Direct recovery of mangostins from Garcinia mangostana pericarps using cellulase-assisted aqueous micellar biphasic system with recyclable surfactant.

The α- and γ-mangostins from Garcinia mangostana pericarps (GMP) exhibit antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor properties. The extraction yields α- and γ-mangostins are often limited by the presence of the GMP cell walls. Therefore, the extraction and recovery of mangostins from GMP with an Aspergillus niger cellulase-assisted aqueous micellar biphasic system (CA-AMBS) was developed for enhanced yield of mangostins. Effects of the concentration of cellulase, the incubation time and the temperature of the system on the recovery of mangostins were investigated. The optimum condition for the recovery of α- and γ-mangostins was obtained with the addition of 0.5% (w/w) cellulase incubated at 40°C for 2 h. High log partition coefficients of α-mangostins (log Kα 4.79 ± 0.02) and γ-mangostins (log Kγ 4.02 ± 0.02) were achieved. High yields of α-mangostins (73.4%) and γ-mangostins (14.0%) were obtained from the micelle-rich bottom phase with final concentrations of 3.67 mg/mL and 0.70 mg/mL, respectively. The back-extraction of mangostins was performed with the addition of 30% (w/w) of isopropanol and 0.05 M of KCl at pH 9 to the bottom phase of the CA-AMBS. The yields of the α- and γ-mangostins from GMP were considerably enhanced with the CA-AMBS and the direct recovery of mangostins was demonstrated without additional downstream processing steps.

Chemopreventive effects of a curcumin-like diarylpentanoid [2,6-bis(2,5-dimethoxybenzylidene)cyclohexanone] in cellular targets of rheumatoid arthritis in vitro.

AIM: Synovial fibroblast has emerged as a potential cellular target in progressive joint destruction in rheumatoid arthritis development. In this study, BDMC33 (2,6-bis[2,5-dimethoxybenzylidene]cyclohexanone), a curcumin analogue with enhanced anti-inflammatory activity has been synthesized and the potency of BDMC33 on molecular and cellular basis of synovial fibroblasts (SF) were evaluated in vitro. METHODS: Synovial fibroblast cells (HIG-82) were cultured in vitro and induced by phorbol-12-myristate acetate (PMA) to stimulate the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs) and pro-inflammatory cytokines. The protective effects of BDMC33 were evaluated toward MMP activities, pro-inflammatory cytokine expression and nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) activation by using various bioassay methods, including zymography, Western blotting, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction, immunofluorescense microscopy and electrophoretic mobility shift assay. RESULTS: The results showed that BDMC33 significantly inhibited the pro-gelatinase B (pro-MMP-9) and collagenase activities via suppression of MMP-1 in activated SF. In addition, BDMC33 strongly suppressed MMP-3 gene expression as well as inhibited COX-2 and IL-6 pro-inflammatory gene expression. We also demonstrated that BDMC33 abolished the p65 NF-κB nuclear translocation and NF-κB DNA binding activity in PMA-stimulated SF. CONCLUSIONS: BDMC33 represents an effective chemopreventive agent and could be used as a promising lead compound for further development of rheumatoid arthritis therapeutic intervention.

BDMC33, A curcumin derivative suppresses inflammatory responses in macrophage-like cellular system: role of inhibition in NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathways.

Our preliminary screening has shown that curcumin derivative BDMC33 [2,6-bis(2,5-dimethoxybenzylidene)cyclohexanone] exerted promising nitric oxide inhibitory activity in activated macrophages. However, the molecular basis and mechanism for its pharmacological action is yet to be elucidated. The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-inflammatory properties of BDMC33 and elucidate its underlying mechanism action in macrophage cells. Our current study demonstrated that BDMC33 inhibits the secretion of major pro-inflammatory mediators in stimulated macrophages, and includes NO, TNF-α and IL-1ß through interference in both nuclear factor kappaB (NF-κB) and mitogen activator protein kinase (MAPK) signaling cascade in IFN-γ/LPS-stimulated macrophages. Moreover, BDMC33 also interrupted LPS signaling through inhibiting the surface expression of CD-14 accessory molecules. In addition, the inhibitory action of BDMC33 not only restricted the macrophages cell (RAW264.7), but also inhibited the secretion of NO and TNF-α in IFN-γ/LPS-challenged microglial cells (BV-2). The experimental data suggests the inflammatory action of BDMC33 on activated macrophage-like cellular systems, which could be used as a future therapeutic agent in the management of chronic inflammatory diseases.

Cardamonin from Alpinia rafflesiana inhibits inflammatory responses in IFN-γ/LPS-stimulated BV2 microglia via NF-κB signalling pathway.

The increasing prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases has prompted investigation into innovative therapeutics over the last two decades. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are among the therapeutic choices to control and suppress the symptoms of neurodegenerative diseases. However, NSAIDs-associated gastropathy has hampered their long term usage despite their clinical advancement. On the natural end of the treatment spectrum, our group has shown that cardamonin (2',4'-dihydroxy-6'-methoxychalcone) isolated from Alpinia rafflesiana exerts potential anti-inflammatory activity in activated macrophages. Therefore, we further explored the anti-inflammatory property of cardamonin as well as its underlying mechanism of action in IFN-γ/LPS-stimulated microglial cells. In this investigation, cardamonin shows promising anti-inflammatory activity in microglial cell line BV2 by inhibiting the secretion of pro-inflammatory mediators including nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2)), tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) and interleukin-6 (IL-6). The inhibition of NO and PGE(2) by cardamonin are resulted from the reduced expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2), respectively. Meanwhile the suppressive effects of cardamonin on TNF-α, IL-1ß and IL-6 were demonstrated at both protein and mRNA levels, thus indicating the interference of upstream signal transduction pathway. Our results also validate that cardamonin interrupts nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) signalling pathway via attenuation of NF-κB DNA binding activity. Interestingly, cardamonin also showed a consistent suppressive effect on the cell surface expression of CD14. Taken together, our experimental data provide mechanistic insights for the anti-inflammatory actions of cardamonin in BV2 and thus suggest a possible therapeutic application of cardamonin for targeting neuroinflammatory disorders.

A curcumin derivative, 2,6-bis(2,5-dimethoxybenzylidene)-cyclohexanone (BDMC33) attenuates prostaglandin E2 synthesis via selective suppression of cyclooxygenase-2 in IFN-γ/LPS-stimulated macrophages.

Our preliminary screening had shown that the curcumin derivative [2,6-bis(2,5-dimethoxybenzylidene)cyclohexanone] or BDMC33 exhibited improved anti-inflammatory activity by inhibiting nitric oxide synthesis in activated macrophage cells. In this study, we further investigated the anti-inflammatory properties of BDMC33 on PGE(2 )synthesis and cyclooxygenase (COX) expression in IFN-γ/LPS-stimulated macrophages. We found that BDMC33 significantly inhibited PGE(2) synthesis in a concentration-dependent manner albeit at a low inhibition level with an IC(50) value of 47.33 ± 1.00 µM. Interestingly, the PGE(2) inhibitory activity of BDMC33 is not attributed to inhibition of the COX enzyme activities, but rather BDMC33 selectively down-regulated the expression of COX-2. In addition, BDMC33 modulates the COX expression by sustaining the constitutively COX-1 expression in IFN-γ/LPS-treated macrophage cells. Collectively, the experimental data suggest an immunodulatory action of BDMC33 on PGE(2) synthesis and COX expression, making it a possible treatment for inflammatory disorders with minimal gastrointestinal-related side effects.

The methanolic extract of Boesenbergia rotunda (L.) Mansf. and its major compound pinostrobin induces anti-ulcerogenic property in vivo: possible involvement of indirect antioxidant action.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Boesenbergia rotunda (L) Mansf. has been used for the treatment of gastrointestinal disorders including peptic ulcer. In the current study we aimed to investiagte the anti-ulcer activities of methanolic extract of B. rotunda (MEBR) and its main active compound, pinostrobin on ethanol-induced ulcer in rats. The possible involevement of lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide, cyclooxygenases and free radical scavenging mechanisms also has been investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Pinostrobin was isolated form the rhizomes of B. rotunda. Ulcer index, gastric juice acidity, mucus content, gross and histological gastric lesions and thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) were evaluated in ethanol-induced ulcer in vivo. The effect of pinostrobin into lipopolysaccharide/interferon-γ stimulated rodent cells, COX-1 and COX-2 activities were done in vitro. RESULTS: Pre-treatment with MEBR, pinostrobin or omeprazole protected the gastric mucosa as seen by reduction in ulcer area and mucosal content, reduced or absence of submucosal edema and leucocytes infiltration. Pinostrobin significantly (p<0.05) lowered the elevated TBARS level into gasteric homogenate. Pinostrobin did not produced significant in vitro inhibition of NO from LPS/IFN-γ activated rodent cells without affecting the viability of these cells. Further, the compound did bot revleaed inhibitory effects on both COX- 1& 2 enzymes. The antioxidant assays also exhibited non significance in vitro. CONCLUSION: Thus it can be concluded that MEBR possesses anti-ulcer activity, which could be attributed to indirect anti-oxidant mechanism of pinostrobin but not to the intervention with nitric oxide and COX inflammation pathways.

Synthesis and biological evaluation of curcumin-like diarylpentanoid analogues for anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase activities.

A series of 46 curcumin related diarylpentanoid analogues were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and anti-tyrosinase activities. Among these compounds 2, 13 and 33 exhibited potent NO inhibitory effect on IFN-gamma/LPS-activated RAW 264.7 cells as compared to L-NAME and curcumin. However, these series of diarylpentanoid analogues were not significantly inhibiting NO scavenging, total radical scavenging and tyrosinase enzyme activities. The results revealed that the biological activity of these diarylpentanoid analogues is most likely due to their action mainly upon inflammatory mediator, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The present results showed that compounds 2, 13 and 33 might serve as a useful starting point for the design of improved anti-inflammatory agents.