Bioactive compounds and their future prospects

Bioactive compounds and their future prospects

In the present study, the chemical constituents of Artemisia fukudo essential oil (AFE) were investigated using GC-MS. The major constituents were <TEX>${\alpha}$</TEX>-thujone (40.28%), <TEX>${\beta}$</TEX>-thujone (12.69%), camphor (6.95%) and caryophyllene (6.01%). We also examined the effects of AFE on the production of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin <TEX>$E_2$</TEX> (<TEX>$PGE_2$</TEX>), tumor necrosis factor-<TEX>${\alpha}$</TEX> (TNF-<TEX>${\alpha}$</TEX>), interleukin-IL-<TEX>$1{\beta}$</TEX> (IL-<TEX>$1{\beta}$</TEX>), and IL-6 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated RAW 264.7 cells. Western blotting and RT-PCR analyses indicated that AFE has potent dose-dependent inhibitory effects on pro-inflammatory cytokines and mediators. We investigated the mechanism by which AFE inhibits NO and <TEX>$PGE_2$</TEX> by examining the level of nuclear factor-<TEX>${\kappa}B$</TEX> (NF-<TEX>${\kappa}B$</TEX>: p50 and p65) activation within the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK: ERK, JNK and p38) pathway, which is an inflammation induced signal pathway in RAW 264.7 cells. AFE inhibited LPS-induced ERK, JNK and p38 phosphorylation. Furthermore, AFE inhibited the LPS-induced phosphorylation and degradation of <TEX>$I{\kappa}B-{\al</TEX><TEX>pha}$</TEX>, which is required for the nuclear translocations of the p50 and p65 NF-<TEX>${\kappa}B$</TEX> subunits in RAW 264.7 cells. Our results suggest that AFE might exert an anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Such an effect is mediated by a blocking of NF-<TEX>${\kappa}B$</TEX> activation which consequently inhibits the generation of inflammatory mediators in RAW 264.7 cells. AFE may be useful for treating inflammatory diseases.