College of Life Science and Technology, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, 301 Science & Tech Building, 15 North 3rd Ring East Road, Beijing 100029, China.
Arch Pharm Res. 2013 Jan;36(1):109-15. doi: 10.1007/s12272-013-0003-z.
Inflammation is an immune response against a variety of noxious stimuli, such as infection, chemicals, and physical injury. Eugenol, a natural phenolic extract, has drawn much attention for its various desirable pharmacological functions and is, therefore, broadly used in our daily life and medical practice. However, further usage of eugenol is greatly limited due to its unwanted properties, such as physicochemical instability, poor solubility, and high-dose cytotoxicity. In hopes of extending its applicability through glycosylation, we previously reported a novel, efficient, and high throughput way to biosynthesize α-D-glucosylated eugenol (α-EG). In this study, we further explored the potential superior properties of α-EG to its parent eugenol in terms of anti-inflammatory activities. We demonstrated that α-EG was an effective anti-inflammatory mediator in both non-cellular and cellular environments. In addition, the non-cellular inhibitory effect of α-EG could be amplified by α-glucosidase, which ubiquitously exists in cytoplasm. Furthermore, α-EG exhibited a superior anti-inflammatory effect to its parent eugenol in a cellular environment. In words, our findings collectively suggest that α-EG is a stronger anti-inflammatory mediator and may thereby serve as a desirable substitute for eugenol and a potential therapeutic prodrug in treating inflammatory diseases in the future.
炎症是一种针对多种有害刺激（如感染、化学物质和物理损伤）的免疫反应。丁香酚是一种天然酚类提取物，由于其各种理想的药理学功能而备受关注，因此在我们的日常生活和医学实践中得到广泛应用。然而，由于其不理想的性质，如物理化学不稳定性、低溶解度和高细胞毒性，丁香酚的进一步使用受到了极大的限制。为了通过糖基化来扩大其适用性，我们之前报道了一种新型、高效、高通量的生物合成α-D-葡萄糖基丁香酚（α-EG）的方法。在这项研究中，我们进一步探讨了α-EG 相对于其母体丁香酚在抗炎活性方面的潜在优越特性。我们证明了α-EG 是一种在非细胞和细胞环境中都有效的抗炎介质。此外，α-葡萄糖苷酶（普遍存在于细胞质中）可增强α-EG 的非细胞抑制作用。此外，α-EG 在细胞环境中表现出比母体丁香酚更强的抗炎作用。换句话说，我们的研究结果表明，α-EG 是一种更强的抗炎介质，因此可能成为未来治疗炎症性疾病的理想丁香酚替代品和潜在治疗前药。
