Many kinds of medicinal herbs have been used to treat inflammation in Oriental medicine. However, there few studies have investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of medicinal herbs. In this study, we used mouse bone marrow cells (BMs) treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a simulator of osteomyelitis, to screen medicinal herbs having anti-inflammatory activity. Specifically, we investigated the activity of an extract of Rhus chinensis (RC) using metabolic activity and cytokine production of the BMs treated with LPS and RC. The metabolic activity of BMs was measured using Cell Counting Kit-8® solution. RC decreased the metabolic activity of LPS-treated BMs. A viability assay using trypan blue solution demonstrated that RC marginally decreased the viability of LPS-treated BMs. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that RC decreased the mitochondrial membrane potential of BMs, regardless of LPS treatment. To investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of RC, we measured the production of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-10 in BMs. LPS increased the production of both cytokines in BMs. Interestingly, RC induced a greater increase in IL-10 than TNF-alpha in LPS-treated BMs. Taken together, RC decreased metabolic activity and modulated the production of inflammation-related cytokines in LPS-treated BMs. These findings suggest that RC can be used as a medicinal herb with anti-inflammatory activity.

붉나무에서 오배자면충의 오배자 형성 기작과 오배자면충의 발육 및 붉나무 잎 부위별 오배자 형성수를 조사한 결과, 오배자면충의 간모 출현에 의한 충영(오배자)형성 시기는 6월 중순이었으며 간모는 미성숙된 입엽의 뒷면에 정착기생한 뒤 반대방향으로 융기하여 충영을 형성하였다. 오배자는 9월 중순부터 급격히 발육하였으며 면충의 밀도가 많음에 따라 오배자의 무게도 무거웠다. 붉나무에서 오배자면충의 충영 형성 부위는 정엽에서 가까울수록 많았으며 복엽상에서는 익엽이 95.8%를 차지하였다.