Earticle

Korean Herbal Medicine (KHM) has clinical advantages that can overcome the limitations of Western Medicine. However, the strength of KHM cannot be fully exercised without standardization. In fact, many aspects of KHM including the processing of the herbal medicines are being standardized these days. Twenty-eight methods of herbal medicine processing that were previously described in the Korean Pharmacopoeia have since been deleted. The herbal medicines processing methods significantly affect their pharmacological properties, and hence this forms an essential part of KHM. In this research, therefore, the history of processing KHM and the steps involved have been summarized and analyzed. Furthermore, the changes in the efficacy of 165 herbal medicines in the Korean Pharmacopoeia after processing were summarized. In addition, the traditional processing methods in various textbooks and the processing methods in Korean Pharmacopoeia were compared to enhance the current level of standardization. This study, therefore, suggests a new “3K formula” as the first step for standardization of herbal medicines processing. With this formula, it is possible to name the processed herbal medicines in a unified way. With the ever-increasing global demand for herbal medicines, there is a clear necessity for further future studies on the standardization of the herbal medicines processing methods.

Herbal prescriptions play a crucial role in traditional East Asian medicine on the aspects of disease treatment and knowledge understanding. However, the vast number of these prescriptions makes it challenging to unlock their hidden knowledge. To address this, we developed EveryFormula, a web-based application designed to facilitate the understanding of the relationships between herbal prescriptions, medicinal herbs, and diseases through data-driven search and analysis. EveryFormula features [SEARCH] for relevance analysis, [COWORD-NET] for term network analysis, and [SEMANTIC-MAP] for semantic analysis. These tools enable users to search for prescriptions, analyze related medicinal herbs and diseases, and trace similar terms, thereby making it easier to derive explicit knowledge from traditional East Asian medicine prescriptions. This application promises to aid anyone interested in understanding and utilizing traditional East Asian medicine prescriptions.

The purpose of this investigation is to analyze for the Korean patent application trends of health functional foods based on the medicinal plant resources. An electronic search for health functional foods was conducted in WIPSON DB (https://www.wipson.com). Korean patents that were registered between January 1, 2008, and October 14, 2019, were selected in the present study. The principal applicants and organizations, target diseases and their technologies, the number of a valid patent, Korean, scientific, and medicinal names of medicinal plants and their classified patents were provided. A total of 1,404 patents were included in this study. The health functional food patents using medicinal plants applied to the disease content includes metabolic (477 cases, 34.0%), immune (143 cases, 10.2%), cutaneous (122 cases, 8.7%), neurodegenerative (97 cases, 6.9%), and musculoskeletal diseases (81 cases, 5.8%). The most patent applications in this study belonged to the Korea Food Research Institute (124 cases). The frequently intended medicinal plant families for the patent of health functional foods belonged to Asteraceae (33 species), followed by Fabaceae (15 species), Apiaceae (13 species), Rosaceae (12 species), Lamiaceae (10 species), Araliaceae (10 species). Panax ginseng C.A.Mey. (Ginseng Radix) was the most used for various diseases (12/18 classified patents). The patent information is useful for inventing new patent of health functional foods using medicinal plant resources. Moreover, these data should be connected in various research fields such as economic botany, herbal medicine, alternative, and complementary medicine.

The purpose of this review is to analyze the clinical study trends on Korean medicine treatment for Sjogren’s syndrome. We conducted a search for studies of Sjogren’s syndrome treated with Korean medicine across 4 web databases. As a result, 7 case report studies were selected and analyzed. The most frequently used treatment was herbal medicine, and the most frequently prescribed medicinal herbs were Liriopis Tuber and Glycyrrhizae Radix. The VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) and ESSPRI (the European League Against Rheumatism Sjogren's Syndrome Patient Reported Index) were the most commonly used evaluation tools for measuring outcomes. All the studies included in this review reported that Korean medicine treatment was effective for treating symptoms of Sjogren’s syndrome. Further clinical studies are needed to establish a high level of evidence for Korean medicine treatment for Sjogren’s syndrome.

It was studied to compare between efficacies of Atractylodes Rhizome recorded in Traditional Korean Medicine literatures and pharmacological efficacies identified in recent studies. Traditional uses of Atractylodes Rhizome were collected from thirteen herbal books and five medical books, and pharmacological efficacy studies were collected from three digital databases. After the WHO-ATC classification criteria was used to sort types of the efficacies, comparison between traditional uses and pharmacologically identified efficacy was performed. Two hundred thirty-five efficacies collected from traditional literatures were classified into twenty-six efficacy types. Sixty-five pharmacological efficacy studies collected from three databases reported forty efficacy types. Traditional literatures and experimental studies were most commonly reported gastrointestinal system-related efficacies. It was found that most pharmacological efficacy studies examined main efficacies which had already recorded in traditional literatures. There were studies which examined the efficacy for gastrointestinal disorders, musculoskeletal anti-inflammation, diuretic effect, the inhibitory effect of uterine contraction and the whitening effect (nine, six, three, one, and one, respectively). On the other hand, opposite efficacy and new potential efficacies were also observed. There were two studies reported the effect for constipation, but most traditional literatures recorded antidiarrheal effect. In addition, there were studies which found hypoglycemic antidiabetic, antineoplastic, and antioxidative effect (five, eight, and three, respectively). Most experimental studies were inspired by traditional uses recorded traditional medical literatures. Some studies found efficacies contrary to traditional uses or new potential efficacies.

Purpose: In this study, the neuroprotective effect of the methanol extract of Daphne genkwa Flos (DGF-ex) against glutamate-induced neurotoxicity was studied in mouse hippocampal HT22 cells. Materials and Methods: We conducted the cytoprotective effect of DGF-ex against a 24-hour-stress-induced condition by glutamate in HT22 cells. The inhibitory effect of DGF-ex on cellular necrosis and apoptosis and ROS (reactive oxygen species) was observed using fluorescence microscopy. To further clarify its antioxidant efficacy, assays on SOD (superoxide dismutase) regulation and DPPH/ABTS radical scavenging ability were also conducted. A chemical profile of DGF-ex was also obtained via UPLC analysis. Results: Pretreatment with DGF-ex significantly reduced glutamate-induced loss of cell viability and release of LDH (lactate dehydrogenase). DGF-ex showed similar effects to the antioxidant quercetin (15μM) in the evaluation of DPPH/ABST radical scavenging activity and SOD activity evaluation. In addition, DGF-ex remarkedly downregulated the glutamate-induced programmed HT22 cell death, which was shown in the normalization of the cellular necrosis and apoptosis ratio. Conclusion: These results exhibit DGF-ex has the ability to protect against glutamate-induced cytotoxicity in the HT22 cell line via the drug candidate’s antioxidant capacity. This research confirmed the DGF-ex as a valuable drug candidate for the prevention and treatment of oxidative stress-mediated neurodegenerative diseases.

From the Medicinal Herb Garden, College of Pharmacy, Seoul National University in Korea, medicinal plants were studied. 365 species in 89 families of plants were investigated by taking photos. Among this botanical garden, the most dominant family was Compositae with 42 species, followed by Rosaceae with 29 species, Apiaceae with 27 species, Lamiaceae with 18 species, and Ranunculaceae 16 species. And there are others as well in the following order; Asparagaceae, Polygonaceae, Leguminosae, Caprifoliaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Papaveraceae, Rutaceae.

This study aimed to investigate the effects of aqueous extract of Pelodiscis Carapax (PCE) in monosodium iodoacetate (MIA)-induced osteoarthritis (OA) mice. PCE (200 mg/kg) was orally administered to C57BL/6 mice for 2 weeks. After MIA injection (75 mg/mL), we performed a behavior test (open field test, rotarod test) followed by micro-computed tomography, histopathological analysis, and real-time quantitative PCR analysis on knee joint tissues. PCE treatment improved general gait locomotor activity, joint morphological features, and histopathological features compared to the MIA-induced mice. In addition, it confirmed that the mRNA expression levels of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1 in the joint tissues were increased in the PCE-treated group. Our result revealed that PCE treatment phenotypically improved OA symptoms.

Gilgyeong (桔梗), a root of Platycodon grandiflorus (Jacq.) A.DC. (Campanulaceae), has been named as “Go-gilgyeong (苦桔梗)” in the traditional herbal literature owing to its bitter taste. The bitter Go-gilgyeong is considered to be of higher value in the herbal markets, and its commercial-grade is assessed according to its wildness and growth year. Jeni (薺苨), a root of Adenophora remotiflora (Siebold & Zucc.) Miq. (Campanulaceae), has also been named as “Cheom-gilgyeong (甛桔梗)” in the herbal literature, and is misunderstood as another name of Gilgyeong commercially. In the present study, we investigated the origin of Go-gilgyeong and Cheon-gilgyeong in the herbal literature and markets, and compared their therapeutic effects and morphological features. It was concluded that the terms Go-gilgyeong and Cheom-gilgyeong were used to distinguish the genuine Gilgyeong from its counterfeit. Go-gilgyeong was named after the bitter taste of Gilgyeong, while Cheom-gilgyeong was named after the sweet taste of Jeni, not as a commercial name of Gilgyeong. The bitterness, wildness, and growth year of P. grandiflorus roots could not guarantee the quality of Gilgyeong. Sore throat associated with severe heat syndrome (熱毒) can be treated by Jeni, while that associated with lesser heat can be treated by Gilgyeong. Gilgyeong and Jeni, although belonging to the same family, were morphologically distinguishable by their shapes, including the cross striations on the epidermis and the cambium and interstice on transversely sectioned surfaces. These results provide critical evidence for the clinical use of Gilgyeong and also indicate that Gilgyeong should be separated from Jeni.

This study aims to understand the system and policy history of Korean medicine in North Korea. This study is based on previously published studies on the history of Koryo medicine in North Korea. We have searched for policy documents that are thought to contain important policy contents for Koryo medicine. The history of Koryo medicine from liberation to the present is divided into four periods. The 1st period is “the time to set the direction of Koryo medicine” (1945-1956), the 2nd period is “the time to transfer Koyo medicine to health care” (1957-1972), and the 3rd period is “the time to expand the health care of Koyo medicine” (1973 -1993), the 4th period is “the period of re-establishment of the role of Koryo medicine” (1994-present). The North Korean regime has made the policy direction of combining Koryo medicine with modern medicine, improving Koryo medicine production, and modernizing Koryo medicine. The Kim Jong-un regime tried to develop Koryo medicine in terms of knowledge economy and informatization.