Solanum melongena or eggplant is a species of the nightshade family. According to Korean folk medicine, S. melongena stalk possesses excellent therapeutic effects on warts, burns, and many inflammatory diseases, such as stomatitis, arthritis, and gastritis. In order to investigate the anti-inflammatory effects of S. melongena stalk, an ethanol extract of the stalk was prepared, and fractionated into hexane, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate, nbutanol, and water fractions. The results showed that the ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions contained high levels of phenol and reduced artificial free radicals. In contrast, the hexane and dichloromethane fractions decreased the production of nitric oxide, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and prostaglandin E 2 , despite the presence of low levels of phenols implying that other compounds than phenols are involved in anti-inflammatory reactions. The data suggest that S. melongena stalk possesses pharmacological activity and might be useful for development of antioxidant, anti-inflammatory agents, or dietary supplements.

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Regulatory T cells (Treg cells) are a subpopulation of T cells defined as CD4Foxp3CD25. They mainly function as immunosuppressive T cells by downregulating the induction and proliferation of effector T cells, but also modulate the immune system by maintaining self-tolerance and preventing autoimmune disease. In this study, the regulatory roles of ginsenosides, one of the active components in ginseng, C. A. Meyer, in Treg cell differentiation were examined. The results demonstrated that ginsenoside Rd induced Treg differentiation by upregulating Foxp3 expression and increased the generation of TGF-β1, IL-10 and IL-35. The data suggest that ginsenoside Rd may be a potential immunomodulating agent or supplement that can be applied for transplantation and autoimmune disorders.

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