Taraxacum Officinale Inhibits Tumor Necrosis Factor-α Production from Rat Astrocytes

Abstract

Substance P (SP) can stimulate production of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) from astrocytes stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The objective of the current study was to determine the effect of Taraxacum officinale (TO) on the production of TNF-alpha from primary cultures of rat astrocytes. TO (100 and 1000 microg/ml) significantly inhibited the TNF-alpha production by astrocytes stimulated with LPS and SP. Interleukin-1 (IL-1) has been shown to elevate TNF-alpha production from LPS-stimulated astrocytes while having no effect on astrocytes in the absence of LPS. We therefore examined whether IL-1 mediated inhibition of TNF-alpha production from primary astrocytes by TO. Treatment of TO (100 and 1000 microg/ml) to astrocytes stimulated with both LPS and SP decreased IL-1 production significantly. Moreover, the production of TNF-alpha by LPS and SP in astrocytes was progressively inhibited with increasing amount of IL-1 neutralizing antibody. Our results suggest that TO may inhibit TNF-alpha production by inhibiting IL-1 production and that TO has an antiinflammatory activity in the central nervous system.

Anti-inflammatory activity of Taraxacum officinale

“…Taraxacum officinale-induced apoptosis of human hepatoma HepG2 cells through tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-␣ and interleukin (IL)-1␣ secretion (Koo et al, 2004), and also showed cytotoxic activity in a human colon colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2 (Hu and Kitts, 2003). However, in primary cultures of rat astrocytes stimulated with LPS and TNF-␣-inducing substance P, Taraxacum officinale significantly inhibits production of TNF-␣ by inhibiting IL-1 production, indicating an anti-inflammatory activity of Taraxacum officinale in the central nervous system (Kim et al, 2000).…”

Selective induction of apoptosis through activation of caspase-8 in human leukemia cells (Jurkat) by dandelion root extract

“…Other components have not been fully characterized and therefore their activities remain unknown (Schutz et al, 2006). There are limited scientific studies investigating the anti-cancer activity of dandelion extracts and very little is known about the mechanism of action; reports on the effect of dandelion extracts and the production of cytokines have remained ambiguous to date (Kim et al, 2000;Koo et al, 2004).…”

Monitoring Lactic Acid Fermentation in Media Containing Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale) by FTIR Spectroscopy

“…In Fig. 2, the fingerprint region (900-1200 cm have remained ambiguous to date (Kim et al, 2000;Koo et al, 2004).…”