Artemisia lactiflora Extracts Prevent Inflammatory Responses of Human Macrophages Stimulated with Charcoal Pyrolysis Smoke

Abstract

Artemisia lactiflora, a Chinese-origin plant, has been reported to have unique phytochemicals responsible for its medicinal properties. The growth of the agricultural industry emits air pollution, which has adverse effects on health. There are limited scientific reports on the biological activities of A. lactiflora. Studies on its activities and mechanisms may provide insight into its use in medicinal purposes to treat those health problems and conditions. In this study, leaves of A. lactiflora were extracted and fractioned with solvents of different polarities. Total phenolics, total flavonoids DPPH• scavenging, ABTS•+ scavenging, and cytotoxicity of A. lactiflora were assessed. Anti-inflammatory activities were evaluated by pre-treating macrophages with extract or fractions then induced inflammatory response by coconut shell pyrolysis smoke. Inflammatory responses were assessed by measuring pro-inflammatory genes expression and pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion. Among all extract and fractions of A. lactiflora, butanol fraction has the highest phenolic, flavonoid, and DPPH• scavenging activity. All extract and fractions significantly down-regulated pro-inflammatory genes expression ( RelA, TNF, IL6) and decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion (TNF-α, IL-6), p < 0.0001, compared with pyrolysis smoke-induced macrophages. The ethyl acetate fraction showed the highest anti-inflammatory activity in decreasing pro-inflammatory cytokines secretion. These results may prove the anti-inflammatory activities of A. lactiflora through the inhibition of the NF-κB-dependent pathway. Taken together, this study first reported the anti-inflammatory activities of A. lactiflora. Thus, the plant can be used to prevent and treat inflammatory responses caused by highly oxidative pyrolysis smoke released from the re-utilization of agro-industrial leftovers.

Cardioprotective Activities ofArtemisia lactifloraExtract in Rat Cardiomyoblast (H9c2) Under Inflmmatory Sepsis

“…The residual salt fraction, in contrast, had the highest polarity with the lowest cytotoxicity (highest LC 50 ). Our toxicity result was correlated with previous study, which showed that toxicity of A. lactiflora extract and fractions depended on the polarity of solvents used in extraction and fractionation (Kooltheat et al, 2021). We found that LC 50 of A. lactiflora extract on cardiomyoblasts was approximately 10-times higher than previous toxicity study on human macrophages (Kooltheat et al, 2021).…”

“…Higher polar phenolics were further fractionated with n-butanol, separated from the residual salt fraction. The extract and fractions were dried through evaporation, weighed, and stored in a desiccator (Kooltheat et al, 2021;Kooltheat et al, 2023).…”

“…Absorbance at 450 nm was measured by microplate reader (Multiskan SkyHigh, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA, USA). The level of secreted cytokine was calculated according to standard curve (Kooltheat et al, 2021).…”

“…It commonly used in Chinese and Hmong cuisine. A. lactiflora contains high phenolics and flavonoid with high antioxidant activities (Kooltheat et al, 2021). This Artemisia specie is reported to contain balanophonin, aurantiamide, and isovitexin (Lin et al, 2014).…”

Melanogenesis Inhibitory Activity, Chemical Components and Molecular Docking Studies of Prunus cerasoides Buch.-Ham. D. Don. Flowers

“…Different polarity of solvents was used to fractionate the extracts: diethyl ether for the fractionation of non-polar compounds; chloroform for the fractionation of non-phenolic polar compounds; diethyl ether for the fractionation of low-polar polyphenolic compounds; butanol for the fractionation of high polar polyphenolic compounds. 17 , 39 , 40 Our result was implied that the butanol solvent was the most appropriate in extracting the phenolic and flavonoid compounds of the P. cerasoides flower, the same as the methanol solvent (a high polarity solvent) in extracting the phenolic and flavonoid compounds of stem barks and leaves. It was also stated that all extracts from P. cerasiodes contained flavonoid and phenolic contents.…”