Glabridin inhibits lipopolysaccharide‐induced activation of a microglial cell line, BV‐2, by blocking NF‐κB and AP‐1

Abstract

Glabridin, a flavonoid present in licorice root, is known to have antiinflammatory and cardiovascular protective activities. The present study reports an inhibitory effect of glabridin on microglial activation. Glabridin dose-dependently attenuated lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced production of inflammatory mediators, including nitric oxide, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-1beta, in BV-2 cells, a murine microglia cell line. Moreover, mRNA expression of these inflammatory mediators was also suppressed by glabridin in LPS-stimulated BV-2 cells. Further study demonstrated that glabridin inhibited LPS-induced DNA binding activity of NF-kappaB and AP-1 in BV-2 cells. Collectively, the results presented in this report demonstrate that glabridin inhibits the production of inflammatory mediators in BV-2 cells and this is mediated, at least in part, by blocking NF-kappaB and AP-1 activation. The results suggest that glabridin might be a potential therapeutic agent for the treatment of neuroinflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases.

Anti-inflammatory effect of visnagin in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated BV-2 microglial cells

“…4). In accordance with our data, most compounds which produce anti-inflammatory effects inhibit AP-1 and NF-κB activation Lee et al, 2005;Bae et al, 2006;Jang et al, 2008;Yang et al, 2009;Park et al, 2010). Our present results indicate that visnagin can also inhibit activation of AP-1 and NF-κB in LPS-stimulated microglial cells.…”

Modulation of LPS-stimulated neuroinflammation in BV-2 microglia by Gastrodia elata: 4-Hydroxybenzyl alcohol is the bioactive candidate

“…Consistent with previous reports on the signal pathways underlying microglial activation, we observed that MAPKs such as ERK-1/2, JNK and p38 signaling pathways were involved in LPSstimulated BV-2 microglial activation (Ock and Suk, 2010;Park et al, 2010). MAPK's have been shown to be important upstream modulators for inflammatory cytokine and NO production in a variety of biological systems (Jongeneel, 1995).…”

Inhibition of bone marrow-derived dendritic cell maturation by glabridin

“…In this study, we showed that glabridin inhibited the activation of NF-κB by blocking the degradation of IκBα/β and the nuclear translocation of p65/p50 in LPS-treated DCs. Consistent with this study, glabridin inhibited NF-κB activation in RAW 264.7 macrophages and BV2 microglial cells [5,26,30]. MAPK signaling pathways also play a major role in DC maturation [29,31,32].…”

“…BV2 microglial cells, specialized macrophages in the brain, were also reported to be target cells of glabridin. Glabridin inhibited LPSinduced production of inflammatory mediators including NO, TNF-α, and IL-1β in BV2 cells [26].…”