In the present study, the effect of eighty-seven species of traditional Chinese herbs on nitric oxide (NO) production by a lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon-γ (IFN-γ) activated murine macrophage-like cell line, RAW 264.7 was investigated. The inhibitory rate of the fifteen species is more than eighty percent. Scutellaria rivularis Wallich, used as anti-cancer drug in Taiwan, showed strong inhibitory effect. Therefore, I investigated the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of S. rivularis and its constituent-scutellarein.
First, we investigated the analgesic effect of S. rivularis and scutellarein by acetic acid-induced writhing response test and formalin test. The anti-inflammatory activity of S. rivularis and scutellarein were determined by the λ- carrageenan induced mice paw edema. The writhing response and carrageenan-induced paw edema showed significantly reduced by treatment with S. rivularis and scutellarein. These results suggested that S. rivularis and scutellarein exerts analgesic and anti-inflammatory activity.
Scutellarein treatment also caused a significant reduction of the NO and MDA levels in the edema paw, while increasing SOD and GSH-Rx activities in the liver tissue.
In conclusion, the anti-inflammatory mechanism of scutellarein may be related to an inhibition of the NO and MDA production and the increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, and GSH-Rd). We suggest that scutellarein may be used as a pharmacological agent in preventing and treating disease in which free radical formation is a pathogenic factor.
