Eucommia ulmoides OLIVER (EU) is a traditional Korean herbal used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). In the present study, the molecular pharmacology basis of its anti-inflammatory effect is revealed in this work, EU was studied in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophage cells (RAW 264.7) as an established inflammation model. After activation, nitric oxide (NO) production and iNOS mRNA were measured by using a colorimetric assay (Griess reagent), and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), respectively. The change in the content of PGE2, TNFα, and IL-6 was concurrently monitored by ELISA. In results, we found that in the concentration range without showing cytotoxicity, EU produced a remarkable anti-inflammatory effect and showed a dose-dependent inhibition of LPSinduced NO production. Compared with indomethacin, EU has more potency and a specific action of NO inhibition, PGE2, IL-6, and TNF-α inhibition. These results suggest that EU may be a suitable herbal medicine to yield the greatest anti-inflammatory activity for food additives and medicine.

This work aimed to elucidate the anti-inflammatory effects of ethyl acetate fraction from Cnidium officinale Makino with a cellular system of LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 and THP-1 cells. Some key pro-inflammatory cytokines and mediators including NO, iNOS, PGE2, COX-2, TNF-α, NF-kB p50 and NF-kB p65 were studied by sandwich ELISA and western blot analysis. Ethyl acetate fraction could significantly inhibit the production of NO, PGE2, TNF-α, iNOS and COX-2 in LPS-stimulated cell than that of single LPS-stimulated. And ethyl acetate fraction suppresses the activation of NF-kB p50 and NF-kB p65. All the results showed that ethyl acetate fraction had a good anti-inflammatory effect on LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 and THP-1 cells. Taken together, the anti-inflammatory actions of ethyl acetate fraction from Cnidium officinale Makino might be due to the down-regulation of NO, PGE2, TNF-α, iNOS and COX-2 via the suppression of NF-kB activation.

Lycopene, found in tomatoes and tomato products, has antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory effects. High-mobility-group box 1 (HMGB1) mediates the pro-inflammatory responses in several inflammatory diseases. In this study, the potential roles of lycopene in the HMGB1-mediated pro-inflammatory gene expressions in the primary human-umbilical-vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were investigated. The data showed that HMGB1 upregulated the expressions of monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), secretory phospholipase A2 (sPLA2)-IIA, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Lycopene pre-incubation for 6 h decreased the HMGB1-mediated induction of MCP-1, IL-6, sPLA2-IIA, and PGE2. Further study revealed that the inhibitory effects of lycopene on the HMGB-1 induced expression of pro-inflammatory genes were mediated by the inhibition of two important inflammatory cytokines: tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and nuclear factor (NF)-κB. These results suggest that HMGB1 upregulated the expression of pro-inflammatory genes and lycopene inhibited HMGB-1-induced pro-inflammatory genes by inhibiting TNF-α and NF-κB. This finding will serve as an important evidence in the development of a new medicine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases.

씀바귀추출물이 LPS shock 염증반응에서 항염증효과에 미치는 영향을 검토하기 위하여 생체 및 세포배양실험에서 전염증성 cytokine들의 생성과 혈액 내 생물학적 수치를 조사했다. 그 결과 LPS 염증유도 rat에서 씀바귀 추출물은 혈액 내 전염증성 cytokines 들, 즉 IL-1β, IL-6 및 TNF-α의 생산을 저해하고, 한편으로는 IL-10의 생산을 촉진하였다. 간장 IL-1β 및 IL-6의 농도는 씀바귀추출물 처리군이 대조군보다 유의하게 낮은 값을 나타내었으나, TNF-α 및 IL-10의 농도는 모든 처리군 간에 유의한 차이를 나타내지 않았다. Raw 264.7 cell의 세포배양실험에서는 TNF-α의 농도가 유의한 차이를 나타내지는 않았지만, 3개 cytokine 모두가 씀바귀 투여량이 증가함에 따라 감소하는 경향을 보였다. IL-10의 농도는 씀바귀 처리군 들 모두가 높은 경향을 나타내었다. 혈액 내 total protein 및 albumin의 농도는 대조군과 유의한 차이를 나타내지는 않았으나, 씀바귀추출물 처리 군에서 높은 경향을 보였다. 이상의 결과들을 종합해 보면 씀바귀 추출물에는 항염증반응에 관여하는 기능성물질이 내재하고 있음을 시사해 준다.

Rhubarb is the well-known and frequently used herbal medicine for the treatment of constipation, inflammation, and cancer. As described in the Korea and Chinese Pharmacopoeia, rhubarb consists of the roots and rhizomes of Rheum palmatum, R. officinale, and R. tanguticum. However, the pharmacological differences among rhubarb have not been scientifically established. In the present study, we investigated and compared the inhibitory effects of 70% ethanolic extracts from R. palmatum (RPE), R. officinale (ROE), R. nobile (RNE), and R. franzenbachii (RFE) on the production of inflammatory mediators, nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), interlukin-1beta (IL-1β), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) in RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. ROE, RNE, and RFE significantly inhibited the release of NO, PGE2, IL-1β, and TNF-α. RPE significantly reduced the release of IL-1β, but not NO, PGE2, and TNF-α. Overall, RFE was found to inhibit the release of PGE2 and IL-1β, to a far greater degree than RPE, ROE, and RNE. Our results indicate that RFE possess the strongest anti-inflammatory activity among 4 tested rhubarb.

The present study describes the preliminary evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activities of Phellinus linteus (PL) and Phellinus linteus Grow in Germinated Brown Rice (BRPL). In order to effectively screen for anti-inflammatory agents, we first examined the extracts' inhibitory effects on the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines activated with lipopolysaccharide. Moreover, we examined the inhibitory effects of the PL and BRPL extracts on pro-inflammatory factors such as NO, iNOS, TNF-α and IFN-γ in murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells. NO production and iNOS expression was significantly augmented in LPS treated cell, the production of NO and iNOS was greater in the BRPL than in the PL group. In addition, protein and mRNA levels of TNF-α and IFN-γ in BRPL showed relatively more potent pro-inflammatory-activity inhibition compared to that of PL. These results suggest that BRPL may have significant effects on inflammatory factors, and may be a potential anti-inflammatory therapeutic materials.