Aim: To test the effectiveness of marketed polyherbal formulations on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory conditions in macrophages.
Background: Usage of herbal compounds among patients suffering from arthritis and cancer is increasing every year. Many anti-inflammatory herbal products available in the market should be screened thoroughly for their possible mechanism of action.
Objective: Joint Pain Spl (JPS) is a polyherbal dietary food supplement composed of 13 herbal plants, and Rumalaya Forte (RF) is a polyherbal formulation comprising of 6 herbal plants. These were tested for their cytotoxicity, as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in LPS treated IC-21 peritoneal macrophages.
Methods: Commercially available JPS and RF powder was used to prepare the extract. The aqueous and methanol extracts were quantified for the presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds and confirmed with HPLC. In vitro DPPH free scavenging activity was performed. Cytotoxicity was tested by MTT assay. Anti-inflammatory activity was tested using lipopolysaccharide-stimulated IC-21 peritoneal macrophage cells.
Results: The phytochemical screening showed the presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds in JPS and RF. The aqueous and methanol extracts of JPS and RF possesses significant DPPH free radical scavenging activity. MTT assay revealed that 90.64% (aqueous extract) and 92.21% (methanol extract) of exposed macrophages are viable even after 24h exposure of maximal tested concentrations of herbal formulations. Pre-treatment of JPS and RF on LPS induced IC-21 macrophages showed a reduction in nitric oxide production (maximal 79.95%) and a high level of superoxide anion scavenging activity (maximal 82.5%) over control.
Conclusion: The two tested polyherbal formulations, such as JPS and RF possess anti-inflammatory activity by modulating free radical generation in IC-21 macrophages. Thus the presence of the phenolic and flavonoid compounds may contribute to the antioxidant activity.
Keywords: Inflammation, herbal formulation, macrophages, free radicals, plant extracts, nitric oxide.