Anti-inflammatory effect of pomegranate flower in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages

Abstract

Context:Punica granatum L (Punicaceae) flower is an important diabetes treatment in oriental herbal medicine.Objective: This study investigates the inflammation effects of pomegranate flower (PFE) ethanol extract in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells.Materials and methods: PFE (10, 25, 50, 100 μg/mL) was applied to 1 μg/mL LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages in vitro. Levels of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β (IL-1β), interleukin (IL)-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) in the supernatant fraction were determined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), phosphorylation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) subgroups extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK), c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and P38, as well as nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation in extracts were detected via Western blot.Results: 10–100 μg/mL PFE decreased the production of NO (IC50 value = 31.8 μg/mL), PGE2 (IC50 value = 54.5 μg/mL), IL-6 (IC50 value = 48.7 μg/mL), IL-1β (IC50 value = 71.3 μg/mL) and TNF-α (IC50 value = 62.5 μg/mL) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells significantly. A mechanism-based study showed that phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38, JNK and translocation of the NF-B p65 subunit into nuclei were inhibited by the PFE treatment.Discussion and conclusion: These results show that PFE produced potential anti-inflammatory effect through modulating the synthesis of several mediators and cytokines involved in the inflammatory process.

Ajudecumin A fromAjuga ovalifoliavar.calanthaexhibits anti-inflammatory activity in lipopolysaccharide-activated RAW264.7 murine macrophages and animal models of acute inflammation

“…NO, a well-known biomarker of inflammatory response induced by numerous inflammatory stimulation, contributes to tissue damage in various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases at high concentrations (Bogdan, 2001). Thus, NO is a valuable indicator in the screening of anti-inflammatory agents (Alvarez-Suarez et al 2017;Xu et al 2017). In this study, LPS, a component of the Gram-negative bacteria cell wall, was used to induce inflammatory response in macrophages through promoting the release of various inflammatory factors, including NO (Xu et al 2017).…”

“…However, excessive activation of aforementioned proinflammatory signalling and overproduction of these pro-inflammatory factors in macrophages is responsible for many inflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, atherosclerosis, diabetes and Alzheimer disease (McNelis and Olefsky 2014;Heppner et al 2015). Therefore, regulating the crucial proteins in these inflammatory signalling pathways or inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory factors may serve to prevent or suppress a variety of inflammatory diseases (Pandurangan et al 2016;Alvarez-Suarez et al 2017;Xu et al 2017).…”

Antiinflammatory and anti‐cancer activities of pomegranate and its constituent, ellagic acid: Evidence from cellular, animal, and clinical studies

“…They revealed that PFE (10-100 μg/mL) significantly diminishes NO, PGE2, IL-6, IL-1β, and TNF-α levels. Additionally, PFE prevented extracellular signalregulated kinases (ERK), p38, JNK phosphorylation as well as nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) p65-subunit nuclear translocation in LPSstimulated RAW264.7 cells (Xu et al, 2017). Interestingly, it has been shown that pomegranate seed oil (25 μg/mL) considerably attenuates the levels of NO production, TNF-α, iNOS expression and caspase-3 activity following the LPS-induced inflammation in BV-2 murine microglial cell line (Rackova et al, 2014).…”

Evaluation and comparison of staining effect of Punica granatum flower extract on testis and ovary of Wistar rats: First results

“…In contrast to pomegranate or its peel, pomegranate flower is less used in health studies. For example, P. granatum flower has played an important role in the treatment of diabetes in herbal medicine (Xu et al, 2017). PG could be used as a dietary supplement in the treatment of chronic diseases characterized by atherogenous lipoprotein profile, aggravated antioxidant status and impaired glucose metabolism and also in their prevention (Bagri et al, 2009).…”