Anti-Inflammatory Principles from Balanophora laxiflora
WEN-FEI CHIOU1, CHIEN-CHANG SHEN1 AND LIE-CHWEN LIN1,2*
1. National Research Institute of Chinese Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
2. Graduate Institute of Integrated Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan, R.O.C.
(Received: December 29, 2010; Accepted: August 19, 2011)
ABSTRACT
Eighteen known compounds, including lignans, phenylpropanoids, triterpenoids, and phytosterols, were isolated from Balanophora laxiflora (Balanophoraceae). The inhibitory activities of these compounds on the production of nitric oxide (NO), a pro-inflammatory mediator, were evaluated. Compounds isolariciresinol (1), ethyl caffeate (13) and ferulic aldehyde (16) showed potent to mild inhibitory activities on LPS-stimulated NO production in RAW 264.7 macrophages with IC50 values of 0.81, 7.29, and 98.67 μM, respectively. The results showed that compound 1 had a potent effect on TNF-α production with an IC50 value of 0.87 μM, but practically no effect on IL-6 synthesis. In addition, an inhibitory effect of compound 1 on nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation was shown by the repression of LPS-stimulated β-lactamase reporter activity. Taken together, these results demonstrated that compound 1 modulates the production of inflammatory mediators through the attenuation of NF-κB transcription signaling.
Key words: Balanophora laxiflora, Isolariciresinol, Nitric oxide (NO), TNF-α, NF-κB