Comparative global transcription analysis of Aconitum koreanum Raymond, Typhonium gigantum Engl., and Helianthus tuberosis Linne

Abstract

In prescribing natural compounds, it is important matching scientific names of medicinal materials which I want to use and those which have been found those effects. This point is also important in Oriental medicine but isn’t kept because of differences in traditional sorting system and latest sorting system, external forms which are difficult to sort, and so on. Baekbuja (白附子) is a good example. In traditional Korean medicine, Aconitum koreanum Raymond (AKR) has been used as a Baekbuja, but in traditional Chinese medicine, Typhonium gigantum Engl. (TGE) has been used as a Baekbuja. Added to this, Helianthus tuberosis Linne (HTL) is used as an imitational Baekbuja in distribution channels and prescriptions now. In Treasured Mirror of Eastern Medicine (東醫寶鑑) registered in UNESCO Memory of the World, Baekbuja has effects on deviated eye and mouth (=bell’s palsy, 口眼斜), inflammation of the throat and throat pain (喉痺咽痛), phlegm syncope headache (痰厥頭痛), tetanus (破傷風), snake bite (毒蛇咬傷), stammer (言語蹇澁), migraine and headache (偏正頭痛), and wind stroke phlegm congesting (中風痰壅). Treating three other medicines in cell line and studying the results would help to understand the precise effects between AKR and TGE and to reveal the effects of HTL, the imitational Baekbuja. In this need, three other medicines were treated in cell line and the results were analyzed through variance, functional classification, metabolic pathway, Venn diagram, and principal component. In metabolic pathway analysis, it is found that AKR upregulates connexin protein, TUBA and TUBB activities, which are in gap junction pathway. Considering that traditional medicinal references infer Baekbuja has effects on deviated eye and mouth, which is a disease about craniofacial neuron and that gap junction has important roles in neuron, it is a significant discovery.