The Isosteroid Alkaloid Imperialine from Bulbs of Fritillaria cirrhosa Mitigates Pulmonary Functional and Structural Impairment and Suppresses Inflammatory Response in a COPD-Like Rat Model.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the third leading cause of death in the world. Present therapies for COPD have limited effect on reducing the progression of COPD and suppressing the inflammatory response in the lung. Bulbs of Fritillaria cirrhosa D. Don (BFC) have been used in many Asian countries for a long time to treat pulmonary diseases, such as cough, expectoration, and asthma. Steroidal alkaloids are the major biological active constituents in BFC, whereby imperialine is one of the important steroidal alkaloids. So far, there are no studies reporting the effect of imperialine on COPD. In this study, we investigated the effect of imperialine on pulmonary function and structure and inflammation in a COPD-like rat model which was induced by the combination of exposure to CS and intratracheal administration of LPS. Our data show that imperialine mitigates pulmonary functional and structural impairment and suppressed inflammatory response in a COPD-like rat model by mediating expression of related cytokines in lung tissues of the COPD-like rats, such as IL-1ß, IL-6, IL-8, TNF-α, NF-κB, TGF-ß1, MMP-9, and TIMP-1.

The total alkaloid fraction of bulbs of Fritillaria cirrhosa displays anti-inflammatory activity and attenuates acute lung injury.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Bulb of Fritillaria cirrhosa D.Don (BFC) has been wildly used in China for a long time for folk medicine since its significant therapeutic effects on respiratory diseases, such as cough, expectoration, pneumonia and bronchial inflammation, which are related to respiratory inflammatory response. However, there is a lack of investigation on the in vivo anti-inflammatory properties of BFC. AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study was to evaluate the in vivo anti-inflammatory activity of the purified total alkaloid fraction of BFC (TAF) by using different animal models of inflammation to provide scientific evidence for its traditional use. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The total alkaloid fraction from BFC was prepared by using H-103 resin column. Anti-inflammatory effect of TAF was evaluated by models of acetic acid-induced capillary permeability accentuation, carrageenan-induced rat paw edema, cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation and LPS-induced acute lung injury (ALI). The level of cytokines (TNF, IL-6, IL-4 and IL-10) was measured by ELISA. Histopathological analyses were performed by using hematoxylin and eosin staining. RESULTS: TAF can inhibit acetic acid-induced capillary permeability accentuation, carrageenan-induced paw edema, cotton pellet-induced granuloma formation, suppress inflammatory cells recruitment and cytokine production in the bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from LPS-induced ALI mice, and attenuate pathological changes in the lung tissues of ALI mice. CONCLUSION: This study provides scientific evidence for bulb of F. cirrhosa to treat respiratory inflammation.

[Three new records of medical plant in Hubei, China].

In order to have a better understanding of the species diversity of medical plants in Enshi, Hubei of China, extensive field investigations and specimen collections were conducted in Enshi and adjacent regions. Based on field observations of plants in their living habitats and comparative morphological studies on specimens in herbarium of Hubei minzu University and other available herbaria as well, three new records of medical plants in Hubei, Scutellaria yunnanensis, Alangium faberi var. heterophyllum, and Drymaria diandra, were reported in this paper.