Planta Med 2011; 77 - SL53
DOI: 10.1055/s-0031-1282176

Evaluation of total phenolics, flavonoids and anti-inflammatory property of ethanolic extracts of Paulownia tomentosa var. tomentosa bark

CL Si 1, 2, YY Lu 1, HY Hu 1
  • 1Tianjin Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China
  • 2State Key Laboratory of Pulp and Paper Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China

Trees containing polyphenols and flavonoids have been reported to possess strong anti-inflammatory activity [1]. As one chain of our systematically screening the potential bioactivities of Paulownia tomentosa (Thunb.) Steud. var. tomentosa (Scrophulariaceae), a medicinal hardwood grown native to China and widely used in folk remedies to treat various diseases including inflammatory [2], in the present study, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory property of P. tomentosa var. tomentosa bark. The anti-inflammatory activity was investigated by evaluating the inhibitory effect of ethanolic extracts of the tree's bark against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in murine macrophages cell line RAW264.7 [3]. Resveratrol, an excellent anti-inflammatory agent, was used as a positive control. The amount of total phenolic compounds (Approx. 180.8mg/100g dry sample) and total flavonoids (Approx. 39.6mg/100g dry sample) of P. tomentosa var. tomentosa bark were also determined by Folin Ciocalteu reagent and aluminium chloride method, respectively. Results of the investigation revealed that ethanolic extracts of the P. tomentosa var. tomentosa bark possessed significant ant-inflammatory activity. Also, the activity was found to be concentration dependent. This work will provide ample opportunities for further investigation to develop high value added anti-inflammatory products from P. tomentosa var. tomentosa.

Keywords: total phenolics, total flavonoids, anti-inflammatory property, Paulownia tomentosa var. tomentosa, bark

Acknowledgement: This work was financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 31000279), Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET 2010) and Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City (No. 09JCYBJC15800).

References: 1. Pelzer LE et al. (1998) Farmaco 53: 421–424.

2. Si, CL et al. (2009) Holzforschung 63: 440–442.

3. Tewtrakul S et al. (2011)J Ethnopharmacol 133: 63–66.