Abstract
Inflammation is a normal physiological process; however, dysregulation of this process may contribute to inflammatory-based chronic disorders and diseases in animals and humans. Therefore, the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of natural products, often recognized in traditional medicine systems, represent therapeutic modalities to reduce or prevent uncontrolled inflammatory processes which in turn potentially ameliorate or prevent sequelae of inflammatory-based symptoms of chronic diseases. We have investigated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of honokiol (HNK) and modified citrus pectin (MCP) in vitro and examined whether the MCP : HNK combination has synergistic effects on antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Although both HNK and MCP induced a dose-dependent increase in antioxidant activity, the latter has a consistently higher antioxidant effect. The MCP : HNK (9 : 1) combination induced a synergistic effect on antioxidant activity suggesting that the combination is significantly more efficacious than individual compounds. In mouse monocytes, the lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced tumor necrosis-α (TNF-α) synthesis was significantly inhibited by HNK and the MCP : HNK combination in a dose-dependent manner and synergistic effects were clearly demonstrated with the combination on TNF-α inhibition. This combination effect was also evident on inhibition of nuclear factor-kappa B activity, cyclooxygenase-II activity, and lipid peroxidation in mouse monocytes. Further research into the combination is warranted.
Highlights
Dysregulated inflammation is often implicated as a pathophysiological phenomenon underlying many chronic diseases in humans and animals
Inflammation is in part characterized by the activation of the subsets of the innate immune system, such as monocytes and macrophages, and the secretion of inflammatory mediators like tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), prostaglandin E2, and nitric oxide [3]
The modified citrus pectin (MCP) : HNK combination was prepared in a ratio of 9 parts of MCP to 1 part of HNK and dilutions of the mix were prepared in phosphate buffered saline (PBS)
Summary
Dysregulated inflammation is often implicated as a pathophysiological phenomenon underlying many chronic diseases in humans and animals. Honokiol (HNK) is a biphenolic neolignan from magnolia bark (Magnolia officinalis) possessing multiple biological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory anxiolytic, antidepressant, and neuroprotective properties [4,5,6,7]. It is widely used in Traditional Chinese Medicine and has already been shown in preclinical studies to be an effective multifunctional antioxidant, used for a wide variety of conditions including dermatological disorders [8], cancer prevention and therapeutics [4], neuromodulation [9], and cardiovascular conditions [10]. It contains two phenolic groups which can exhibit antioxidant properties
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