Anat Cell Biol.  2015 Dec;48(4):244-250. 10.5115/acb.2015.48.4.244.

A combinational effect of acetaminophen and oriental herbs on the regulation of inflammatory mediators in microglia cell line, BV2

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Anatomy, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea. genius29@snu.ac.kr
  • 2Institute of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Korea.
  • 3Department of Family Medicine, Eulji University School of Medicine, Daejeon, Korea.

Abstract

The mechanism of Western medicine that is commonly used for pain relief is well-known. However, very little is known for oriental herbs, and even less is known for mixture of the two. We investigated the combinational effect of 3 kinds of oriental herbs, usually used for the control of headache, and acetaminophen to relieve headache in microglia cell line, BV2. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation induced to produce nitrite and increased the expression of inflammation-related factors like inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in murine microglia cell line, BV2. Oriental herbs such as Angelica tenuissima, Angelica dahurica, and Scutellaria baicalensis reduced the production of nitric oxide and the expression of COX-2. Moreover, a treatment of acetaminophen combined with oriental herbs was more decreased the COX-2 expression, and its product, prostaglandin E2 production in BV2 cells. Therefore, a combined treatment of oriental herbs such as A. tenuissima, A. dahurica, and S. baicalensis and Western medicine like acetaminophen has a synergistic effect on the decrease of LPS-induced inflammation in microglia.

Keyword

Acetaminophen; Angelica tenuissima; Angelica dahurica; Scutellaria baicalensis; Microglial inflammation

MeSH Terms

Acetaminophen*
Angelica
Cell Line*
Cyclooxygenase 2
Dinoprostone
Headache
Inflammation
Microglia*
Nitric Oxide
Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II
Scutellaria baicalensis
Acetaminophen
Cyclooxygenase 2
Dinoprostone
Nitric Oxide
Nitric Oxide Synthase Type II

Figure

  • Fig. 1 Increased nitric oxide production and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treatment in BV2 cells. The concentration of nitrite in the culture supernatants after BV2 cells were treated with 0.1, 1, and 10 µg/ml concentrations of LPS for 24 hours (A) or 1 µg/ml concentrations of LPS for 3, 6, 12, and 24 hr (B), the concentration of nitrite in the culture supernatants was measured by Griess assay. BV2 cells were treated with LPS (1 µg/ml) for 3, 6, 12, and 24 hours. Then, the transcriptional expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) (C) or the translational expression of COX-2 (D) was examined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction or immunoblotting, respectively. β-Actin was used as an internal control. CTL, control.

  • Fig. 2 Decreased nitric oxide production and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression by oriental herbs in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV2 cells. (A) The concentration of nitrite in the culture supernatants after Angelica tenuissima, A. dahurica, and Scutellaria baicalensis treatments with LPS (1 µg/ml) for 24 hours in BV2 cells. (B) BV2 cells were treated with A. tenuissima, A. dahurica, and S. baicalensis combined with 1 µg/ml concentrations of LPS for 24 hours. Then, the expression of COX-2 was examined by immunoblotting. β-Actin was used as an internal control. (C) The relative expression of COX-2 to β-actin was represented after densitometry analysis. At, A. tenuissima; Ad, A. dahurica; Sb, S. baicalensis; CTL, control. ***P<0.001.

  • Fig. 3 Decreased cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production by oriental herbs combined with acetaminophen in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated BV2 cells. (A-C) Acetaminophen was treated to BV2 cells with a combination with Angelica tenuissima, A. dahurica, or Scutellaria baicalensis after LPS stimulation. (A) The expression of COX-2 was examined by immunoblotting. (B) The relative expression of COX-2 to β-actin was represented after densitometry analysis. (C) And, the concentration of PGE2 in the culture supernatants from BV2 cells were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Ac, acetaminophen; At, A. tenuissima; Ad, A. dahurica; Sb, S. baicalensis. ***P<0.001, **P<0.01, *P<0.05 vs. LPS-treated control (CTL), ###P<0.001.


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