Cheung Susan, Lim Kye-Taek, Tai Joseph
Department of Pediatrics, Center for Complementary Medicine Research, BC Research Institute for Children's and Women's Health, University of British Columbia, 4480 Oak Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Oncol Rep. 2005 Nov;14(5):1345-50.
Essiac (ES) and Flor-Essence (FE) are two herbal teas widely taken by North American cancer patients during chemo- and radiation-therapy. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of these two herbal teas were assessed in this study. Cell-free Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assay shows that at 1/5 dilution, ES and FE have hydroxyl radical scavenging activity equivalent to 10.65 microM and 5.74 microM of Trolox respectively. Treatment with ES at 1/10 and 1/20 dilutions significantly increased nitric oxide (NO) production by murine RAW 264.7 cells, but inhibited NO production in a concentration-dependent manner by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cells. In contrast, FE at 1/10 and 1/20 dilutions did not significantly induce NO production by RAW 264.7 cells, nor did it, at these dilutions, inhibit the NO production by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. RT-PCR assay shows that both 1/20 and 1/100 dilutions of ES and FE induced mRNA expression of IL-1beta, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) pro-inflammatory molecules in RAW 264.7 cells compared to untreated controls. Addition of ES and FE at 1/20 and 1/100 dilutions to LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells did not alter IL-1beta, iNOS and COX-2 mRNA expression in these cells. ES and FE treatment did not affect TNFalpha mRNA expression in non-stimulated or LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Our data show that ES but not FE stimulated NO release by non-stimulated and inhibited LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. There were only minor differences between ES and FE in their induction of mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory molecules. Further research is needed to investigate the differential activities of these two herbal teas in stimulating pro-inflammatory mediators release by RAW 264.7 cells.
埃夏克茶（ES）和弗洛精华茶（FE）是北美癌症患者在化疗和放疗期间广泛饮用的两种草药茶。本研究评估了这两种草药茶的抗氧化和抗炎特性。无细胞的特洛克斯等效抗氧化能力测定表明，在1/5稀释度下，ES和FE的羟基自由基清除活性分别相当于10.65微摩尔和5.74微摩尔的特洛克斯。用1/10和1/20稀释度的ES处理可显著增加小鼠RAW 264.7细胞的一氧化氮（NO）生成，但对脂多糖（LPS）刺激的细胞，其以浓度依赖的方式抑制NO生成。相比之下，1/10和1/20稀释度的FE不会显著诱导RAW 264.7细胞产生NO，在这些稀释度下，它也不会抑制LPS刺激的RAW 264.7细胞产生NO。逆转录聚合酶链反应（RT-PCR）分析表明，与未处理的对照相比，ES和FE的1/20和1/100稀释度均能诱导RAW 264.7细胞中白细胞介素-1β（IL-1β）、诱导型一氧化氮合酶（iNOS）和环氧化酶-2（COX-2）等促炎分子的mRNA表达。向LPS刺激的RAW 264.7细胞中添加1/20和1/100稀释度的ES和FE不会改变这些细胞中IL-1β、iNOS和COX-2的mRNA表达。ES和FE处理不会影响未刺激或LPS刺激的RAW 264.7细胞中肿瘤坏死因子α（TNFα）的mRNA表达。我们的数据表明，ES而非FE刺激未刺激的RAW 264.7细胞释放NO，并抑制LPS刺激的RAW 264.7细胞释放NO。在促炎分子mRNA表达的诱导方面，ES和FE之间只有微小差异。需要进一步研究来调查这两种草药茶在刺激RAW 264.7细胞释放促炎介质方面的不同活性。
