Study on Anti-inflammatory Effects and Its Mechanism of Water Extract from Inner Mongolia Medicine Agi / 中国药房

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE：To study the anti-inflammatory effects of water extract from Inner Mongolia medicine Agi （i. e. the aerial part of Artemisia frigida ），and to preliminarily explore its mechanism. METHODS ：Totally 60 mice were randomly divided into model control group （water），aspirin group （positive control ，0.4 g/kg），Agi water extract high-dose ，medium-dose and low-dose groups （60.0，30.0，15.0 g/kg，by crude medicine ），with 12 mice in each group. After intragastric administration for consecutive 5 d，the ear swelling of mice was induced by 2，4-dinitrochlorobenzene. Another 60 mice were grouped and admini- stered by the same way ，and the foot swelling of mice was induced by carrageenan. The ear swelling degree and inhibitory rate ， paw swelling rate were calculated to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of Agi water extract. The contents of TNF-α，IL-1β and PGE2 in plantar inflammatory tissue induced by carrageenan in mice were determined by ELISA. The content of MDA was determined by thiobarbituric acid trace method and NO by nitrate reductase method. RESULTS ：Compared with model control group，the degrees of ear swelling of mice were decreased significantly in aspirin group and Agi water extract high-dose ， medium-dose，low-dose groups （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01），and the inhibitory rates of ear swelling were 72.3％，71.1％，52.6％， 36.8％，respectively；the paw swelling rates of mice in aspirin group and Agi high-dose，medium-dose groups were decreased significantly，while those were decreased significantly in Agi water extract low-dose group 0.5 h and 4.0 h after inducing inflammation（P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）；the contents of TNF-α，IL-1β，PGE2，NO and MDA in plantar inflammatory tissue of mice in aspirin group and Agi water extract high-dose ，medium-dose groups were decreased significantly （P＜0.05 or P＜0.01）. CONCLUSIONS：Inner Mongolia medicine Agi water extract has obvious anti-inflammatory effects on ear swelling induced by 2，4-dinitrochlorobenzene and paw swelling induced by carrageenan ，and its mechanism may be related to the inhibition of TNF-α， IL-1β and PGE2 generation，the reduction of NO and MDA excessive release in inflammatory tissues.