Academic literature on the topic 'Cuscuta chinensis'

碩士<br>中國醫藥大學<br>中國藥學暨中藥資源學系碩士班<br>99<br>Seeds of Cuscuta chinensis, also known as Cuscutae Semen and Tu-Si-Zi, is one of the commonly used Chinese medicinal materials. It has been used as a tonic for nourishing the liver and kidneys. However, the immunoregulatory effect of Cuscutae Semen is rarely studied. Dendritic cells (DCs) play a critical role in initiating immune response. Thus, DCs are regarded as a major target of immunomodulator for controlling immune responses. In this study, we examined the effect of Cuscutae Semen on mouse bone marrow-derived DC activation. We found that the methanol extract of Cuscutae Semen (MECS) induced the pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Also, the n-butanol and 90% methanol layers of the fractionation of MECS potentially suppressed LPS-induced DC activation, while the water layers of the fractionation of MECS potentially promoted DC activation. To identify the active ingredients, we purified compounds from n-butanol layer by using positive phase open column and reverse phase C18 column-HPLC equipment. Three compounds were found and their immunoregulatory effects were further examined. Our results showed that two of them(quercetin-3-O-apiosyl-(1→2)-galactoside, kaempferol-3-O- galactoside) suppressed DC, while the other one( chlorogenic acid ) promoted DC activation.

碩士<br>高雄醫學大學<br>天然藥物研究所<br>98<br>In a course for searching natural estrogenic-like compounds from natural products, including over hundred kinds of extracts of plants and Chinese herb medicines were tested. The EtOH extract of the seeds of Cuscuta chinensis showed the significant estrogenic activity toward the transgenic Arabidopsis pER8:GUS reporter assay. Cuscuta chinensis Lam. (Convolvulaceae), a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), was used for tonifing liver and kidney, improving eyesight, invigorate yang, securing essence and reducing urination, and prevent abortion that was associated with current clinical gynecological disease or syndromes. In this study, the EtOH extract of the seeds of C. chinensis was partitioned into n-hexane, 75% aqueous MeOH, n-BuOH, and H2O layers, respectively. Three new compounds, (+)-cuscutaresinol A-C (1-3), together with 16 known compounds, were isolated from the 75% MeOH(aq) layer by bioactivity-guided fractionation and isolation. Six isolates were screened for estrogenic activity assay, the major compounds of kaempferol (10) and isorhamnetin (11) showed considerable estrogenic activity, 37.5 μg/mL and 9.375 μg/mL, respectively. Moreover, (+)-pinoresinol (7) exhibited expression in a high concentration (> 100 μg/mL). The other compounds, (+)-sesamin (4)、(+)-xanthoxylol (5) and 9-hydroxysesamin (6), were found to be inactive. Pure compounds were tested for anti-inflammatory activity, anti-platelet aggregation effect and cytotoxicity; however, they didn’t show the significant activities on these three assay. The major and active compounds were identified from the seeds of C. chinensis by the transgenic plant, pER8:GUS reporter assay system. Because this screening system has a high sensitivity and high stability properties. And this system could tolerate higher concentrations of the samples than animal or human cells. This screening model should be development for primary assays of natural products in the future.

碩士<br>中國醫藥大學<br>中國藥學暨中藥資源學系碩士班<br>100<br>A member of the Convolvulaceae family, seeds of Cuscuta chinensis (Lam.) called Chinese Dodder are commonly used as a tonic medicinal material and used for treating tocolysis, incontinence, high blood pressure and kidney deficiency by traditional Chinese physicians in Taiwan. In previous studies, the extracts of C. chinensis exhibit efficient antioxidative and human immunity enhancement activities. However, those researches of the anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects of Cuscutae Semen are still not enough thorough. In this study, the anti- inflammatory and analgesic effects of the methanolic extract of C. chinensis (CCMeOH) were examined by acetic acid-induced writhing response and formalin tests. The anti-inflammatory effect of the CCMeOH was examined by λ-carrageenan- induced paw edema in mice, and the indomethacin was used as a positive control among these animal experiments. To understand the mechanism of anti- inflammatory effect of the CCMeOH, the superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutahoine reductase (GSH-Rx), glutahoine peroxidase (GSH-Px) activities in livers and malondialdehyde (MDA), nitric oxide (NO), cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1-beta (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels in paws were evaluated by ELISA kit. The result showed that CCMeOH inhibited the acetic acid-induced writhing response, the early phase and late phase of formalin- induced licking times and Carrageenan-induced rat paw oedema. CCMeOH decreased those inflammatory factors (MDA、NF-κB、TNF-α、IL-1β、IL-6、NO、COX-2) and increased the ability of those antioxidant enzymes (SOD、GPx、GRd).

碩士<br>國立陽明大學<br>生物藥學研究所<br>88<br>Excitotoxivity of glutamate (Glu) is thought to play an important role in the neuronal loss occurred in numerous brain diseases. Using Glu-induced cell death in hippocampal cultures as an in vitro model system, this study was undertaken to assess the therapeutic application of Semen Cuscuta chinensis (Cuch) to neuronal loss observed in brain diseases. It was found that the water extract of Cuch attenuated neural injury in hippocampal neuron/glia mixed cultures during the period of Glu administration. The herbal medicine appeared to decrease the rate of LDH release in hippocampal neuron/glia mixed cultures after Glu exposure. Moreove it showed a wide time window of efficacy since it remained protective 9 hrs after the application of Glu. This protective effect of Chch, nonetheless, was decreased by a transcription inhibitor. Cuch significantly increased the release of interleukin-1β(IL-1β) in mixed cultures during Glu administration. Cuch, nonetheless was no longer capable of decreasing Glu-induced cell death in mixed cultures in which endogenous IL-1β was neutralized with a specific antibody. Thus, it is suggested that IL-1β may take part in the protective effect of Cuch. Using cultures containing different percentages of neurons, I hace demonstrated that Cuch conferred neuronal cell protection against Glu-induced toxicity. The beneficial action of the herb, nonetheless, was not observed in cultured glial cells. In contrast, the metabolic activity increased in glial cultures subjected to Cuch treatment, indicating the dual effect of Cuch on different cellular targets. Taken together, Cuch appears to render neuronal cells resistant to excitotoxicity. Given the wide time window of efficiency, it is conceivable that would serve as an effective agent for pharmacological interference with neurodegeneration during brain diseases. 7

博士<br>高雄醫學大學<br>藥學研究所<br>96<br>The seed of Cuscuta chinensis Lam. (Convolvulaceae), a common traditional Chinese herb, has been used for centuries in the practice of medicated diet and dietetic therapy. Previous studies have indicated that C. chinensis possesses some pharmacological actvities. However, the antioxidant activity and hepatoprotective effect of C. chinensis have not yet been reported. The antioxidant activities were determined by several in vitro antioxidant activity assays, and also quantitated and characterized the flavonols in the different extracts and organic fractions from the seeds of C. chinensis. Moreover, as oxidative stress promotes the development of acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatotoxicity, I also evaluated and compared in vivo the hepatoprotective effects and antioxidant activities of the water (CH) and ethanol extract (CE) of C. chinensis on APAP-induced hepatotoxicity in rats. The results showed that the antioxidant activities of CE was more potent than CH, and a direct correlation between the flavonol content and the antioxidant activities from the extracts and fractions of C. chinensis was observed. In addition, the C. chinensis ethanol extract displayed a significant hepatoprotective effect by reducing levels of liver function index, increasing levels of antioxidant enzymes, and reducing lipid peroxidation. In contrast, CH did not exhibit any hepatoprotective effects that are seen in the CE. Furthermore, in recent years, the more efficient use of herbal medicine has helped to decrease the amount of herb material used and aid in coping with the resource restriction of traditional Chinese herb. Novel pharmaceutical technologies for drug preparation such as nanoparticle formulations are invented to increase drug efficacy, its bioavailability, and decrease the amount of material use. Due to the poor water solubility of CE, its absorption upon oral administration could be limited. Nanonization is one of the methods for drug size reduction which can improve the bioavailability of CE, as confirmed by these results. Indeed, an oral dose of C. chinensis nanoparticles that is 5 times as less as the CE was observed to exhibit similar hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects. In conclusion, the study report here for the first time novel therapeutic effects for C. chinensis, including its antioxidant and hepatoprotective activities. The study has also demonstrated for the first time that the use of C. chinensis nanoparticles can help decrease the dosage of CE while achieving the same level of effects. The nanonization of the drug which enhances the drug efficacy would translate to decreased cost and waste of herbal material. Accordingly, the study suggests modernization and potential international development in the application of herbal medicine.