in vivo 및 in vitro에서 마황의 항염증효과를 검토하기 위하여 마황추출물을 급여한 흰쥐에게 LPS shock로 급성기 염증반응을 유발시킨 후, 혈액 및 간장의 전염증성 cytokines들의 농도를 경시적으로 조사하였으며, 한편으로는 Raw 264.7 cell에 LPS shock를 가한 후, 마황추출물이 각종 전염증성 cytokines들의 생산량에 미치는 영향을 조사했다. in vivo 실험에서, 각 처리군 별 plasma IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α 및 IL-10 농도의 경시적 변동은 전 처리군 모두가 LPS 처리 후, 2h째 급격하게 증가하여, 5h째에 최고치를 나타내었다. Plasma IL-1β, IL-6 및 TNF-α의 농도는 LPS처리 후 5h째에서 마황 첨가군 모두가 대조군보다 낮은 값을 나타내었다. Plasma IL-10의 농도는 LPS처리 후, 2h째 및 5h째 모두 에서 마황추출물 첨가군 들이 대조군보다 높은 값을 나타내었다. Raw 264.7 macrophages를 이용한 in vitro 실험에서, IL-1β, IL-6 및 TNF-α의 농도들은 대조군보다 마황처리 군들 모두가 낮은 값을 나타내었다. IL-10의 농도는 대조군보다 마황처리군들이 다소 높은 경향을 보였으나, 유의한 차이는 아니었다. 이상의 결과들을 종합해보면 마황에 내재하는 기능성 물질들이 염증반응을 완화하는 효과를 가지고 있음을 시사해 준다.

A variety of herbs and plants have been traditionally used in oriental folk medicine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. In our attempt to search for anti-inflammatory agents from natural products, we investigated 64 methanol extracts from 42 medicinal plants belonging to 10 families which were evaluated for inhibitory activities of NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophage RAW 264.7 cells. Among them, 16 extracts exhibited inhibitory activities of NO production (IC50 values ranging from 59.6 to 94.7 μg/ml). Only the extract from aerial parts of Hosta lancifolia (H. lancifolia) did not exert cytotoxic effects at the concentrations tested. The extract from H. lancifolia decreased the mRNA and protein levels of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and pro-inflammatory cytokines in activated macrophage RAW 264.7 cells in dose-dependent manner. The results suggest that the extract may contain bioactive compounds that suppress expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which may prove beneficial with regard to the development of natural agents for prevention and treatment of inflammatory diseases.

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.

To search for immunoactive natural products exerting anti-inflammatory activity, we have evaluated the effects on the water extracts of Artemisia princeps Pampanini (APP) on lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production by RAW 264.7 macrophage cell line. Our data indicate that this extract is a potent inhibitor of NO production and it also significantly decreased PGE2 and TNF-α production. Consistent with these results, the protein and mRNA expression level of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) was inhibited by water extracts of APP in a dose-dependent manner. These results suggest that APP may exert anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects possibly by suppressing the inducible NO synthase and COX-2 expressions.

Curcumin, a polyphenolic antioxidant purified from turmeric, has been known to possess various biological activities such as anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. In this study, we have explored anti-inflammatory effect of curcumin using Gram (-) bacterium-derived endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide: LPS) and macrophage cell line RAW264.7. Curcumin suppressed NO production in LPS-activated RAW264.7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, Curcumin also blocked the activation of NF-kB but not AP-1 according to luciferase assay. Furthermore, this compound suppressed the phosphorylation of a series of intracellular signaling components such as Src, JAK-2, Akt, IKK and IkBα under LPS stimulation in a time dependent manner, Therefore, our data suggest that curcumin was able to protect the host from Gram(-) bacterial-infection-mediated inflammatory symptoms.

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.