Investigation and evaluation of anti-inflammatory effects of medicinal plants

Abstract

The inflammatory response, a component of the body's protective system, is triggered by stimuli such as cellular damage and pathogen invasion. The majority of inflammatory responses contribute to eliminating the infective pathogens, removing damaged cells and forming new tissue. However, when inflammatory reactions become excessive, the healing process may be concurrently inhibited, resulting in further disorders that are difficult and expensive to treat. Medicinal plant species have been utilised in traditional medicines as treatments for multiple symptoms associated with inflammatory responses, providing new ideas for solving inflammation-related diseases. This study aims to evaluate the anti-inflammatory capabilities of medicinal plant species and explore their possible therapeutic applications in managing excessive inflammation.
Medicinal plant species were selected base on their application in traditional medicine for inflammation-related ailments, and 14 extract samples of them were initially screened for their pro- and anti-inflammatory effects using the interferon regulatory factor (IRF) and the tumour necrosis factor (TNF) pathways on A549 human lung epithelial cell line and RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cell line. The plant samples exhibited relatively weak pro-inflammatory effects and demonstrated substantial anti-inflammatory effects across two pathways and two cell lines were selected as candidates for in vitro cytotoxicity evaluation on human embryonic kidney cells (HEK293 cells). Selected candidates were further tested on larvae of the wax moth Galleria mellonella. The impacts of those plant samples on the inflammatory response of larvae treated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were evaluated based on the expression of larval antimicrobial peptides (AMPs). In conclusion, Lianhuaqingwen, P. vulgaris and S. cuneata exhibited anti-inflammatory effects, and had minimal or no toxicity in both in vitro and in vivo studies, which could be beneficial options for anti-inflammatory agent development.

Date of Award	Jul 2025
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Queen's University Belfast
Supervisor	Chen Situ (Supervisor) & Jose Bengoechea (Supervisor)