Anti‐Inflammatory and Antioxidant Properties of Black Mulberry (Morus nigra L.) in a Model of LPS‐Induced Sepsis

Abstract

Sepsis is a complex disease and is the cause of many deaths worldwide. Sepsis pathogenesis involves a dysregulated inflammatory response with consequent production of inflammatory mediators and reactive species. The production and excessive release of these substances into the systemic circulation trigger various cellular and metabolic alterations that are observed during the disease evolution. Thus, more studies have been carried out to investigate the therapeutic potential of plants such as Morus nigra L., popularly known as black mulberry. Studies have shown that plants belonging to the Morus genus are rich in secondary metabolites such as flavonoids which are associated with important biological activities as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory actions. Based on this context, the objective of our study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of Morus nigra L. in a sepsis model induced by LPS. Male C57BL/6 mice were distributed in four groups: control, sepsis, sepsis treated with leaf extract of mulberry, and sepsis treated with mulberry pulp. The animals were treated with 100 μL of their respective treatments for twenty-one days. Sepsis was induced at the 21st day with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) by intraperitoneal injection. The animals were euthanized 24 hours after receiving the LPS injection. The data obtained were analyzed in GraphPad Prism 6.0 software. Our results showed that treatment with either extract significantly decreased the number of leukocytes in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and serum levels of TNF in septic animals. Regarding the redox status, the treatments significantly decreased the antioxidant activity of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase. Regarding metalloproteinase type 2, it was observed that the treatment with black mulberry pulp was able to significantly reduce the activity of this enzyme concerning the sepsis group. Finally, these results together promoted an increase in the animal's survival that received the black mulberry leaf or pulp extract.

Anti-Inflammatory Effects of High Hydrostatic Pressure Extract of Mulberry (Morus alba) Fruit on LPS-Stimulated RAW264.7 Cells

“…Nevertheless, the concentrations of TNF-α and IL-6 in the culture medium were dose-dependently reduced in the cells co-treated with HM at concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, and 1 μg/mL compared to the LPS control, as shown in Figure 5. Consistent with our results, in a model of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis, black mulberry ( Morus nigra L.) presented anti-inflammatory properties by lowering the serum TNF-α levels [25]. In addition, the combination of mulberry fruit and leaf extracts improved inflammation by suppressing the TNF-α and NOS2 expression in adipose tissue and liver of obese mice [26,27].…”

JQ1 as a BRD4 Inhibitor Blocks Inflammatory Pyroptosis-Related Acute Colon Injury Induced by LPS

“…Acute colon injury mice model was built by intraperitoneal injection (i.p.) with 10 mg/kg LPS (Sigma, Shanghai, China) for 24 h as described before ( 29 – 31 ). BRD4 inhibition was applied by i.p.…”

Pharmacological Properties of Morus nigra L. (Black Mulberry) as A Promising Nutraceutical Resource

“…A very recent study [ 21 ] has shown that extracts of M. nigra pulps and leaves can improve survival rate and decrease the number of total leukocytes in bronchoalveloar lavage fluid in LPS-induced septic mice, indicating the reduction of inflammatory infiltrate in the lung. Although most hepatic and serum cytokine levels were not changed by the administration of M. nigra extracts, serum levels of TNF, an important mediator of sepsis, were significantly lower in the M. nigra extract-treated group than those in the septic animal group.…”