Antioxidant and TNF-α Inducing Ability of Styela plicata Extracts

Abstract

After preparing extracts from fresh Styela plicata using methanol, ethanol, acetone, and water, the antioxidant and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α inducing ability of the extracts were evaluated. Most of the extracts showed more than 50% inhibitory activity against malonedialdehyde formation, and methanol extract exhibited the highest activity with values of 59.3%. The water and acetone extracts contained glutathione contents of 18.5 and 12.3 µM, respectively, however, these were not detected in the other extracts. TNF-α inducing abilities of the extracts were determined with RAW 264.7 cells. The water extract increased TNF-α production with correlation to increase of the added amount. However, the other extracts could not induce TNF-α production in RAW 264.7 cells. The results indicated that the antioxidant activities of S. plicata extracts were different depending on extracting solvents, and the water extract showed significant TNF-α inducing activity.