Summary: | 博士 === 中國醫藥大學 === 中國藥學研究所博士班 === 98 === Desmodium triflorum D.C. (Fabaceae) is a medicinal plant in Taiwan. In this study, we evaluated the analgesic effect of the methanol extract of D. triflorum (MDT) by using animal models of acetic acid-induced writhing response and formalin test. The anti-inflammatory effect of D. triflorum was investigated by λ-carrageenan-induced paw edema in mice. We detected the activities of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and glutathione reductase (GRd) in the liver, the levels of interleukin-1β (IL-1β), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α), malondialdehyde (MDA) and nitric oxide (NO) in the edema paw tissues. In the analgesic test, D. triflorum decreased the acetic acid-induced writhing response and licking time in the late phase of the formalin test. In the anti-inflammatory test, D. triflorum also decreased the paw edema due to λ-carrageenan administration. Furthermore, MDT increased the activities of SOD and GRd in liver tissues and decreased MDA level in the edema paws at the 3rd hour after λ-carrageenan-induced inflammation. D. triflorum also affected the levels of interleukin-1β, tumor necrosis factor-α, NO and MDA which were induced by λ-carrageenan. The anti-inflammatory mechanism of D. triflorum might be related to the decreases in the level of MDA in the edema paw via increasing the activities of SOD and GRd in the liver, and the NO level via regulating the IL-1β production and the level of TNF-α in the inflamed tissues. Our study also found that D. triflorum did not have significant hepatoprotective activity.
This study evaluated the antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of the crude extract and fractions of D. triflorum. In this study, the total phenolic content, 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) free radical scavenging activity, trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC), reducing power, total flavonoid content of D. triflorum were evaluated for the exploration of its antioxidant activities. Furthermore, its antiproliferative activities were investigated through the MTT method. The above experimental data indicated that D. triflorum was a potent antioxidant medicinal plant, and such efficacy may be mainly attributed to its polyphenolic compounds. This paper developed a new analytical method for the evaluation of antioxidant activity using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) and digital processing method. In conclusion, D. triflorum is an important medicinal plant in Taiwan that is worth investigating for the development of new medicines in the future.
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