Biological & pharmaceutical bulletin
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A sensitive and rapid colorimetry for determination of methemoglobin (MetHb) in hemolysate of the test blood was devised by measurement of absorbance at 563 nm, the isosbestic point of spectra of cyanomethemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin, at pH 6.8. MetHb was determined as the difference in absorption caused by cyanide in the absence of potassium ferricyanide divided by the difference in absorption caused by cyanide in the presence of the ferricyanide. ⋯ Results obtained by the method were in satisfactory agreement with theoretical results for mixture of MetHb, COHb, and oxyhemoglobin. The method was compared with two other methods using 55 forensic blood samples containing various amounts of MetHb and COHb, and proved to be suitable for practical samples.
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We investigated here the effect of Hachimi-jio-gan (HJ), a Japanese and Chinese herbal medicine, on immunoglobulin A (IgA) producing cells in Peyer's patch. The oral administration of HJ (0.1, 0.2, 1.0 g/kg for 2 d) enhanced the IgA producing cells almost 2-fold compared with the control group on days 4 and 5 after the administration. Furthermore, HJ augmented antigen-specific IgA (anti-SRBC IgA) production. ⋯ To characterize its active ingredients, HJ was fractionated by ethanol precipitation. The crude polysaccharide fraction (EP fraction) showed the ability to augment IgA production, but low molecular weight fraction (ES fraction) did not. These results suggest that the crude polysaccharide fraction might be responsible for the augmentation of IgA production by HJ.