Prokinetic Activity of Mulberry Fruit, <i>Morus alba</i> L.
Tae Sik Sung,
Seung-Bum Ryoo,
Chang-Hyun Lee,
Seon-Min Choi,
Joo-Won Nam,
Hyun-Bok Kim,
Ji young Lee,
Jung-Dae Lim,
Kyu Joo Park,
Hyun-Tai Lee
Affiliations
Tae Sik Sung
Department of Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea
Seung-Bum Ryoo
Department of Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea
Chang-Hyun Lee
Biopharmaceutical Engineering Major, Division of Applied Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Dong-Eui University, Busan 47340, Republic of Korea
Seon-Min Choi
Biopharmaceutical Engineering Major, Division of Applied Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Dong-Eui University, Busan 47340, Republic of Korea
Joo-Won Nam
College of Pharmacy, Yeungnam University, Gyeongsan 38541, Republic of Korea
Hyun-Bok Kim
National Institute of Agricultural Sciences, Rural Development Administration, Wanju 55365, Republic of Korea
Ji young Lee
Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Daejeon St. Mary’s Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul 06591, Republic of Korea
Jung-Dae Lim
Department of Herbal Medicine Resource, Kangwon National University, Samcheok 25949, Republic of Korea
Kyu Joo Park
Department of Surgery, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul 03080, Republic of Korea
Hyun-Tai Lee
Biopharmaceutical Engineering Major, Division of Applied Bioengineering, College of Engineering, Dong-Eui University, Busan 47340, Republic of Korea
The fruit of Morus alba L. (MAF) has been consumed as a food worldwide. MAF has also been widely used in traditional medicine for thousands of years in East Asia, and its diverse bioactivities have been reported in numerous publications. However, no prokinetic activity has been reported for MAF or its components. In the present study, therefore, we investigated the effects of MAF on gastrointestinal motor function by measuring the intestinal transit rate (ITR) of Evans blue in mice in vivo. The ITR values accelerated by MAF were significantly higher than those accelerated by cisapride or metoclopramide, suggesting that MAF has potential as a new prokinetic agent to replace cisapride and metoclopramide. We also investigated the effects of MAF on myogenic and neurogenic contractions in human intestinal smooth muscles by measuring spontaneous contractions of smooth muscle strips, smooth muscle contractions induced by neural stimulation, and migrating motor complexes from intestinal segments in the human ileum and sigmoid colon in situ. MAF increased both myogenic and neurogenic contractions to enhance ileal and colonic motility in the human intestine. Taken together, these results indicate that MAF enhanced intestinal motility by increasing both myogenic and neurogenic contractions, thereby accelerating the ITR.