Anti-inflammation of Tripterygium wilfordii Polycoride on Macrophages and Its Regulation to Inflammation via TLR4/NF-κB

ObjectiveTo investigate the inhibitory effect of Tripterygium wilfordii polycoride (TWP) towards the pro-inflammatory factors (TNF-α and IL-1β) on the inflammatory reaction in macrophages induced by LPS and its regulatory effect and influence on the inflammation via TLR4/NF-kB.MethodsThe MTT method was adopted to test the effect of drugs, TWP, dexamethasone (DXM) and azathioprine (AZA) on cell growth and to select the appropriate concentration. LPS was used to induce the inflammatory reaction in RAW264.7 cell line of mice. Elisa kit was adopted to test the levels of TNF-α and IL-1β. Western blotting was adopted to test the protein expression of TNF-α and IL-1β. RT-PCR was adopted to test the expression of TLR4 and NF-κB.ResultsThe inhibiting effect of TWP on the release of TNF-α and IL-1β in a dose dependent manner. The inhibitory effect of three different TWP dose groups is weaker than that in DXM group. However, TWP in high dose is better than AZA on TNF-α and is as strong as AZA on IL-1β. The dose dependent manner also exits in the effect on the expression of TLR4 and NF-κB, the effect is not weaker, but even stronger than that of DXM and AZA.ConclusionThe research shows that down regulation of TLR4 and NF-kB p65 may be one of the mechanisms about the TWP inhibitory effect on TNF-α and IL-1β.