Department of Experimental Medicine & Biotechnology, Research Block 'B', Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh 160012, India.
J Cardiovasc Transl Res. 2010 Oct;3(5):570-9. doi: 10.1007/s12265-009-9162-1. Epub 2009 Dec 30.
Chronic underlying inflammation is involved in the pathophysiology of coronary artery disease (CAD). Polyalthia longifolia var. pendula bark extract (PLE) is known to exhibit anti-inflammatory activity and has high content of phytosteroids. Since phytosteroids mimic estrogen structurally, we postulated that PLE may provide protection in postmenopausal women against CAD. Thus the effect of PLE has been explored on expression of estrogen receptors (ERalpha and ERbeta) and inflammatory inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) genes in vitro in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) obtained from postmenopausal women. A total of 20 postmenopausal women were included in the present study. Group I (N = 10) included women with angiographically proven CAD, and group II (N = 10) is composed of equal number of age-matched healthy postmenopausal females as controls. Significantly low levels of serum 17-beta estradiol were observed in subjects of group I as compared to group II (p < 0.01). A marked increase in L: -citrulline levels (p > 0.05) and significantly augmented levels of reactive nitrogen intermediates (p < 0.05) were observed in group I subjects. PLE significantly attenuated PMA-induced expression of both ERalpha and ERbeta receptors and inflammatory iNOS gene in vitro in a dose- and time-dependent manner and had an additive effect on these genes when compared with tamoxifen. Ours is the first report to demonstrate that PLE contains certain bioactive principles, which possess anti-inflammatory and estrogenic properties, and thereby hold the promise to be screened for their anti-atherogenic potential in experimental animals to favorably alter several other markers of cardiovascular risk.
慢性潜在炎症参与了冠状动脉疾病（CAD）的病理生理学。已知长叶远志 var. pendula 树皮提取物（PLE）具有抗炎活性，并且含有丰富的植物甾醇。由于植物甾醇在结构上模拟雌激素，我们推测 PLE 可能为绝经后妇女提供针对 CAD 的保护。因此，我们已经在体外探索了 PLE 对绝经后妇女外周血单核细胞（PBMC）中雌激素受体（ERalpha 和 ERbeta）和炎症诱导型一氧化氮合酶（iNOS）基因表达的影响。本研究共纳入 20 名绝经后妇女。I 组（N = 10）包括经血管造影证实的 CAD 妇女，II 组（N = 10）由年龄匹配的健康绝经后女性组成，作为对照组。与 II 组相比，I 组的血清 17-β雌二醇水平明显降低（p < 0.01）。I 组的 L：-瓜氨酸水平显著升高（p > 0.05），活性氮中间产物水平显著升高（p < 0.05）。PLE 可显著减弱 PMA 诱导的 ERalpha 和 ERbeta 受体以及炎症 iNOS 基因的表达，呈剂量和时间依赖性，与他莫昔芬相比，对这些基因具有相加作用。这是首次报道 PLE 含有某些具有抗炎和雌激素特性的生物活性成分，有望在实验动物中筛选其抗动脉粥样硬化潜力，从而改变其他几种心血管风险标志物。
