School of Pharmacy, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, PR China.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2013 Nov 25;150(2):545-52. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2013.08.063. Epub 2013 Sep 20.
Dolichos falcata Klein (DF), a Chinese Dai ethnic medicine popularly known as "Tuoyeteng" in Yunnan province of China, has been widely used as a traditional herbal medicine for the treatment of fracture and beriberoid disease for a long time in China. The present study was carried out to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity and the bioactive chemical constituents of DF, and further to assess its possible mechanism on gouty arthritis in an animal model of the MSU crystals-induced gouty inflammation.
The ethanol extract (EE) of DF at the doses of 10, 20 and 40 mg/kg was administered to the rats treated with MSU crystals to evaluate the anti-gouty arthritis effect. Subsequently, the components of EE were isolated and identified using classical methods. Phyto-chemical analysis of EE was further carried out by HPLC-DAD. Finally, the anti-inflammatory effect of EE and two isolated components were assessed using the MSU crystals-treated monocyte/macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 in vitro.
EE (10, 20 and 40 mg/kg) significantly attenuated the pain threshold value, the joint swelling degree, the inflammatory cell infiltration of articular tissue and the increased levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines in MSU crystals-treated rats. Moreover, doliroside A (DA) and medicagenic acid-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside (MG) were isolated and identified from EE. The major components of EE, including DA, MG and other triterpenoids, were well confirmed by HPLC. A further study revealed that EE, DA and MG (10, 20, 40μg/mL) exhibited stronger inhibitory effects on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines (including interleukin-1β, interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor-α) in MSU crystals-treated RAW 264.7 cells.
These findings indicate that the major triterpenoids present in DF have a remarkable effect on improving symptoms of acute gouty arthritis induced by MSU crystals through inhibiting the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines.
云南傣族民间草药多刺绿绒蒿（DF），俗称“驼叶藤”，在中国长期被广泛用作治疗骨折和脚气病的传统草药。本研究旨在研究 DF 的抗炎活性和生物活性化学成分，并进一步评估其在尿酸盐晶体诱导的痛风性炎症动物模型中治疗痛风性关节炎的可能机制。
用 MSU 晶体处理的大鼠给予 DF 的乙醇提取物（EE），剂量为 10、20 和 40mg/kg，以评估抗痛风性关节炎作用。随后，使用经典方法分离和鉴定 EE 的成分。进一步通过 HPLC-DAD 对 EE 的植物化学成分进行分析。最后，在体外使用 MSU 晶体处理的单核/巨噬细胞 RAW 264.7 细胞系评估 EE 和两种分离成分的抗炎作用。
EE（10、20 和 40mg/kg）显著降低了 MSU 晶体处理大鼠的痛阈值、关节肿胀程度、关节组织炎症细胞浸润和促炎细胞因子水平的升高。此外，从 EE 中分离并鉴定出 Dolioside A（DA）和 Medicagenic Acid-3-O-β-D-glucopyranoside（MG）。EE 的主要成分，包括 DA、MG 和其他三萜类化合物，通过 HPLC 得到了很好的确认。进一步的研究表明，EE、DA 和 MG（10、20、40μg/mL）对 MSU 晶体处理的 RAW 264.7 细胞中促炎细胞因子（包括白细胞介素-1β、白细胞介素-6 和肿瘤坏死因子-α）的产生具有更强的抑制作用。
这些发现表明，DF 中存在的主要三萜类化合物通过抑制促炎细胞因子的产生，对改善 MSU 晶体诱导的急性痛风性关节炎症状有显著效果。
