Ethanol extract from Artemisia vestita, a traditional Tibetan medicine, exerts anti-sepsis action through down-regulating the MAPK and NF-kappaB pathways.
Artemisia vestita Wall., a traditional Tibetan medicine, has wide clinical application for inflammatory diseases. However, its molecular mechanism of anti-inflammatory effect is poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory activity and underlying mechanism of the ethanol extract from Artemisia vestita (AV-ext) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced sepsis. Pretreatment with AV-ext significantly decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha ( TNF-alpha) in serum and liver and lung tissues, and improved the survival of mice with experimental sepsis. AV-ext also remarkably reduced the expression levels of TNF-alpha, interleukin-1beta and cyclooxygenase-2 in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages and dose dependently suppressed the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), such as p38, extracellular signal-regulated kinase ( ERK1/2) and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase ( JNK). Furthermore, pretreatment with AV-ext dose dependently inhibited the activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB), as well as the degradation and phosphorylation of inhibitory kappaB (IkappaB) in LPS-activated RAW 264.7 macrophages. These results collectively reveal that AV-ext inhibits TNF-alpha release from macrophages by suppressing MAPK and NF-kappaB signaling pathways and suggest that AV-ext may be beneficial for the treatment of endotoxin shock or sepsis.[1]References
- Ethanol extract from Artemisia vestita, a traditional Tibetan medicine, exerts anti-sepsis action through down-regulating the MAPK and NF-kappaB pathways. Sun, Y., Li, Y.H., Wu, X.X., Zheng, W., Guo, Z.H., Li, Y., Chen, T., Hua, Z.C., Xu, Q. Int. J. Mol. Med. (2006) [Pubmed]
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