International Journal of Medicinal Plants Research

International Journal of Medicinal Plants Research ISSN 2169-303X Vol. 8 (5), pp. 001-010, May, 2019. © International Scholars Journals

Full Length Research Paper

Anti-inflammatory bio-activities in water extract of Centaurea ainetensis

Rabih S. Talhouk^1,3*, Wassim El-Jouni^1,3,4, Riad Baalbaki^2,3,5, Hala Gali-Muhtasib^1,3, Joanna Kogan³ and Salma N. Talhouk^2,3

¹Departments of Biology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, American University of Beirut Riad El-Solh, Beirut 1107-2020, P. O. Box 11-0236 Lebanon.

²Crop Production and Protection, Faculty of Agriculture and Food Science, ³IBSAR Center, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon.

⁴Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA.

⁵Plant Pest Diagnostics, California Department of Food and Agriculture, Sacramento, California, USA

Accepted 21 January, 2019

Abstract

Of a selected 29 plants endemic to Lebanon and claimed to have anti-inflammatory effects, according to Lebanese folk literature, Centaurea ainetensis was chosen to further characterize its claimed anti-inflammatory activity using in-vitro and in-vivo assays. Water extract from C. ainetensis, at non-cytotoxic concentrations, inhibited in a dose dependant manner interleukin-6 (IL-6) and gelatinases A and B produced by endotoxin (ET)-treated CID -9 cells grown in conditions that favor differentiation, on EHS-drip, at 9, 24 and 48 h post ET treatment. The inhibition was detected in doses as low as 3% (of a 1:8 decoction) and reached maximal levels of inhibition at 8% similar to control non ET-treated cells. C. ainetensis extract at these concentrations did not affect CID-9 cell’s expression of -casein, a milk protein expressed by functionally differentiated mammary cells in culture. In vivo studies showed that C. ainetensis extract reversed ET-induced paw edema and thermal hyperalgesia in rats as demonstrated by hot plate and heat hyperalgesia pain tests.

Key words: Inflammation, IL-6, gelatinases, mammary cells, Centaurea ainetensis.