Department of Genetic Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 440-746, Republic of Korea.
Department of Herbal Crop Research, National Institutes of Horticultural & Herbal Science, Rural Development Administration, Suwon 441-707, Korea.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2014 Mar 28;152(3):487-96. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2014.01.030. Epub 2014 Feb 4.
Artemisia asiatica Nakai (Compositae) is a representative herbal plant used to treat infection and inflammatory diseases. Although Artemisia asiatica is reported to have immunopharmacological activities, the mechanisms of these activities and the effectiveness of Artemisia asiatica preparations in use are not known.
To evaluate the anti-inflammatory activities of Artemisia asiatica ethanol extract (Aa-EE), we assayed nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) in macrophages and measured the extent of tissue injury in a model of gastric ulcer induced in mice by treatment with HCl in EtOH. Putative enzymatic mediators of Aa-EE activities were identified by nuclear fractionation, reporter gene assay, immunoprecipitation, immunoblotting, and kinase assay. Active compound in Aa-EE was identified using HPLC.
Treatment of RAW264.7 cells and peritoneal macrophages with Aa-EE suppressed the production of NO, PGE2, and TNF-α in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and induced heme oxygenase-1 expression. The Aa-EE also ameliorated symptoms of gastric ulcer in HCl/EtOH-treated mice. These effects were associated with the inhibition of nuclear translocation of nuclear factor (NF)-κB and activator protein (AP)-1, implying that the anti-inflammatory action of the Aa-EE occurred through transcriptional inhibition. The upstream regulatory signals Syk and Src for translocation of NF-κB and TRAF6 for AP-1 were identified as targets of this effect. Analysis of Aa-EE by HPLC revealed the presence of luteolin, known to inhibit NO and PGE2 activity.
The anti-inflammatory activities attributed to Artemisia asiatica Nakai in traditional medicine may be mediated by luteolin through inhibition of Src/Syk/NF-κB and TRAF6/JNK/AP-1 signaling pathways.
艾蒿（菊科）是一种用于治疗感染和炎症性疾病的代表性草药植物。尽管艾蒿被报道具有免疫药理学活性，但这些活性的机制以及艾蒿制剂的有效性尚不清楚。
为了评估艾蒿乙醇提取物（Aa-EE）的抗炎活性，我们检测了巨噬细胞中一氧化氮（NO）、肿瘤坏死因子（TNF）-α 和前列腺素 E2（PGE2）的产生，并通过用盐酸乙醇处理诱导的小鼠胃溃疡模型测量组织损伤程度。通过核分离、报告基因测定、免疫沉淀、免疫印迹和激酶测定来鉴定 Aa-EE 活性的潜在酶促介质。使用 HPLC 鉴定 Aa-EE 中的活性化合物。
用 Aa-EE 处理 RAW264.7 细胞和腹腔巨噬细胞可抑制脂多糖（LPS）诱导的 NO、PGE2 和 TNF-α 的产生，并诱导血红素加氧酶-1 的表达。Aa-EE 还改善了盐酸乙醇处理的小鼠胃溃疡的症状。这些作用与核因子（NF）-κB 和激活蛋白（AP）-1 的核易位抑制有关，这表明 Aa-EE 的抗炎作用是通过转录抑制发生的。鉴定出Src 和 Syk 等信号转导物为 NF-κB 易位的上游调节信号，TRAF6 为 AP-1 的上游调节信号。通过 HPLC 对 Aa-EE 的分析表明，存在已知抑制 NO 和 PGE2 活性的木樨草素。
传统医学中归因于艾蒿的抗炎活性可能是通过抑制Src/Syk/NF-κB 和 TRAF6/JNK/AP-1 信号通路，由木樨草素介导的。
