Department of Food Science, National Chiayi University, Chiayi, Taiwan.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2011 Dec 8;138(3):762-8. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2011.10.022. Epub 2011 Oct 20.
Wu Ling Shen, a folklore name for Xylaria nigripes (XN), is a high value medicinal fungus used in traditional Chinese medicine.
The present study aimed to examine the immunomodulatory properties of aqueous (XN-H) and ethanol (XN-E) XN extracts in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced peritoneal macrophage cells of Balb/c mice.
After treating the macrophage cells with LPS (1 μg/ml) and different XN extracts, the immunomodulatory properties were determined by the responses of inflammatory mediators, namely nitrite oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE(2)) and cytokine (IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ) production, iNOS, COX-2 and IκB-α expression, and NF-κB activation.
Results showed that treatment of macrophages with 5-30 μg/ml of XN-H or XN-E plus 1 μg/ml LPS exhibited no cytotoxic effect on cell viability. At these concentrations, although both XN-H and XN-E showed a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on NO, PGE(2), IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α and IFN-γ production in LPS-stimulated macrophages, a greater potency was noted in the XN-H treated group. RT-PCR assay also showed that XN-H possessed a greater inhibition than XN-E on iNOS and COX-2 RNA expression. Furthermore, XN-H also showed a significant stronger suppression than XN-E on the LPS-induced IκB-α phosphorylation and NF-κB activation. XN-E showed a higher total flavonoid and phenol contents but a lower β-glucan content than XN-H.
Taken together, these results conclude that XN-H possesses a stronger anti-inflammatory activity than XN-E, and its mechanism of action could be mediated by inhibiting iNOS and COX-2 expression via the NF-κB signaling pathway, and these activities could be contributed by the β-glucan content.
乌灵参，黑柄炭角菌（XN）的民间名称，是一种高价值的药用真菌，用于中药。
本研究旨在研究水提（XN-H）和醇提（XN-E）XN 提取物对 LPS 诱导的 Balb/c 小鼠腹腔巨噬细胞的免疫调节特性。
用 LPS（1μg/ml）和不同 XN 提取物处理巨噬细胞后，通过测定炎症介质（一氧化氮（NO）、前列腺素 E2（PGE2）和细胞因子（IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α和 IFN-γ）的产生、iNOS、COX-2 和 IκB-α 的表达以及 NF-κB 的激活，来确定免疫调节特性。
结果表明，浓度为 5-30μg/ml 的 XN-H 或 XN-E 加 1μg/ml LPS 处理巨噬细胞对细胞活力无细胞毒性作用。在这些浓度下，尽管 XN-H 和 XN-E 均对 LPS 刺激的巨噬细胞中 NO、PGE2、IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α和 IFN-γ的产生呈剂量依赖性抑制作用，但 XN-H 处理组的作用更强。RT-PCR 检测还表明，XN-H 对 iNOS 和 COX-2 RNA 表达的抑制作用强于 XN-E。此外，XN-H 对 LPS 诱导的 IκB-α 磷酸化和 NF-κB 激活的抑制作用也强于 XN-E。XN-E 的总黄酮和酚含量高于 XN-H，但 β-葡聚糖含量低于 XN-H。
综上所述，这些结果表明 XN-H 比 XN-E 具有更强的抗炎活性，其作用机制可能是通过抑制 iNOS 和 COX-2 的表达来介导 NF-κB 信号通路，而这些活性可能与 β-葡聚糖含量有关。
