title: Bark Constituents from Mushroom-detoxified Rhus verniciflua Suppress Kainic Acid-induced Neuronal Cell Death in Mouse Hippocampus.
abstract: Urushinol, a plant allergen, has significantly restricted the medical application of Rhus verniciflua, although it has been reported to possess a wide variety of biological activities such as anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anti-cancer actions. To reduce the urushinol content while maintaining the beneficial biological activities, mushroom-mediated fermentation of Rhus verniciflua was carried out and this method resulted in significantly attenuated allergenicity [1]. In the present study, to examine the neuroprotective properties of mushroom-fermented stem bark of Rhus verniciflua, two constituents were isolated from mushroom-fermented bark and their neuroprotective properties were examined in a mouse model of kainic acid (KA)-induced excitotoxicity. KA resulted in significant apoptotic neuronal cell death in the CA3 region of mouse hippocampus. However, seven daily administrations of RVH-1 or RVH-2 prior to KA injection significantly attenuated KA-induced pyramidal neuronal cell death in the CA3 region. Furthermore, pretreatment with RVH-1 and RVH-2 also suppressed KA-induced microglial activation in the mouse hippocampus. The present study demonstrates that RVH-1 and RVH-2 isolated from Rhus verniciflua and detoxified using mushroom species possess neuroprotective properties against KA-induced excitotoxicity. This leads to the possibility that detoxified Rhus verniciflua can be a valuable asset in herbal medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon 200-701, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong-Seon
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Byun
authors.forename: Yoon Hee
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Sung-Jun
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Sung-Mi
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Yong-Soo
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Hee Jae
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Sung-Soo
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Myong-Jo
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Wanjoo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chun