title: Amentoflavone, a plant biflavone: a new potential anti-inflammatory agent.
abstract: Biflavonoid is one of unique classes of naturally-occurring bioflavonoids. Certain biflavonoids including amentoflavone were previously reported to have inhibitory effect on the group II phospholipase A2 activity. Amentoflavone was also found to inhibit cyclooxygenase from guinea-pig epidermis without affecting lipoxygenase. In this study, anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of amentoflavone were evaluated. When amentoflavone was administered intraperitoneally, it showed a potent anti-inflammatory activity as determined by amelioration of croton-oil induced mouse ear edema. It also showed a potent anti-inflammatory activity in the rat carrageenan paw edema model (ED50 = 42 mg/kg) compared to the activity of prednisolone (35 mg/kg) and indomethacin (10 mg/kg). However, amentoflavone did not show a significant inhibitory activity against rat adjuvant-induced arthritis, a chronic inflammatory model. In addition, amentoflavone was found to possess a potent analgesic activity in the acetic acid writhing test (ED50 = 9.6 mg/kg) compared to the activity of indomethacin (3.8 mg/kg). These results suggest that amentoflavone may be a potential lead for a new type of anti-inflammatory agents having dual inhibitory activity of group II phospholipase A2 and cyclooxygenase.
authors.affiliation: College of Pharmacy, Kangwon National Univ., Chunchon, Korea.
authors.forename: H K
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Son
authors.forename: H W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.forename: H P
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000284:Administration, Oral; D000287:Administration, Topical; D000700:Analgesics / Q000627:therapeutic use; D000818:Animals; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D044946:Biflavonoids; D003436:Croton Oil; D004487:Edema / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000188:drug therapy; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007213:Indomethacin / Q000627:therapeutic use; D007249:Inflammation / Q000188:drug therapy; D007274:Injections, Intraperitoneal; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000187:drug effects; D011239:Prednisolone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley
chemical_list: D000700:Analgesics; D000894:Anti-Inflammatory Agents, Non-Steroidal; D044946:Biflavonoids; D005419:Flavonoids; D003436:Croton Oil; C011164:amentoflavone; D011239:Prednisolone; D007213:Indomethacin