Anti-inflammatory Effects of Aqueous Extract from Radix Liriope muscari and Its Major Active Fraction and Component

Abstract

Aim To investigate the anti-inflammatory activities of the aqueous extract from Liriope muscari (Decne.) Bailey (Lm-a), its crude saponin fraction (Lm-s) and one major component (Lm-3), and to provide some pharmacological evidence for its clinical use in inflammatory diseases. Methods The anti-inflammatory activities of Lm-a, Lm-s and Lm-3 were evaluated by xylene-induced ear swelling and paw edema induced by carrageenan or histamine in mice. Meanwhile, the activity of Lm-3 was also determined by assaying the adhesion of human pro-myelocytic leukemia cell strain (HL-60) to human umbilical vein endothelial cell line (ECV304) induced by tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) or phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA) in vitro. Results Lm-a significantly inhibited ear swelling caused by xylene and paw edema induced by carrageenan in mice when given orally once at doses of 336 and 672 mg·kg −1. Meanwhile, Lm-s and Lm-3 possessed similar remarkable anti-inflammatory effects in such two animal models at a single oral dose of 23.2 or 4.6 mg·kg −1 (relevant to Lm-a 672 mg·kg −1), respectively. Moreover, Lm-3 markedly suppressed acute paw edema induced by histamine in mice when given orally once at the dose of 4.6 mg·kg −1, whose potency was similar to that of Lm-a or Lm-s at a single oral dose of 672 or 23.2 mg·kg −1. Lm-3 also significantly inhibited the adhesion of HL-60 to ECV304 cells induced by TNF-α or PMA at the concentrations of 0.01, 0.1 and 1 μmol·L −1 in vitro, which suggested the involved role of protein kinase C etc. Conclusion Lm-a, Lm-s and Lm-3 have the anti-inflammatory activities, which offers pharmacological supports to the ethnomedical use of the roots of L. muscari in inflammatory diseases and reveals the major attribution of saponins-rich fraction including Lm-3.