A bio-guided assessment of the anti-inflammatory activity of hop extracts (Humulus lupulus L. cv. Cascade) in human gastric epithelial cells

• Main Authors: Enrico Sangiovanni, Marco Fumagalli, Laura Santagostini, Martino Forino, Stefano Piazza, Elisa Colombo, Orazio Taglialatela-Scafati, Gelsomina Fico, Mario Dell'Agli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2019-06-01
• Series: Journal of Functional Foods
• Subjects: Hop; Humulus lupulus L.; Gastric inflammation; IL-8; Xanthohumol; AGS cells
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1756464619301677

The present work aims to characterize and investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of hop extracts (cv. Cascade) in an in vitro model of gastric inflammation. The biological activities of hydroalcoholic and aqueous extracts from cones were evaluated by comparing IL-8 inhibition induced by TNFα. The hydroalcoholic extract demonstrated a higher inhibitory effect, which was just slightly affected by an in vitro simulated gastric digestion. The identification of active compounds was performed by a bio-guided fractionation which afforded 11 fractions, one of which inhibited IL-8 release in a concentration-dependent fashion in human gastric epithelial AGS cells. Phytochemical analysis revealed xanthohumol A and xanthohumol D as the main active components. The present study provides some experimental evidences that Humulus lupulus L. may exert an anti-inflammatory activity on the gastric district by the inhibition of the IL-8 secretion, partially due to its prenylated chalcones content.