Anti-inflammatory effect of Mongolia and Vietnamese medicinal plants against LPS-induced NO release in the RAW 264.7 cell

In order to study the anti-inflammatory activity of Vietnamese medicinal and Mongolian endemic plants, we collected the plants from the countries and prepared 50% ethanol extracts from 20 air-dried Mongolian plants and water and dichloromethane fractions from 50% ethanol extracts of 15 air-dried Vietnamese plants. Twenty extracts of Mongolian plants and forty-five fractions of Vietnamese plants were screened for their inhibitory effects on the nitric oxide (NO) production in the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells [1,2], a murine macrophage cell line. The results of the screening indicated: seven Vietnamese plant extracts and their fractions exhibited high inhibitory activity, which ranges from 45.2±3.6% of the total extract of Asarum glabrum to 83.1±0.6% of the dichloromethane fraction of it at the concentration of 50µg/mL; eight Mongolia plants extracts exhibited moderate activity ranged from 20.7±0.5% of Salsola monoptera to 34.9±0.2% of Jurinea mongolica Maxim. Dexamethasone (DEX), the positive control, showed an inhibition of 46.4±9.8% at the concentration of 10µg/mL. These findings indicate that these Vietnamese and Mongolia traditional medical plants are beneficial for treatment against inflammatory conditions and may contain major constituent(s) with anti-inflammatory properties.

Acknowledgement: This study was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE) and the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology Evaluation & Planning (ITEP) through the Biohealth Products Research Center (BPRC) of Inje University.

References: [1] John, M. et al. (1997) Annu. Rev. Immunol. 15: 323–50. [2] Sherman, M.P. et al. (1993) Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 191: 1301–1308.