Acacia farnesiana extracts possess anti-inflammatory activity on LPS-induced macrophages

Acacia farnesiana L. Willd (huizache, Mimosoideae, AF) is a leguminous plant possessing diuretic, anti-inflammatory and antimalaria properties. The aim of this study is to investigate the molecular pharmacological activity of aqueous and ethanol extract of AF in inflammatory response. Results showed that aqueous or ethanol extracts of AF reduced the productions of pro-inflammatory factors, including tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), nitrite oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) with dose-dependent manner in murine marcrophage induced by 0.5 μg/ml lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Both aqueous and ethanol extracts did not exhibited cell cytotoxicity at the concentration up to 100 μg/ml. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay indicated that aqueous extract at 10 μg/ml completely inhibited the LPS-induced iNOS gene expression, and at 50 μg/ml suppressed cyclooxygenase 2 (COX-2), IL-6 and IL-1β gene expression. Ethanol extracts significantly blocked iNOS, COX-2, IL1-β and TNF-α gene expression as well, at the concentration of 5 μg/ml, 50 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml, respectively. The ethanol extracts showed more effectiveness in anti-inflammation activity compared with the same dose of aqueous extracts based on the inhibiting activity in iNOS expression. However, both types of extracts had no effect on the expression of COX-1. In conclusion, our present findings showed the anti-inflammatory activity of AF against RAW264.7 cells in vitro, and that both aqueous and ethanol AF extracts possess good anti-inflammatory activity. The molecular mechanism of the bioactivity of AF may be through down-regulating the gene expressions of inflammatory related factors.