Abstract
Licorice is the common name of Glycyrrhiza species, which is an important plant for edible and medicinal purposes; however, Glycyrrhiza resources have become limited because of desertification, depletion of natural resources, and environmental restrictions. For this reason, a novel Glycyrrhiza variety named Wongam, a hybrid of G. glabra and G. uralensis, was developed by the Korea Rural Development Administration. To elucidate the antiallergic inflammatory effects of Wongam, we investigated its effects using a compound-48/80-induced anaphylaxis in vivo model and PMA/A23187-stimulated HMC-1 cells and immunoglobulin E (IgE)/DNP-stimulated RBL-2H3 cells in in vitro models. Wongam treatment reduced mortality and serum IgE levels and downregulated proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines in a compound-48/80-induced anaphylaxis mouse model. Wongam decreased histamine release and the expression of proinflammatory cytokines in HMC-1 and RBL-2H3 cells. Wongam treatment downregulated the expression of chemokines, T helper 2 cytokines, and cell surface antigens in PMA/A23187-stimulated HMC-1 cells. We confirmed that these effects were associated with the inhibition of the MAPK and NF-κB signaling pathways by Wongam. The present study suggests that Wongam ameliorates mast-cell-mediated allergic inflammatory responses by reducing mast cell activation and may serve as an effective agent for the prevention and treatment of allergic inflammatory responses.
Highlights
Licorice, the common name of the Glycyrrhiza species, is widely used as a natural sweetener and in cosmetics and herbal medicine
Disodium cromoglycate (DSCG), 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2, 5diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT), 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-5-(3-carboxymethoxyphenyl)2-(4-sulfophenyl)-2H-tetrazolium (MTS), calcium ionophore A23187 (Calcimycin), phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), antidinitrophenyl immunoglobulin E, dinitrophenyl human serum albumin (DNP-HAS), dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and all other chemicals were obtained from Millipore Sigma (Billerica, MA, USA)
We found that cells pretreated w Wongam extract (WG) had significantly suppressed phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) compared with tho treated with PMACI alone (Figure 6A)
Summary
The common name of the Glycyrrhiza species, is widely used as a natural sweetener and in cosmetics and herbal medicine. There are urgent problems related to the supply instability caused by the serious desertification of Central Asia, the consequent depletion of natural resources, and agricultural problems such as low productivity. To solve these problems, a novel Glycyrrhiza variety named Wongam (Glycyrrhiza korshinskyi Grig.) was developed by the Korea Rural Development Administration. Many studies have shown that the original Glycyrrhiza species and their components have a number of pharmacological effects, including antiallergic [5], anti-inflammatory [6], antiasthmatic [7], antiviral [8], antitumor [9], and antidepressant activities [10]. We focused on the role of Wongam in allergic inflammatory responses
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