Psoriasis is a chronic and inflammatory skin disorder. Psoriasis patients have been shown to have the bias of interferon (IFN)-g producing Th1 and cyclooxygenase (COX)-induced macrophage in lesion skin and peripheral blood. [1][2][3][4] Cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and corticosteroids and immunosuppressants FK-506 and cyclosporine A for Th1 cells have been used clinically for psoriasis. [5][6][7][8][9] Corticosteroids are well known to have potent anti-inflammatory effects, but topical use can cause intense skin atrophy, one of the serious side effects limiting their uses for chronic skin diseases.5,7) Repeated application of corticosteroids on dorsal skin of rats also causes dramatic skin atrophy. FK-506 and cyclosporine A also exhibited side effects, such as severe nephrotoxicity and neurotoxicity. 6) Therefore, herbal medicines for clinical uses, such as Centella asiatica extract, Orengedokto and Sofusan, should be developed. 10,11) Nevertheless, antipsoriatic effects of these herbal medicines have not been thoroughly studied.During the screening program to discover such agents from herbal medicines, Chunghyuldan (CHD, Daio-Orengedokuto in Japanese) exhibited the anti-inflammatory effect.
12)Therefore, we evaluated the antipsoriatic effect of CHD in the oxazolone-induced mouse contact dermatitis model by topical administration and measured mRNA levels of COX-2 and some cytokines. CHD and metabolized CHD were prepared according to the previously reported methods of Cho et al.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Materials
12)Animals The female BALB/c mice (20-25 g) were supplied from Orient Experimental Animal Breeding Center (Seoul, Korea). All animals were housed in wire cages at 20-22°C and 50Ϯ10% humidity, fed standard laboratory chow (Orient Experimental Animal Breeding Center, Seoul, Korea) and allowed water ad libitum. All procedures relating to animals and their care conformed to the international guidelines 'Principles of Laboratory Animals Care' (NIH publication no. 85-23, revised 1985).Contact Hypersensitivity An oxazolone-induced dermatitis was measured according to the previous method of Fujii et al.9) BALB/c mice were sensitized by application of 100 ml of 1.5% oxazolone in ethanol to the abdomen. Then a total of 20 ml of 1% oxazolone in a mixture of acetone and olive oil (4 : 1) was applied to both sides of the mouse ear every 3 d starting from 7 d after sensitization. Ear thickness was measured using a Digimatic Micrometer (Mitsutoyo Co., Tokyo, Japan) 72 h after each application of the oxazolone, test agents were applied in a total volume of 20 ml to both sides of the ear 30 min before and 3 h after each application of oxazolone RT-PCR Analysis Ear tissue extract for RT-PCR analysis were performed by the modified method of Chi et al.
13)Briefly, ears were excised 6 h after the last application of oxazolone, freezed in liquid nitrogen and homogenized by a mortar and pestle prechilled in liquid nitrogen. Total RNA was extracted by using TRI reagent according to the ma...