Japanese pharmacopoeia prescribes a crude drug, Uncaria hook, or the hook-like structures of Uncaria rhynchophylla (Miq.) Jacks, U. sinensis (Oliv.) Havil., and U. macrophylla Wall., while Chinese pharmacopoeia prescribes the hooks with attached stems of above3species, in addition to2other species of Uncaria hook; U. hirsuta Havil. and U. sessilifructus Roxb (all in the Rubiaceae family). Our herbological study has found that the botanical origin was Uncaria rhynchophylla before the Ming Dynasty, and that the part used was not the hook itself, but the plant's bark till the early Ming Dynasty. Use of the hooks with stems began in the late Ming Dynasty. On the other hand, in Japan, the hooks themselves have been mainly collected from wild U. rhynchophylla plants growing in southern warm-temperate zone of Japan, for use in Kampo medicines. We considered this differing Japanese custom was influenced by the descriptions in the Ben Cao Gan Mu (1596)written in the Ming dynasty by Li Si Chen, which state that the hook itself had medicinally sharp power. And we conclude that use of Uncaria bark alone is reasonable for prescriptions which originated before the early Ming dynasty, such as chotosan.
Unit ; Chinese People ; Japanese language ; Within ; Hook

  We have managed information on adverse drug reaction using the clinical records to obtain data from within our hospital and using Medicine-Pocketbooks to obtain data outside our hospital.  Our system for management of side effect information does not require the development of a separate specialized system.  Our method of collecting side effect information was changed in April 2007.  Therefore, we evaluated our present method of collecting information on side effects by comparing the method used before the change with the new method.  The amount of side effect information collected has clearly increased since April 2007.  Although the amount of data collected directly from doctors has increased eight-fold, the amount collected from other data sources has hardly changed.  Side effect symptoms have hardly changed, with skin symptoms being the most frequent side effect.  Suspected drugs have also hardly changed, with antibiotics being the most frequently suspected drugs.  In addition, we conducted questionnaire surveys on the use of Medicine-Pocketbooks by patients who registered side effect information at our hospital to determine whether Medicine-Pocketbooks were being used effectively as a tool for the management of side effect information.  Among patients who registered their side effect information at our hospital, 76% also presented their Medicine-Pocketbooks to other medical institutions.  In addition, all patients received a change in prescription or were questioned about their side effect information when they presented their Medicine-Pocketbooks.  Our present method of collecting side effect information is considered appropriate since there was an increase in the amount of side effect information collected from doctors.  Medicine-Pocketbooks have also been effectively used as a tool for managing side effect information.

The crude Chinese drug “Uncaria hook” is a hook, or a twig with an attached hook of Uncaria plants seen in today's Chinese and Japanese medicinal markets. However, through herbological studies we found that the botanical origin of Uncaria hook was Uncaria rhynchophylla (Miq.) Miq., and that until the middle of Ming Dynasty in ancient China, the medicinal part used was the twig bark, not the hook itself, and use of the twig with hook was begun in the later Ming Dynasty. This change in practice seems to have been influenced by herbal descriptions written in the Ming Dynasty. Some of these stated that the medical effect of hooks was stronger than that of the bark.To determine the appropriate medicinal part of this crude drug in terms of chemical quality, we analyzed the alkaloid contents of Uncaria rhynchophylla bark, hooks, and twigs collected in Japan. Our result showed that the alkaloid content of the bark was higher than that of the twigs and hooks. Rhynchophylline and hirsutine, the alkaloid contained in Uncaria hook, were reported to improve memory learning and to cure hypertension, respectively. Since the alkaloid content profile of the bark was different from that of the hook, a question arose as to whether the medicinal properties of the part commonly used as “Uncaria hook” meet the requirement of the crude drug. Further pharmacological study is expected.
Chinese People ; Alkaloids ; Within ; Hook ; Pharmaceutical Preparations

Twenty endurance-trained athletes (five male speed-skaters, eleven male and four female cross-country skiers, 16-18 years) ran on a treadmill by a protocol of incremental graded increase in workload until exhaustion during an endurance training period in off-season summer. Immediately after exercise, all developed peripheral leukocytosis (1.9 times; p<0.01) due mainly to lymphocytosis (2.6 times; p<0.01) with a predominant effect on large granular lymphocyte (natural killer cell) count (5.9 times ; p<0.01) . Monocyte count was also enhanced 2.3 times (p<0.01) . These increases were transitory and returned to the pre-exercise levels 1 h later. Peripheral neutrophilia was also observed by 43% (p<0.01) immediately after exercise and remained elevated by 25% (p<0.01) 1 h after exercise, but a shift to the left did not take place. The capacity of isolated neutrophils to produce reactive oxygen species was assessed by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence which detects mainly myeloperoxidase (MPO) -mediated formation of such hyperreactive oxidants as HOCl. The maximum intensity of chemiluminescence (peak height) upon stimulation with opsonized zymosan was significantly enhanced following exercise (p<0.05) . Similar results were obtained when phorbol myristate acetate was employed as nonphagocytic soluble stimulus (p<0.01), suggesting that the capacity of neutrophils to degranulate MPO rather than phagocytosis was enhanced following exercise. In addition, the enhancements of chemiluminescence were positively correlated with the increase in segmented neutrophil count. These data indicate that maximal exercise not only mobilized mature neutrophils from the marginated pool into the circulation, but also augmented their capacity to generate reactive oxygen species of higher reactivity.