• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.80-84
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• 2010

Codonopsis Lanceolata (CL) has been widely used in Oriental medicine for treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, such as bronchitis, cough, and spasm; however, the mechanism of its anti-inflammatory activity has not been clarified. In this study, therefore, we investigated the inhibitory effect of CL on LPS-induced inflammation. The effect of CL was analyzed by ELISA, RT-PCR and Western blotting in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. We found that CL suppressed not only the mRNA expression of pre-inflammatory cytokines, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, but also the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, JNK1/2 and p38 MAPK. These results suggest that CL exerts an anti-inflammatory effect through the regulation of the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathway, thereby decreasing production of pre-inflammatory cytokines, NO, and PGE2.