Anti-inflammatory activity of Harrisonia Perforate root extract

Abstract

Inflammation is a beneficial host response to pathogen or tissue injury. It stimulates immune cells to release a variety of inflammatory mediators and cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), interleukin-1b (IL-1b), interleukin-6 (IL-6), prostaglandinE2 (PGE2) and nitric oxide (NO). Harrisonia perforata Merr. (Simaroubaceae) root is one of the five root compositions of a Thai traditional medicine named Bencha-Loga-Wichien which is used as a remedy for treating fever. In this study we investigated the potential anti-inflammatory property of the ethanolic extract from H. perforata root on LPS-activated macrophage,J774A.1 cells and in carrageenan-induced rat paw edema model. H. perforata significantly inhibited various pro-inflammatory cytokines expression. The inhibitory concentrations were observed at 12.5 - 50 µg/ml in concentration-dependent manner. The maximum inhibitory effects of H. perforata extract (50 µg/ml) were 49.83% and 47.27% for TNF-a and IL-1b respectively. For IL-6, the mamximum inhibitory effect (32.16%) was shown at concentration 12.5 µg/ml. H. perforata extract 50 µg/ml also effectively decreased mRNA expression of important inflammatory enzyme iNOS and COX-2 level up to 88.11% and 93.68% respectively. There was no cytotoxicity at the highest concentration used in this study. Intraperitoneal treatment of rat with H. perforata (50, 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg) reduced the effect on acute inflammation induced by carrageenan in paw edema model by 28.49% , 31.18%, 47.85% and 65.05% respectively at 2 hour after stimulation. All the results obtained from this study indicated that H. perforata possessed anti-inflammatory action.