Pueraria lobata (Willd.) Ohwi was investigated to check its modulatory effects on the activation of macrophages upon inflammatory conditions treatment. For this purpose, we examined several inflammatory responses such as nitric oxide (NO) production, reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, cytoprotection and phagocytosis under the treatment of methanol extract from P. lobata (Pl-ME). Pl-ME dose-dependently blocked NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- stimulated RAW264.7 cells but not sodium prusside (SNP)-generated NO release. The NO inhibition seemed to be due to blocking inducible NO synthase (iNOS), since Pl-ME suppressed its expression in a NF-kB-independent manner. Similarly, this extract also effectively protected RAW264.7 cells from LPS-induced cytotoxicity. However, Pl-ME did not block ROS generation and rather it enhanced. Finally, this extract negatively modulated FITC-dextran uptake. Therefore, our data suggested that Pl-ME may be involved in negatively regulating some macrophage-mediated inflammatory responses such as NO production and phagocytic uptake.

S. barbata의 열수 추출물 (Sb-HWE)은 대표적인 염증과정인 LPS에 의해 활성화된 대식세포로 부터의 NO생성, LPS 매개에 의한 세포사멸작용, 및 FITC-dextran의 대식세포내 탐식작용을 매우 효과적으로 억제하였다. 그러나 본 추출물은 SNP로 유도된 라디칼 소거능은 매우 미약한 것으로 나타났다. NF-kB-매개에 의한 루시퍼라제 활성, 및 NF-kB 활성 관련 신호전달 단백질 (Akt 및 IkBα)에 대한 저해작용은 관찰되지 않은 것으로 보아 이들 추출물의 대식세포 면역반응 조절 기전은 기존의 알려진 방법과는 다른 기전에 의해 진행되는 것으로 판단된다.