Laboratory of Plant Proteins, Faculty of Exact Sciences, National University of La Plata, 47 & 115, 1900 La Plata, Argentina.
Laboratory of Pharmacology, Faculty of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacy, National University of San Luis, Chacabuco & Pedernera, 5700 San Luis, Argentina.
Z Naturforsch C J Biosci. 2013 Nov-Dec;68(11-12):445-52.
Several species of the family Bromeliaceae are characterized by the production of proteases in unusual amounts, especially in fruits. Bromelain, an extract rich in cysteine endopeptidases obtained from Ananas comosus L., and a few other proteases have been used as anti-inflammatory agents for some years, but bromelain is still mainly being used as alternative and/or complementary therapy to the treatment with glucocorticoids, nonsteroidal antirheumatics, and immunomodulators. In this study, the anti-inflammatory action of a partially purified extract from Pseudananas macrodontes (Morr.) Harms fruits (PPE(Pm)) is presented, whose main components are cysteine endopeptidases. The effect of PPE(Pm) was assessed in carrageenan-induced and serotonin-induced rat paw edema, as well as in the cotton pellet granuloma model. Doses with equal proteolytic activity of PPE(Pm) and bromelain produced significantly similar anti-inflammatory responses in the acute inflammatory models assayed, supporting the hypothesis that proteolytic activity could be responsible for the anti-inflammatory action. On the contrary, comparable anti-inflammatory effects of PPE(Pm) and bromelain in the chronic inflammatory assay required a much lower proteolytic activity content of PPE(Pm), which could be due to a differential affinity for the protein target involved in this process.
几种凤梨科植物的特点是产生异常数量的蛋白酶，特别是在果实中。凤梨蛋白酶，一种从菠萝（Ananas comosus L.）中提取的富含半胱氨酸内肽酶的提取物，以及其他一些蛋白酶，已经被用作抗炎药物多年，但凤梨蛋白酶仍主要被用作替代和/或补充治疗糖皮质激素、非甾体类抗风湿药和免疫调节剂的治疗。在这项研究中，展示了一种从假菠萝（Pseudananas macrodontes (Morr.) Harms）果实中部分纯化的提取物（PPE(Pm)）的抗炎作用，其主要成分是半胱氨酸内肽酶。在角叉菜胶诱导和 5-羟色胺诱导的大鼠足肿胀以及棉塞肉芽肿模型中评估了 PPE(Pm)的作用。PPE(Pm)的蛋白酶活性与菠萝蛋白酶相当的剂量在急性炎症模型中产生了非常相似的抗炎反应，这支持了蛋白酶活性可能是抗炎作用的原因的假设。相反，在慢性炎症测定中，PPE(Pm)和菠萝蛋白酶具有相当的抗炎作用，需要 PPE(Pm)的蛋白酶活性含量低得多，这可能是由于对参与该过程的蛋白质靶标具有不同的亲和力。
