Research

1. Clinical Pharmacology of Kampo Medicines

Utility of Kampo medicine (Japanese traditional medicine) or traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) rises more and more to treat the life-style related diseases, chronic disease or a physical phenotypic disorder that are hard to be cured in contemporary medicine. However, we cannot but say that the scientific evidences (EBM) are still insufficient. We do study to investigate the evidences of Kampo or TCM using the experimental animal models for chronic disease, allergosis and stress disorders. Furthermore, we lack drug information such as drug interaction (DI) with Western medicine, or pharmacokinetics of the composition of Kampo or TCM when we really use them in clinics. Therefore, we try to obtain basical data for DI activities for Kampo or TCM.

 

2. Molecular & Cellular Biology of Plant Secondary Metabolism
The origin of the most of crude drugs are plants, and their active ingredient are secondary metabolites. It is assumed that the secondary metabolite which plants produce is beyond 50000 kinds and the chemical constitution is extremely complicated and has various bioactivity. Therefore, they are applied to the material of not only new drugs and functional foods, but also pigments, aromatic cosmetics and food additives. For a large quantity of production and stable supply of these secondary metabolites, the production by plant culture cells has been tried. Therefore, we perform the study that aimed at the producive efficiency by doing enzymatic isolation and functional analysis to carry biosynthesis of secondary metabolite on using various plant culture cells.
Furthermore, we analyze characteristics of those biosynthetic enzymes in molecular level in order to apply new bioactive substance production. Therefore, we expose a focus how secondary metabolism system is controlled, and how secondary metabolites store and secrete. In this way, we use vegetal original ability and contribute to the production of useful compounds effectively by studying plant secondary metabolism system generally.

Culture of Lithospermum erythrorhizon

3. Validation of Natural Medicines
The material which assumes natural resources origin is widely used as dieary supplements as well as curde drugs or traditional Chinese medicine. However, in order to use them justly, judgments of the truth of the original animals or plants and preservation of quality in a final products are demanded . Then, we try development of methods using gene peculiar to a plant as well as quality evaluation methods to assume a conventional chemical index component, and suggest its proposed utility.

Gene profile of Atractyloidis lancea
Name of crude drug: So-jutsu (Atractyloidis lanceae rhizoma)
Pharmacology in TCM: Resolving and eliminating dampness with aromatics, dispelling wind, strengthening the spleen

Recent Publication

1. Tsukamoto, K. et al., Counteractive effect of Paeonia lactiflora root constituent mudanpioside E against suppressive effect of Shoseiryuto-extract on passive cutaneous anaphylaxis reaction in mice
 
Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 153(3): 884-889, 2014[Elsevier]
2. Makino, T. et al., 3-Monoglucuronyl-glycyrrhretinic acid is a substrate of organic anion transporters expressed in tubular epithelial cells and plays important roles in licorice-induced pseudoaldosteronism by inhibiting 11β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase 2.
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 342(2) 297-304, 2012 [JPET]
3. Nagatoshi, M. et al., An iridoid-specific glucosyltransferase from Gardenia jasminoides.
Journal of Biological Chemistry 286(37) 32866-32874, 2011.[JBC]
4. Hasada, K. et al., Quantitative determination of atractylon in Atractylodis Rhizoma and Atractylodis Lanceae Rhizoma by 1H-NMR spectroscopy.
Journal of Natural Medicines 64 (2) 161-166, 2010.[Springer]

Department of Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Science,
Nagoya City University,
3-1 Tanabe-Dori, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 4678603, Japan
TEL & FAX +81 52 836 3415

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