The Anti-Inflammation Effect Of ITE And Its Mechanism

α -methyl-4'-(2-methylpropanyl)benzenacetic acid 2-hydroxyl-methyl-3,5,6- trime -thylpyrazine ester (ITE), a new compound was synthesized by combining 2,3,5,6-tetramethylpyrazine-the biologically active ingredient of a traditional herbal medicine Ligusticum wallichii Franch or Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort. The anti-inflammatory effects of ITE were investigated. Furthermore, the mechanisms of ITE on inflammatory were studied.The results showed that ITE i.g. had a marked suppressive effects on the mouse's ear edema induced by xylene, the increased vascular permeability caused by acetic acid, the rat's granuloma caused by croton oil, the rat's hind paw edema induced by carrageenin. It was shown that the writhing response induced by acetic acid was remarkably inhibited by ITE and the pain sore induced by formadehyde was decreased by ITE. It was found that the content of MDA and prostaglandin E in the exudates in the groups treated by ITE were much lower than those in the control group. In addition ,the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in serum and catalase (CAT) in red blood cell were enhanced by ITE. The suppressive effect on ear edema in mice without adrenal was observed and ITE had no apparent effect on either the weight of adrenal or the content of vitamin C . These results suggested that the mechanism involved in the anti-inflammation of ITE was partly due to the influence of ITE on cyclooxygenase(COX) and the synthesis or release of free radical, but not related to pituitary-adrenal system.. The effect of ITE was similar to that of ibuprofen but the ulcer rate induced by ITE was less than it.The anti-inflammatory effects of ITE on immune inflammatory were investigated in adjuvant arthritis(AA) and type â…¡ collagen-induced arthritis(CIA) . The results shown the increase of hind paw edema both in the primary and in secondary stage were decreased markedly by ITE in AA rats. It was also found that the levels of serum TNF α , IL-1β ,IL-6 in AA rats were significantly lowered by ITE. And treated with ITE, the PGE₂ release of peritoneal macrophages induced by LPS was reduced . Clinical assessment showed that ITE had no effect on the day of onset of CIA but did lowered...