Anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative effect of Angelica gigas Nakai (AGN) in RAW264.7 cells

Abstract

In the present study, we analyzed the effect of Angelica gigas Nakai (AGN) on LPS-induced inflammatory responses in RAW264.7 mouse macrophage cells. For this purpose, we treated RAW264.7 cells with various concentrations of AGN and LPS for indicated times. Then, we performed WST assay, trypan blue assay, counting of activated cells, FACS analysis and western blot. We found that AGN inhibited cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. AGN caused G1 cell cycle arrest, and prevented the phosphorylation of AKT, ERK, p38 and NF-κB induced by LPS. AGN also reduced iNOS and Cox-2 mRNA expression level induced by LPS. It also diminished intracellular ROS level induced by LPS. Moreover, AGN decreased mitochondrial membrane potential and induced PARP and caspase-3 cleavage suggesting that AGN causes apoptosis. Our study clearly showed that AGN may be beneficial to prevent/treat inflammatory diseases and cancer.