Antioxidant activities and oxidative stress inhibitory effects of ethanol extracts from Cornus officinalis on raw 264.7 cells.

Kyung-A Hwang,Yu-Jin Hwang,Jin Song

doi:10.1186/s12906-016-1172-3

Abstract

BackgroundCornus officinalis, is a deciduous tree native to the eastern Asia, distributes mainly in (e.g. Korea, as well as China, and Japan). It is used as folk medicine to backache, polyuria, hypertension and nervous breakdown. Pharmacological studies have demonstrated that C. officinalis possess anti-oxidant, anti-hyperglycemic, and immune regulatory effects. However, reports on the antioxidant activity of C. officinalis have been limited to in vitro radical scavenging studies. Its mechanism of action within the cell at the genetic level especially has not yet been clearly defined. Therefore, we investigated the anti-antioxidant activities of C. officinalis in RAW 264.7 cells.MethodsThe antioxidant activities and protective effects of C. officinalis ethanol extract on cell damage and the antioxidant enzyme system in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced oxidative stress-damaged RAW 264.7 cells were assessed. To measure the effects of C. officinalis on antioxidant activities, we used the following methods: Total phenol and flavonoid contents, DPPH scavenging activity assay, ABTS scavenging activity assay, FRAP value measurement, xanthine oxidase activity assay, ROS generation measurement and real time PCR.ResultsThe total phenol and flavonoid contents of C. officinalis extracts were 27.04 mg GAE/g and 3.70 mg QE/g, respectively. The antioxidant activities of C. officinalis extracts increased in a dose-dependent manner: the IC50 values for DPPH and ABTS radical scavenging activities of C. officinalis extracts were 99.32 μg/mL and 138.51 μg/mL, respectively. C. officinalis extracts inhibited xanthine oxidase activity and reactive oxygen species generation. The expression of antioxidant enzymes, Cu/ZnSOD, MnSOD, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase increased upon treatment with C. officinalis extracts at 100 μg/mL, compared to that in the LPS-treated group.ConclusionsThese results suggest the therapeutic potential of C. officinalis extract as an anti-oxidant agent.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12906-016-1172-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

Cornus officinalis, is a deciduous tree native to the eastern Asia, distributes mainly in (e.g. Korea, as well as China, and Japan)
This study suggests that the ethanol extract of C. officinalis could be used as a natural source of antioxidants in the food and pharmaceutical industries
Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s Medium (DMEM), fetal bovine serum (FBS), phosphate-buffered saline (PBS), penicillin-streptomycin (P/S), and trypsin-EDTA were obtained from Gibco (Waltham, MA, USA)

Summary

Introduction

Cornus officinalis, is a deciduous tree native to the eastern Asia, distributes mainly in (e.g. Korea, as well as China, and Japan). Pharmacological studies have demonstrated that C. officinalis possess anti-oxidant, anti-hyperglycemic, and immune regulatory effects. Reports on the antioxidant activity of C. officinalis have been limited to in vitro radical scavenging studies. We investigated the anti-antioxidant activities of C. officinalis in RAW 264.7 cells. The mechanism of inflammation injury partially involves the release of ROS from activated neutrophils and macrophages. ROS propagate inflammation by stimulating the release of cytokines such as interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interferon-α, which stimulate recruitment of additional neutrophils and macrophages. Free radicals are important mediators that provoke or sustain inflammatory processes, and their neutralization by antioxidants and radical scavengers can attenuate inflammation [6, 7]. Compounds that have scavenging activities toward these radicals could have therapeutic potential

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