College of Pharmacy, Sahmyook University, Seoul 139-742, Korea.
Immune Netw. 2012 Oct;12(5):181-8. doi: 10.4110/in.2012.12.5.181. Epub 2012 Oct 31.
Dioscoreae Rhizome (DR) has been used in traditional medicine to treat numerous diseases and is reported to have anti-diabetes and anti-tumor activities. To identify a bioactive traditional medicine with anti-inflammatory activity of a water extract of DR (EDR), we determined the mRNA and protein levels of proinflammatory cytokines in macrophages through RT-PCR and western blot analysis and performed a FACS analysis for measuring surface molecules. EDR dose-dependently decreased the production of NO and pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and PGE(2), as well as mRNA levels of iNOS, COX-2, and pro-inflammatory cytokines, as determined by western blot and RT-PCR analysis, respectively. The expression of co-stimulatory molecules such as B7-1 and B7-2 was also reduced by EDR. Furthermore, activation of the nuclear transcription factor, NF-κB, but not that of IL-4 and IL-10, in macrophages was inhibited by EDR. These results show that EDR decreased pro-inflammatory cytokines via inhibition of NF-κB-dependent inflammatory protein level, suggesting that EDR could be a useful immunomodulatory agent for treating immunological diseases.
山药（DR）已在传统医学中用于治疗许多疾病，并据报道具有抗糖尿病和抗肿瘤活性。为了确定一种具有抗炎活性的生物活性传统药物，我们通过 RT-PCR 和 Western blot 分析测定了巨噬细胞中促炎细胞因子的 mRNA 和蛋白水平，并进行了 FACS 分析以测量表面分子。EDR 呈剂量依赖性降低 NO 和促炎细胞因子（如 IL-1β、IL-6、TNF-α 和 PGE（2））的产生，以及 iNOS、COX-2 和促炎细胞因子的 mRNA 水平，这分别通过 Western blot 和 RT-PCR 分析确定。EDR 还降低了共刺激分子如 B7-1 和 B7-2 的表达。此外，EDR 抑制了巨噬细胞中核转录因子 NF-κB 的激活，但不抑制 IL-4 和 IL-10 的激活。这些结果表明，EDR 通过抑制 NF-κB 依赖性炎症蛋白水平降低促炎细胞因子，提示 EDR 可能是治疗免疫性疾病的有用免疫调节剂。
