Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Dongguk University, Gyeongju 780-350, Republic of Korea.
Am J Chin Med. 2014;42(4):891-904. doi: 10.1142/S0192415X14500566.
The root bark of Lycium barbarum (Lycii radicis cortex, LRC) is used as a cooling agent for fever and night sweats in East Asian traditional medicine. The inhibitory effect of LRC water extract on inflammation is unknown. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of LRC was investigated in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated mouse macrophage, RAW 264.7 cells. LRC extract significantly decreased the LPS-induced production of inflammatory mediators, nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin (PG) E2 and pro-inflammatory cytokines, interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-6 in the cells. In addition, LRC extract inhibited the LPS-induced expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 mRNA and protein, and inflammatory cytokines mRNA in the cells. The action mechanism of LRC underlies the blocking of LPS-mediated p38 and Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), and the nuclear factor (NF)-κB signaling pathway. These results indicate that LRC extract inhibits the inflammatory response in activated macrophages by down-regulating the transcription levels of inflammatory mediators and blocking the MAPKs and NF-κB pathway.
枸杞根皮（Lycii radicis cortex，LRC）被用作东亚传统医学中的退热和盗汗的清凉剂。LRC 水提取物对炎症的抑制作用尚不清楚。在这项研究中，研究了 LRC 对脂多糖（LPS）刺激的小鼠巨噬细胞 RAW 264.7 细胞的抗炎作用。LRC 提取物可显著降低 LPS 诱导的细胞内炎症介质、一氧化氮（NO）、前列腺素（PG）E2 和促炎细胞因子白细胞介素（IL）-1β和 IL-6 的产生。此外，LRC 提取物可抑制 LPS 诱导的诱导型一氧化氮合酶（iNOS）和环氧化酶（COX）-2 mRNA 和蛋白以及细胞内促炎细胞因子 mRNA 的表达。LRC 的作用机制在于阻断 LPS 介导的丝裂原激活蛋白激酶（MAPKs）和核因子（NF）-κB 信号通路中 p38 和 Jun N-末端激酶（JNK）的作用。这些结果表明，LRC 提取物通过下调炎症介质的转录水平并阻断 MAPKs 和 NF-κB 途径来抑制激活的巨噬细胞中的炎症反应。
