Abstract
The number of patients with inflammatory diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and lumbar spondylosis is increasing in Japan. The overexpression of NO, COX-2, and some cytokines has been found in the affected areas of these patients, which suggests that reducing inflammatory mediator levels may be therapeutically effective. Atractylodis Lanceae Rhizoma (AL) is one of the Kampo herbs that exhibits an anti-inflammatory effect, and has been included in some Kampo formulas used to cure articular rheumatism and other rheumatic diseases. In this study, we examined the inhibitory effect of a 70% methanol extract of AL and the compounds isolated from the extract on LPS-stimulated RAW264, a mouse macrophage cell line. The extract reduced NO production and inhibited mRNA expression of the inflammation-related factors COX-2, IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α. We isolated hinesol, β-eudesmol and acetylatractylodinol from the extract, and revealed that hinesol and acetylatractylodinol were effective in reducing NO production and the levels of inflammation related mRNAs, respectively. Hinesol and acetylatractylodinol are characteristic essential oil constituent of AL and these compounds play a specific aroma of AL. High contents of hinesol sometimes appear as flocculent crystals with β-eudesmol on the surface of crude drugs, which empirically indicate the high quality of these drugs. Our results may help to explain the traditional way to examine the quality of a crude drug.
