. After 24hour-cultivation, interleukin (IL)-12, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interferon (INF)-γ, and IL-2 in the media were assayed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte line-2 cell bioassay, respectively. T-cells were measured by flow cytometry, using monoclonal antibody. PG-FE significantly decreased the tumor weight by 37.2% on Day-15 and prolonged the life span by 28.7%. CD4+/CD8+ T-cells ratio reduced by S-180 was prevented on Day-1 but not affected on Day-7 by PG-FE. Th1/Th2 cells ratio reduced by S-180 was not affected by PG-FE on Day-1 but prevented on Day-7 by PG-FE. IL-12 reduced by S-180 was nonsignificantly (p= 0.2523 and P= 0.0937, respectively) prevented on Day-1 and -7 by PG-FE. TNF-α increased by S-180 was further potentiated on Day-1, but on the contrary, TNF-α was reduced on Day-7 by PG-FE. IFN-γ and IL-2 unaffected by S-180 on Day-1 and -7 were increased by PG-FE.
    The above results demonstrate that PG-FE prevents the reduction of CD4+/CD8+ T-cells and Th1/Th2 cells ratios, and increases the productions of IL-12, TNF-α, IFN-γ and IL-2, suggesting that the antitumor activity of PG-FE is based on its cytokine productive effect.
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  • Yoichi YOKOTA, Hideyo SUZUKI, Tadato TANI
    2004 Volume 21 Issue 5 Pages 231-236
    Published: 2004
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2007
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Bear bile preparations (Fel Ursi and Yu-tan in Japanese) have been traditionally prepared from gallbladder bile of wild bear and used for the treatment of gastric and hepatobiliary disorders. Due to the decline of wild bear resources, bear bile preparations might be adulterated with cattle or pig bile to fulfill the market demand. In order to define and confirm the quality of bear bile preparations we established the principal component analysis (PCA) based on eight HPLC-peak area data for the discrimination of genuine bear bile preparations from alternative (false and mixed) ones. By the present PCA method, the genuine bear bile was clearly discriminated from cattle, pig and/or bile mixture. Furthermore out of 173 samples of commercial bear bile preparations collected from 1975 to 2002 in Japan, 48 samples of false and mixed bile preparations were found. The present PCA method based on eight HPLC-peak area data made it possible to discriminate between genuine bear bile preparations and alternative ones.
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Short Communication
  • Yasuhide SAKURAMATA, Hiromi OHE, Shuichi KUSANO
    2004 Volume 21 Issue 5 Pages 237-240
    Published: 2004
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2007
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Ludvik et al. have recently shown the effect of white skinned sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) on reducing fasting blood glucose and insulin resistance in type-2 diabetic patients.It, however, was required 2-4 weeks after the starting of administration of white skinned sweet potato.
    The present study aimed to determine if the combination therapy of white skinned sweet potato with a loquat leaf extract, which shows an insulin-like effect, could make it possible to enhance the anti-diabetic activities of white skinned sweet potato, and to shorten the time necessary for the inhibition of increasing blood glucose levels.
    A mixture of the pulverized skin of white skinned sweet potato (194mg/kg) and the powdered loquat leaf extract (6mg/kg) was orally administered to 6 weeks-old male KK-Ay/Ta mice for 28 days and the glucose loading test was conducted every 7 days.
    In the glucose loading test after one week feeding, a reduction in blood glucose concentration after 60 minutes of the administration of glucose was observed in the mixture groups against the control group (p<0.05). In the case of white skinned sweet potato only, similar delayed effects were seen in 3 weeks after feeding.
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News Letter
  • Sung-joon KIM, Tsukasa MATSUMOTO, Hiroaki KIYOHARA, Tomoyuki HAYASAKI, ...
    2004 Volume 21 Issue 5 Pages 241-249
    Published: 2004
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2007
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    We investigated how pharmaceutical students evaluate Kampo medical education, and what they expected. From this result, we discussed the significance of Kampo medical education in school of Pharmaceutical Science. As a method, we carried out questionnaire inquiry for pharmaceutical students who attended the lecture Kampo medicine to study the significance of Kampo medicine by pharmaceutical students. More than 70% of pharmaceutical students pointed out about necessity of Kampo medical education to be able to put in school of Pharmaceutical Science or after graduation. In other words, many pharmaceutical students had interest for Kampo medicine. In addition, they expected to have a knowledge of Kampo medicine that in useful for medical care, and it became clear to recognize necessity of Kampo medical education in school of Pharmaceutical Science.
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