Naturally occurring substances are important biomedical resources with low toxicity and ethnopharmacology-based efficacy. Four out of 45 extracts (Celastrus orbiculatus, Cercis chinensis, Stephanadra incisa, and Weigela subsessilis) prepared from the bark of Korea Forest plants exhibited more than 50% of inhibition on TNF-α production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated RAW264.7 cells at 100 μg/ml. In particular, potential inhibitory components of 4 extracts showed more than 50% inhibition seemed to be concentrated in methylene chloride (MC) fraction from C. orbiculatus, in ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fraction from C. chinensis and in hexane (Hx) fraction from S. incisa, whereas inhibitory activities of W. subssilis were broadly seen in non-polar solvent fractions such as Hx, MC and EtOAc. Therefore, our results suggest that extracts from C. orbiculatus, C. chinensis, S. incisa and W. subsessilis may be developed as a therapeutic remedy against TNF-α-mediated diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis or further fractionated to isolate active components having antiTNF-α inhibitory activity.

• 조재열 | Cho, Jae-Youl