Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease associated with cutaneous hyper-reactivity to environmental triggers. In order to develop effective therapeutic herbal extracts for atopic dermatitis, cytotoxicity, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic activities were investigated for various herbal extracts. Among candidate extracts, we selected Aloe vera L. (AV), Viola mandshurica W. Becker (VM), Punica granatum L. (PG), Dendrobium nobile L. (DN) and mixture of the above extracts (MX) for further investigations. All of them did not show cytotoxic activities to macrophage RAW264.7 cells below the concentration of 100 ppm. All showed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic effects, although to various extents. In antioxidant effects, AV showed the highest effect, followed by PG and VM, while DN did the lowest. In evaluation for anti-inflammatory activities in macrophage RAW264.7 cells, AV and DN inhibited almost completely the LPS-induced production of nitric oxide, while AV, DN and VM showed strong inhibitory activities on the LPS-induced production of TNF-α. In anti-allergy effect in mast cell HMC-1, DN showed the highest effect, followed by AV and PG, while VM did the lowest. In the topical allergy reaction induced by compound 48/80 in Sprague-Dawley rat, DN exhibited significant anti-allergic effect, while PG, VM and AV did slight effect. These results suggest that AV, VM, PG and DN have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic activities, and thus have the potential to reduce and alleviate the symptoms of atopic dermatitis.

• 랑문정 | Rang, Moon-Jeong