Toxicological evaluation and anti-inflammatory activity of a golden gelatinous sorghum bran extract.

Golden gelatinous sorghum (GGS) is rich in phytochemicals and anti-oxidants. We investigated the toxicity and anti-inflammatory properties of a GGS extract. We observed no toxic effects after a daily dose of up to 5000 mg/kg body weight of the GGS extract administered orally to rats for 14 d. The exposure of mice ears to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) caused a marked increase in ear thickness, which was significantly inhibited by treating with the GGS extract; this inhibition of inflammatory response was clearly confirmed by a histological analysis. The TPA-induced mice ear edema model, indicated that treating with the GGS extract inhibited the expression levels of such inflammatory mediators as cyclooxygenase-2 and inducible nitric oxide synthase. The nitric oxide level in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced Raw264.7 cells in vitro was lower in the GGS extract-treated group than in the LPS-only treated group. These results suggest that sorghum would be a safe, nontoxic product, and that the GGS extract possessed significant anti-inflammatory activity.