Abstract
BackgroundLitchi chinensis is regarded as one of the 'heating' fruits in China, which causes serious inflammation symptoms to people.MethodsIn the current study, the effects of isolates of litchi on prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and nitric oxide (NO) production in J774 murine macrophage cells were investigated.ResultsThe AcOEt extract (EAE) of litchi was found effective on stimulating PGE2 production, and three compounds, benzyl alcohol, hydrobenzoin and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfurolaldehyde (5-HMF), were isolated and identified from the EAE. Benzyl alcohol caused markedly increase in PGE2 and NO production, compared with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as positive control, and in a dose-dependent manner. Hydrobenzoin and 5-HMF were found in litchi for the first time, and both of them stimulated PGE2 and NO production moderately in a dose-dependent manner. Besides, regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression and NF-κB (p50) activation might be involved in mechanism of the stimulative process.ConclusionThe study showed, some short molecular compounds in litchi play inflammatory effects on human.
Highlights
Litchi chinensis is regarded as one of the ‘heating’ fruits in China, which causes serious inflammation symptoms to people
Prostaglandin E2 is the major prostaglandin produced by macrophage cells, which is derived from 20-carbon polyunsaturated fatty acids synthesized in a wide range of tissue types
Extraction yield and activity evaluation The powdered material of dried litchi was extracted with EtOH, combined EtOH extracts were filtered and evaporated under reduced pressure and the extract was suspend in H2O, fractionated using a series of organic solvents of increasing polarities, hexane, AcOEt and BuOH, evaporated and lyophilized to obtain four different freeze-dried extracts
Summary
Litchi chinensis is regarded as one of the ‘heating’ fruits in China, which causes serious inflammation symptoms to people. The key regulatory enzyme of PGE2 biosynthesis is cyclooxygenase, and cyclooxygenase-2 is the inducible form of this enzyme and mediates many of the inflammatory and inducible effects. It is worth screening the effect of foods on COX-2 expression and PGE2 formation which can provide useful information on inflammatory conditions [2]. Nitric oxide is known to play an important role in the maintenance of tissue homeostasis. NO is produced by nitric oxide synthase, and the inducible isoform (iNOS) is known to be implicated under several pathological conditions including inflammation. NO produced by iNOS kills infectious pathogens, but Overproduction of NO result damage to tissues and eventually destruction of tissue homeostasis [3]. The iNOS expression and NO production might be a good target for inflammatory research
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