Long-Term Exposure to Urban Particulate Matter on the Ocular Surface and the Incidence of Deleterious Changes in the Cornea, Conjunctiva and Retina in Rats.

We investigated the time-dependent deleterious ocular changes induced by urban particulate matter (UPM) in vitro and in vivo. UPM treatment decreased human corneal epithelial cell migration and survival. Fluorescein scores were consistently increased by UPM application for 16 weeks. One week of rest at 2 or 4 weeks led to a recovery trend, whereas two weeks of rest at 8 weeks induced no change. UPM treatment decreased the tear film break-up time at 2 weeks, which was thereafter maintained until 16 weeks. No changes were found after periods of rest. UPM-treated eyes exhibited greater corneal epithelium thickness than normal eyes at 2 weeks, which recovered to normal at 4 and 8 weeks and was significantly decreased at 16 weeks. Apoptotic cell number in the epithelium was increased at 2 weeks, which remained constant except at 8 weeks. IL-6 expression in the cornea of the right eye continually increased for 16 weeks, and significant recovery was only observed at 8 weeks after 2 weeks of rest. Ocular pressure was significantly increased in the right eye at 12 and 16 weeks. Topical UPM application to the eye induced deleterious changes to various closely related parts of the eye.

Herbal preparation (HemoHIM) enhanced functional maturation of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells mediated toll-like receptor 4.

BACKGROUND: HemoHIM, which is an herbal preparation of three edible herbs (Angelicam gigas Nakai, Cnidium offinale Makino, and Peaonia japonica Miyabe), is known to have various biological and immunological activities, but the modulatory effects of this preparation on dendritic cells (DCs)-mediated immune responses have not been examined previously. DCs are a unique group of white blood cells that initiate primary immune responses by capturing, processing, and presenting antigens to T cells. RESULTS: In the present study, we investigated the effect of HemoHIM on the functional and phenotypic maturation of murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) both in vitro and in vivo. The expression of co-stimulatory molecules (CD40, CD80, CD86, MHC I, and MHC II) and the production of cytokines (IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-12p70, and TNF-α) were increased by HemoHIM in BMDCs. Furthermore, the antigen-uptake ability of BMDCs was decreased by HemoHIM, and the antigen-presenting ability of HemoHIM-treated mature BMDCs increased TLR4-dependent CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrated that HemoHIM induces TLR4-mediated BMDCs functional and phenotypic maturation through in vivo and in vitro. And our study showed the antigen-presenting ability that HemoHIM-treated mature BMDCs increase CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses by in vitro. These results suggest that HemoHIM has the potential to mediate DC immune responses.

Antiosteoporosis Activity of New Oriental Medicine Preparation (Kyungokgo Mixed with Water Extract of Hovenia dulcis) on the Ovariectomized Mice.

Protective effect of new oriental medicine (Kyungokgo mixed with water extract of Hovenia dulcis, KOGHD) was assessed on the bone loss induced mice by ovariectomy. In the in vivo experiments, antiosteoporosis effect of KOGHD was investigated using ovariectomized osteoporosis mice model. After 6 weeks of treatment, the mice were euthanized, and the effect of Kyungokgo (KOG) and KOGHD on body weight, spleen weigh, thymus weight, uterine weight, serum biochemical indicators, bone weight and length, immune cell population, bone morphometric parameters, and histological stains was observed. Our results showed that KOGHD prevented the deterioration of trabecular microarchitecture caused by ovariectomy, which were accompanied by the lower levels of bone turnover markers and immune cell population as evidenced by the inhibition of RANKL-mediated osteoclast differentiation without cytotoxic effect on bone marrow derived macrophages (BMMs). Therefore, these results suggest that the Hovenia dulcis (HD) supplementation in the KOG may also prevent and treat bone loss.