Planta Med 2006; 72(1): 65-68
DOI: 10.1055/s-2005-873145
Letter
© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Luteolin Inhibits LPS-Stimulated Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression in BV-2 Microglial Cells

Ji Sun Kim1 , Hwa Jin Lee1 , Ming Hong Lee1 , Jaeyeon Kim1 , Changbae Jin2 , Jae-Ha Ryu1
  • 1College of Pharmacy, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, Korea
  • 2Division of Life Sciences, Korea Institute of Science & Technology, Seoul, Korea
Further Information

Publication History

Received: December 23, 2004

Accepted: June 10, 2005

Publication Date:
14 October 2005 (online)

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Abstract

Overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) acts as a neurotoxic effector in the central nervous system, resulting in neurodegenerative diseases. From the alcoholic extracts of Perilla frutescens, we have purified an inhibitor of NO production in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated microglia by activity-guided purification. The active compound was identified as luteolin by spectral analysis. Luteolin inhibited the NO production in LPS-activated microglia in a dose-dependent manner (IC50 = 6.9 μM). Luteolin also suppressed the degradation of I-κB-α, the expression of protein and mRNA of iNOS in LPS-activated microglia as observed in Western blot analysis and RT-PCR experiments. Luteolin may have beneficial effects in the treatment of neuro-inflammatory diseases through the inhibition of iNOS expression.