Chinese herbal medicinal ingredients affect secretion of NO, IL-10, ICAM-1 and IL-2 by endothelial cells.

The aim of this study was to investigate the anti-endotoxin effects of sinomenine, fangchinoline, stachydrine, chuanxionggzine, oxymartrine and evodiamine alkaloids commonly found in Chinese herbal medicines. Porcine endothelial cells were challenged with 1 μg LPS/ml for 3 h and then treated with one of the six alkaloids at three concentrations (1, 5 or 10 μg/ml) for a further 21 h. The supernatants of the cultures were then collected and analyzed for levels of nitric oxide (NO), interleukin (IL)-10, intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and IL-2 using ELISA kits. The results revealed that sinomenine, stachydrine and chuanxionggzine inhibited production of NO; stachydrine and evodiamine inhibited secretion of IL-10; sinomenine and chuanxionggzine down-regulated ICAM-1 expression; oxymartrine and evodiamine decreased production of IL-2 by the LPS-stimulated endothelial cells. Overall, the data from these studies suggested to us that these six alkaloids might effectively reduce inflammatory responses in situ via changes in the formation of these key regulatory molecules/proteins.