Rebaudioside A is a natural sweetener isolated from Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni, one of the glycosides based on steviol. Recent studies have shown that rebaudioside A inhibits the inflammatory response by inhibiting cytokines secretion such as interleukin-1α/1β in activated RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cells by LPS. However, the inhibitory mechanism of inflammation by rebaudioside A in the presence of LPS has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, in this study, we tried to investigate the antiinflammatory activity of rebaudioside A at the protein level when RAW264.7 cells were stimulated by LPS. The inducible nitric oxide synthase protein expression level was reduced in the group treated with 250 μM rebaudioside A compared to the LPS-treated group. In addition, the mRNA expression level of NF-κB, which is a representative nuclear transcription factor by inflammatory signal, was also decreased as compared with that of LPS-treated group. In addition, NF-κB and inhibitor-κB (I-κB) complexes that are known to be dissociated by I-κB phosphorylation and ubiquitination were less phosphorylated than LPS treated group in the presence rebaudioside A. Finally, we could find that rebaudioside A was involved in the NF-κB pathway through reducing extracellular signal-regulated kinase1/2 phosphorylation in a concentration-dependent manner. These results suggest that rebaudioside A might suppress inflammatory reaction through MAPK and NF-κB regulation in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.