Effect of decursinol angelate on the pharmacokinetics of theophylline and its metabolites in rats.

Herb-drug interactions represent a serious problem as herbal medicine is used extensively in the modern world. This study investigated the effects of decursinol angelate on the pharmacokinetics of theophylline, a typical substrate of the cytochrome P450 1A2 enzyme, in rats. After 3 days of decursinol angelate pretreatment, on the fourth day, rats were administered decursinol angelate and theophylline concomitantly. Blood theophylline and its major metabolite [1-methylxanthine (1-MX), 3-methylxanthine (3-MX), 1-methyluric acid (1-MU), and 1,3-dimethyluric acid (1,3-DMU)] levels were monitored by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy. The results indicated that theophylline clearance significantly decreased and the area under the concentration-time curve (AUC) increased in decursinol angelate (25 mg/kg)-pretreated rats administered theophylline (10 mg/kg). The elimination half-life (t1/2) of theophylline was increased by 20%. In the presence of decursinol angelate (25 mg/kg), the pharmacokinetic parameters of three metabolites (1-MX, 1,3-DMU, and 1-MU) were significantly altered (half-life for 1-MU, and AUC24 h for 1-MX, 1,3-DMU, and 1-MU). Our results suggest that patients receiving CYP1A2-metabolized drugs, such as caffeine and theophylline, should be advised of the potential herb-drug interaction to reduce the risk of therapeutic failure or increased toxicity of conventional drug therapy.

Species and sex identification of the Korean goral (Nemorhaedus caudatus) by molecular analysis of non-invasive samples.

Korean long-tailed goral (Nemorhaedus caudatus) is one of the most endangered species in South Korea. However, detailed species distribution and sex ratio data on the elusive goral are still lacking due to difficulty of identification of the species and sex in the field. The primary aim of this study was to develop an economical PCR-RFLP method to identify species using invasive or non-invasive samples from five Korean ungulates: goral (N. caudatus), roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), feral goat (Capra hircus), water deer (Hydropotes inermis) and musk deer (Moschus moschiferus). The secondary aim was to find more efficient molecular sexing techniques that may be applied to invasive or non-invasive samples of ungulate species. We successfully utilized PCR-RFLP of partial mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (376 bp) for species identification, and sex-specific amplification of ZFX/Y and AMELX/Y genes for sexing. Three species (goral, goat and water deer) showed distinctive band patterns by using three restriction enzymes (XbaI, StuI or SspI). Three different sexing primer sets (LGL331/335 for ZFX/Y gene; SE47/48 or SE47/53 for AMELX/Y gene) produced sex-specific band patterns in goral, goat and roe deer. Our results suggest that the molecular analyses of non-invasive samples might provide us with potential tools for the further genetic and ecological study of Korean goral and related species.

Molecular phylogenetic status of the Korean goral and Japanese serow based on partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene.

To investigate the molecular phylogenetic status of the Korean goral, Nemorhaedus caudatus raddeanus, and Japanese serow, Capricornis crispus, we determined partial sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene of twelve Korean gorals and sixteen Japanese serows, and compared them with those of the major lineages of Rupicaprini species including two other Nemorhaedus species and two other Capricornis species. The Korean gorals examined possessed two haplotypes with only one nucleotide difference between them, while the Japanese serows showed slightly higher sequence diversity with five haplotypes. Genetic distances and molecular phylogenetic trees indicated that there is considerable genetic divergence between the Korean goral and N. caudatus (the Chinese goral) [Groves and Shields (1996)], but virtually none between Korean and Russian gorals. The Korean and Russian gorals may therefore be distinct from the Chinese goral. The data highlight the importance of conservation of the goral populations of these regions, and the need to reconsider the taxonomic status of Korean and Russian gorals. Our study also clearly demonstrated sufficient genetic distance between serows and gorals to justify their assignment to separate genera. Of the three species of Capricornis, the Formosan serow, C. swinhoei is more closely related to C. sumatraensis than to the Japanese serow, suggesting that the Formosan serow is a distinct species. Preliminary data on intraspecific genetic variation in the Japanese serow are also presented.