| The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of herbal medicine complex (HMC) containing Camellia sinensis L., Duchoesna chrysantha, Houttuynia cordata Thunberg, Poncirus trifoliata Rafinesque on skin inflammation and atopic dermatitis. First, we examined the anti-inflammatory effect of HMC in TNF-α induced human keratinocytes (HaCaT cell). Real-time PCR and western blotting were performed to evaluate the expression of inflammatory cytokines (e.g., iNOS, COX-2, IL-6, IL-8) mRNA and protein. Four-weeks old male NC/Nga mice were treated with 1% 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene (DNCB) solution and used as an atopic dermatitis mice model. And, HMC (200 mg/kg or 400 mg/kg) was administered directly into the stomach of mice for 4 weeks, and blood or serum analysis, tissue staining were performed after oral gavage. As a result HMC inhibited the mRNA expression of iNOS, COX-2, IL-6, and IL-8, which had been increased by TNF-α in HaCaT cells. In addition, the protein expression was also significantly suppressed in the same way as the mRNA expression results. The in vivo experiment results showed that, HMC administration reduced thickening of the epidermis and infiltration of eosinophil into the skin stratum basale compared to DNCB treatment. In addition, HMC administration significantly reduced the inflammatory cytokines (IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, and IL-13) production and immunocyte (white blood cell, lymphocyte, neutrophil, and eosinophil) count compared to DNCB treatment. Moreover, the serum IgE and histamine level was decreased by HMC administration. These results suggest that HMC can be used as effective herbal medicine extract for skin inflammation and atopic dermatitis. And this study may contribute to the development of the herbal medicine-based drug for the treatment of skin inflammation and atopic dermatitis. |
| In this study, we proposed a mathematical model that can explain the source of the observed variability of repeated measurement data collected in Korean medicine clinical practice, and conducted a pilot analysis to infer the source of these variability based on our model. Mathematical model was constructed by dividing the observed variations into three components: common time-dependent variations, signal shift, and measurement error. To show the applicability of our model in real data, we analyzed 20 repeated measurement data of Korean clinical indicators in graduate students of Pusan National University Graduate School of Korean Medicine. We showed how to infer each source of variations based on our model and also showed the limitation of inference given the acquired the dataset. On the basis of objective recognition of these source of the variability, we hope that quantitative investigations on these sources for each Korean medicine clinical indicator are made in the future, so that they can be used in the clinical and educational areas of Korean medicine. |
| Dongje school (同濟學校), alternately Dongje medical school, is generally recognized as the first modern school for Korean medicine. However, there is very limited information concerning its establishment, duration period, governance, location, and contents for teaching. We found several points which are different from popular opinions through investigating news articles of those days and maps. Dongje school has established on June 1, 1906 and the time of its discontinuance is not clear. The school was founded with the cooperation of three former government officials of the Korean Empire, Eungse Lee (李應世), Piljoo Kang (姜弼周), and Dongho Cho (趙東浩) and many people donated fund for supporting Dongje school. However, there is no evidence of national or royal expenditures for operating the school. Dongje school has been established in 76-6, Seohak hill (西學峴), Yeogyeong-bang (餘慶坊), West county (西署), Seoul and moved to Naesum-si (內贍寺) located in Bongsangsi front village (奉常寺前門洞), Indal-bang (仁達坊), West county, at September 1906. The curriculum of the school comprehends several disciplines including literature in Korean and Chinese, mathematics, foreign language, physics, and Western medicine, as well as Korean medicine. Particularly at that time, they thought both of women and men. To elucidate the issue of the governance of Dongje school regarding the national or royal establishment, more information and extensive studies should be needed. |
| SU-Eohyeol pharmacopuncture(SUEP) was developed by adding Cervi Pantotrichum Cornu to Jungsongouhyul pharmacopuncture. This genotoxicity evaluation was performed to evaluate the mutagenic potential of the test substance SUEP agent using histidine, which requires strains of Salmonella typhimurium (TA98, TA100, TA1535, TA1537), and tryptophan, which requires Escherichia coli (WP2uvrA) strain in the presence and absence of metabolic activation. According to the results of the dose range finding study conducted prior to the main study, the dose levels of the test substance in the main study were determined as 100, 50, 25, 12.5, 6.25%, and positive and negative controls were established. As a result of the main study, the mean number of revertant colonies compared to negative controls was less than 2-fold at all dose levels of SUEP in all strains with and without metabolic activation. In the positive control group, the mean number of revertant colonies for each strain was markedly increased by more than two times compared to the negative control group. Based on the result of this study, the test substance, SUEP did not show any indication of mutagenic potential under the conditions of this study. |
