Effect of Prunus yedoensis on free radical scavenging activity and anti-inflammatory properties in Raw 264.7 cells

Prunus yedoensis (PY) belong to the Rosaceae and is widely distributed in Korea and Japan. In this study, we estimated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect of PY. Antioxidant activity of PY extract and its fractions was evaluated using the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity. For the determination of anti-inflammatory effects, we investigated nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂) production by ELISA. The expressions of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were measured by western blotting in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) – induced RAW 264.7 macrophage cells. The result shows that the ethyl acetate fraction of PY has more effective antioxidant activity than other extracts in DPPH assay and its IC₅₀ was 0.42±0.02mg/ml. The methanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction decreased the NO and PGE₂ production in a dose-dependent way. The expressions of iNOS and COX-2 protein also decreased significantly in the case of methanol extract and ethyl acetate fraction of PY (100µg/ml). These results demonstrated that methanol extract of PY and its ethyl acetate fraction have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, so PY has great potential as a source for natural health products.

Acknowledgement: This work was supported by the Second Stage of Brain Korea 21 project in 2008, Oriental Medical Science Center.

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