title: Anti-inflammatory activity of methyl ferulate isolated from Stemona tuberosa Lour.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the anti-inflammatory activity of methyl ferulate (MF) isolated from the roots of Stemona tuberosa (S. tuberosa) Lour (Stemonaceae) in lipopolysaccharide activated macrophage cells.
  
  
  METHODS
  Methanol extracts of a root powder of S. tuberosa were prepared for isolation of a potential anti-inflammatory agent using ultrasound extraction combined with repeated chromatography on silica gel. After the quantitative analyses, anti-inflammatory activity of the isolated compound was evaluated by measurement of cytokine release, NO generation, expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and phosphorylation of mitogen activated protein kinases including p38 and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase using quantitative kits and Western blotting with specific antibodies.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The isolation process yielded a potential anti-inflammatory compound with a purity level of 99% determined by high performance liquid chromatography. The compound was identified as MF by using nuclear magnetic resonance. MF strongly inhibited the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines from macrophages, including IL-6, TNFα, IFNγ, yet it did not affect the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Phosphorylation of p38 and c-Jun NH2-terminal kinase were clearly reduced in MF-treated macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide. cyclooxygenase-2 expression and NO generation by macrophages were also suppressed when the cells were treated with MF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data suggested that MF is a possible inhibitor of the mitogen activated phosphor kinase pathway and could be a potential anti-inflammatory agent isolated for the first time in medicinal plant S. tuberosa.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam. Electronic address: phuong_nguyen_99@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Nguyen Thi Mai
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Phuong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for Enzyme and Protein Technology, Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Trinh Tat
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Cuong
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry, Hanoi National University of Education, Vietnam.
authors.forename: Dang Ngoc
authors.initials: DN
authors.lastname: Quang
keywords: Inflammation; Macrophage; Stemona tuberosa; Toll-like 4 receptor