• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.27 no.9
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• pp.937-943
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• 2004

Recent investigations have shown that certain flavonoids, especially flavone derivatives, inhibit nitric oxide (NO) production by inducible NO synthase (iNOS) in macrophages, which contrib-ute their anti-inflammatory action. For the purpose of finding the optimized chemical structures of flavonoids that inhibit NO production, various A- and B-ring substituted flavones were syn-thesized and evaluated for their inhibitory activity using lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW 264.7 cells. It was found that the optimal chemical structures were A-ring 5,7-dihydroxyflavones hav-ing the B-ring 2＇,3＇-dihydroxy or 3＇,4＇-dihydroxy or 3＇,4＇-hydroxy/methoxy (methoxy/hydroxy) groups. These structurally optimized compounds were revealed to be down-regulators of iNOS induction, but not direct iNOS inhibitors. Of these derivatives that were evaluated, 2＇,3＇,5,7-tet-rahydroxyflavone and 3＇,4＇,5,7-tetrahydroxyflavone (Iuteolin) showed the strongest inhibition. The $IC_{50}$/ values for these compounds were 19.7 and 17.1 11M, respectively. Therefore, these compounds may have a potential as new anti-inflammatory agents.

• Natural Product Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.113-120
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• 1999

Nitric oxide (NO) is a free radical synthesized from L-arginine by nitric oxide synthase (NOS). It is believed that NO is an important mediator in numerous physiological and inflammatory responses. Particularly, a large amount of NO released from the inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is mostly associated with inflammatory processes. Overproduction of NO in these processes including sepsis and autoimmune diseases can have deleterious consequences and pathophysiologic relevance. Therefore, for the discovery of new inhibitory agents against iNOS activity, we have evaluated about 100 kinds of natural products after partition into three layers (n-hexane, ethyl acetate and aqueous) from 100% methanol extracts to study inhibitory effects on iNOS activity induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in RAW264.7 cells culture system. As a positive control, curcumin, which is known as an anti-tumor promoter, anti-inflammatory agent as an iNOS inhibitor, was used and showed the dose-dependent inhibitory effect $(IC_{50},\;2.5\;{\mu}g/ml)$. Among tested fractions, the n-hexane fraction of Cimicifuga heracleifolia $(IC_{50}:\;9.65\;{\mu}g/ml)$, Forsythiae fructus $(IC_{50}:\;6.36\;{\mu}g/ml)$, Saposhnikovia divaricata $(IC_{50}:\;5.92\;{\mu}g/ml)$, and the ethyl acetate fraction of Chrysanthemum sibiricum $(IC_{50}:\;2.56\;{\mu}g/ml)$, Gastrodia elata $(IC_{50}:\;3.46\;{\mu}g/ml)$, and the aqueous fraction of Dianthus chinensis $(IC_{50}:\;6.73\;{\mu}g/ml)$, Euonymus alatus $(IC_{50}:\;6.78\;{\mu}g/ml)$, Mechania urticifoloria $(IC_{50}:\;8.01\;{\mu}g/ml)$ showed strong inhibitory activity against LPS-stimulated iNOS. Especially, the ethyl acetate fraction of Chrysanthemum sibiricum $(IC_{50}:\;2.56\;{\mu}g/ml)$, which exhibited the strongest inhibition against iNOS, was fractionated with silica-gel column chromatography. These subfractions exhibited dose-dependent inhibition against iNOS activity in the range of $2.59-5.6\;{\mu}g/ml$ except for fraction No. 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 16. Our study shows that Chrysanthemum sibiricum has the strongest inhibitory effect against iNOS activity and has similar effect to curcumin. Therefore, further studies for the identification of active principles from Chrysanthemum sibiricum and investigation for the mechanism of the inhibition of iNOS by active principles will be performed.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.16 no.2
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• pp.91-95
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• 2010

Meso-dihydroguaiaretic acid (MDGA) is a medicinal herbal product isolated from the bark of Machilus thunbergii Sieb. et Zucc. (Lauraceae). It exhibits a neuroprotective effect and also exerts cytotoxicity to certain cancer cells. In the present study, we investigated whether or not MDGA inhibits inflammatory reaction through the inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) generation. The results showed that MDGA (5~$25 {\mu}M$) inhibited 100 ng/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS)- induced NO generation in macrophage Raw 264.7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner. We also measured the cytotoxic effects of MDGA on Raw 264.7 cells and found no evidence of cytotoxicity. The inhibition of NO generation by MDGA was consistent with the inhibitory effect on the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). In addition, MDGA inhibited the LPS-induced gene expression of $interleukin-1{\beta}$ $(IL-1{\beta})$ as well as tumor necrosis $factor-{\alpha}$ $(TNF-{\alpha})$. The present results may provide that MDGA has anti-inflammatory properties through inhibition of the toll-like receptors (TLRs) pathway, and suggest that MDGA can be used as an anti-inflammatory agent.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.140-146
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• 2000

Recently, we reported that immunostimulation of primary rat cortical astrocyte caused stimulation of glucose deprivation induced apoptotic cell death. To enhance the understanding of the mechanism of the potentiated cell death of clucose-deprived astrocyte by immunostimulation, we investigated the effect of immunostimulation on the glucose deprivation induced cell death of rat C6 glioma cells. Co-treatment of C6 glioma cells with lipopolysaccharide (LPS, $1\;{\mu}\textrm{g}/ml$) and interferon ${\gamma}(IFN{\gamma},\;100U/ml)$ is serum free condition caused marked elevationo f nitric oxide production ($>50\;{\mu}M$). In this condition, glucose deprivation caused significant release of lactate dehdrogenase (LDH) from C6 glioma cells while control cells did not show LDH release. To investigate whether elevated level of nitric oxide is responsible for the enhanced LDH release in glucose-deprived condition, C6 glioma cells were treated with 3-morphorinosydnonimine (SIN-1) and it was observed that SIN-1 caused increase in LDH release from glucose-deprived C6 glioma cells. Treatment of C6 glioma cells with $25\;{\mu}M$ of pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) which inhibit Nuclear factor kB (NF-kB) activation, caused complete inhibition of nitric oxide production. Treatment of C6 glioma cells with NO synthase inhibitors, $N^{G}$-nitro-L-arginine (NNA) or L-$N{\omega}$-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester (L-NAME), caused inhibition of nitric oxide production and also glucose deprivation induced cell death of cytokine-stimulated C6 glioma cells. In addition, diaminohydroxypyrimidine (DAHP, 5 mM) which inhibits the synthesis of tetrahydrobiopterine (BH4), one of essential cofactors for iNOS activity, caused complete inhibition of NO production from immunostimulated C6 glioma cells. The results from the present study suggest that immunostimulation causes potentiation of glucose deprivation induced death of C6 glioma cells which is mediated at least in part by the increased production of nitric oxide. The vulnerability of immunostimulated C6 glioma cells to hypoglycemic insults may implicate that the elevated level of cytokines in various ischemic and neurodegenerative diseases may play a role in their pathogenesis.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.173-176
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• 1999

Bioassay-guided fractionation of a $H_2O$ extract of the roots of Gentiana scabra has furnished 5-(hydroxymethyl)-2-furfural (1) as an inhibitory compound for nitric oxide (NO) production in murine macrophage RAW 264.7 cells stimulated with $interferon-{\gamma}$ plus lipopolysaccharide. Compound 1 showed the moderate inhibition of NO production with $IC_{50}$ value of $803\;{\mu}M$.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.1-6
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• 2000

Five compounds were isolated from the methanol extract of the tubers of Cyperus rotundus (Cyperaceae). They were identified as cyperol(1), ${\alpha}-cyperone(2)$, cyperotundone(3), sugetriol triacetate(4) and ${\beta}-sitosterol(5)$ on the basis of spectroscopic and physicochemical analysis. Among them, cyperol, ${\alpha}-cyperone$ and cyperotundone were shown inhibitroy effects on LPS-induced nitric oxide production in RAW 264.7 cells in a dose dependent manner.

• Archives of Pharmacal Research
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.301-305
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• 2003

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important bioactive agent that mediates a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological events. NO overproduction by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) results in severe hypotension and inflammation. This investigation is part of a study to discover new iNOS inhibitors from medicinal plants using a macrophage cell culture system. Two sesquiterpenes (1 and 2) were isolated from Artemisia iwayomogi (Compositae) and were found to inhibit NO synthesis ($IC_{50} 3.64 \mu g/mL and 2.81 \mu$g/mL, respectively) in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated RAW 264.7 cells. Their structures were identified as 3-Ο-methyl-iso-secotanapartholide (1) and iso-secotanapartholide (2). Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited the LPS-induced expression of the iNOS enzyme in the RAW 264.7 cells. The inhibition of NO production via the down regulation of iNOS expression may substantially modulate the inflammatory responses.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.111-121
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• 2005

Human placental extract (HPE), which is prepared from the placenta of healthy pregnant females, has been widely used in clinical field. HPE is known to possess anti-inflammatory, anti-viral, anti-oxidative, anti-mutagenic, and analgesic properties. In this study, the effect of HPE against lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced inflammation was investigated. From the present results, HPE was shown to suppress prostaglandin E2 synthesis (PGE2) and nitric oxide (NO) production by inhibition on the LPS-stimulated enhancement of the cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) expressions in mouse BV2 microglial cells. These results suggest that HPE may offer a valuable mean of therapy for the treatment of brain inflammatory diseases by attenuating LPS-induced PGE2 and NO production.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.7 no.3
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• pp.210-215
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• 1999

Nitric oxide (NO) can mediate numerous physiological processes, including vasodilation, neurotransmission, cytotoxicity, secretion and inflammatory response. The regulation of NO production by inducible NO synthase (iNOS) is considered to be the possible target of the development of anti-inflammatory agent, based on the observation that NO can activate cyclooxygenase, which results in the synthesis of prostaglandins. In an effort to screen new inhibitor of NO production from about 352 species of herbal extracts, we found 9 species with 50% or more inhibitory effect on NO production. Especially, the dose-dependent inhibition of NO production in lipopolysaccharide-treated macrophages by two of the herbal extracts (Artemisiae asiaticae Herba and Saussureae Radix) was due to the decrease in the expression of iNOS.

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.10b
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• pp.156.2-157
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• 2003

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages produced a large amounts of nitric oxide (NO) by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). This is an important mechanism in macrophages-induced septic shock and inflammation. In the present study, we tested a synthetic propenone compound, l-furan-2-yl-3-pyridin-2-yl-propenone (FPP-3) for its ability to inhibit the production of tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-$\alpha$) and an inducible enzyme, iNOS, in the LPS-stimulated murine macrophage-like cell line, Raw264.7. FPP-3 consistently inhibited nitric oxide (NO) and TNF-$\alpha$ production in a dose dependent manner, with $IC_50$> values of 10.0 and 13.1 $\mu$M, respectively. (omitted)