Natural Products, Medicinal Plants & Marine Drugs

The dried stem of Derris scandens Benth. (Leguminosae) is well known as an Asian medicinal plant and is used for a variety of aliments. The extracts using organic solvents have been reported for anti-cancer activity in human lung cancer cells. However, the anti-inflammatiory molecular mechanism of Derris scandens extract is still unknown. Our work is focused on in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of Lupalbigenin in Raw 264.7 cells using 1 ug/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS) for 24 hrs to induce cell changes. The results showed that Lupalbigenin at concentrations of 5 uM and below had no cytotoxicity with the macrophages. Subsequently, the macrophage cells were pre-treated with 5, 2.5 and 1.25 uM concentrations of Lupalbigenin for 2 hrs and after being incubated with 1 ug/ml LPS for 24 hrs, the results showed that at 1.25 uM of Lupalbigenin the protein expression levels of iNOS, COX-2 and TNF-α were decreased. The results indicate that Lupalbigenin appears to decrease the inflammatory activity level. Further experiments on anti-inflammatory gene expressions and signalling pathway will be studied.