Supercritical carbon dioxide extract exhibits enhanced antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of Physalis peruviana

Physalis peruviana L. (PP) is a medicinal herb widely used in folk medicine. In this study, supercritical carbon dioxide (SFE-CO2) method was employed to obtain three different PP extracts, namely SCEPP-0, SCEPP-4 and SCEPP-5. The total flavonoid and phenol concentrations, as well as antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of these extracts were analyzed and compared with aqueous and ethanolic PP extracts. Among all the extracts tested, SCEPP-5 demonstrated the highest total flavonoid (234.63 ± 9.61 mg/g) and phenol (90.80 ± 2.21 mg/g) contents. At concentrations 0.1–30 μg/ml, SCEPP-5 also demonstrated the strongest superoxide anion scavenging activity and xanthine oxidase inhibitory effect. At 30 μg/ml, SCEPP-5 significantly prevented lipopolysaccharide (LPS; 1 μg/ml)-induced cell cytotoxicity in murine macrophage (Raw 264.7) cells. At 10–50 μg/ml, it also significantly inhibited LPS-induced NO release and PGE2 formation in a dose-dependent pattern. SCEPP-5 at 30 μg/ml remarkably blocked the LPS induction of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. Taken together, these results suggest that SCEPP-5, an extract of SFE-CO2, displayed the strongest antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities as compared to other extracts. Its protection against LPS-induced inflammation could be through the inhibition of iNOS and COX-2 expression.