Inhibition of cyclooxygenase and prostaglandin E2 synthesis by gamma-mangostin, a xanthone derivative in mangosteen, in C6 rat glioma cells.

The fruit hull of mangosteen, Garcinia mangostana L., has been used for many years as a medicine for treatment of skin infection, wounds, and diarrhea in Southeast Asia. In the present study, we examined the effect of gamma-mangostin, a tetraoxygenated diprenylated xanthone contained in mangosteen, on arachidonic acid (AA) cascade in C6 rat glioma cells. gamma-Mangostin had a potent inhibitory activity of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release induced by A23187, a Ca2+ ionophore. The inhibition was concentration-dependent, with the IC50 value of about 5 microM. gamma-Mangostin had no inhibitory effect on A23187-induced phosphorylation of p42/p44 extracellular signal regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase or on the liberation of [14C]-AA from the cells labeled with [14C]-AA. However, gamma-mangostin concentration-dependently inhibited the conversion of AA to PGE2 in microsomal preparations, showing its possible inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX). In enzyme assay in vitro, gamma-mangostin inhibited the activities of both constitutive COX (COX-1) and inducible COX (COX-2) in a concentration-dependent manner, with the IC50 values of about 0.8 and 2 microM, respectively. Lineweaver-Burk plot analysis indicated that gamma-mangostin competitively inhibited the activities of both COX-1 and -2. This study is a first demonstration that gamma-mangostin, a xanthone derivative, directly inhibits COX activity.