Cornus mas and Cornus officinalis-a comparison of antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities of standardized fruit extracts. - GreenMedInfo Summary

Fruits ofandare representative plant materials traditionally used in Europe and Asia, respectively, in the treatment of diabetes and diabetes-related complications, which are often mediated by pathogenic inflammatory agents. Additionally, due to the fact of mutual infiltration of Asian and European medicines, the differentiation as well as standardization of traditional prescriptions seem to be crucial for ensuring the quality of traditional products. The objective of this study was a comparison of biological activity of extracts from fruits ofandby an assessment of their effect on reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation in human neutrophils as well as cytokines secretion both in neutrophils (tumor necrosis factor, TNF-; interleukin 8, IL-8; interleukin 1, IL-1) and in human colon adenocarcinoma cell line Caco-2 (IL-8). To evaluate the phytochemical differences between the studied extracts as well as to provide a method for standardization procedures, a quantitative analysis of iridoids, such as loganin, sweroside, and loganic acid, found in extracts offruits was performed with HPLC-DAD. All standardized extracts significantly inhibited ROS production, whereas the aqueous-alcoholic extracts were particularly active inhibitors of IL-8 secretion by neutrophils. The aqueous-methanolic extract offruit, decreased IL-8 secretion by neutrophils to 54.64± 7.67%, 49.68 ± 6.55%, 50.29 ± 5.87% at concentrations of 5, 50, and 100 µg/mL, respectively, compared to LPS-stimulated control (100%). The aqueous extract offruit significantly inhibited TNF-release by neutrophils at concentrations of 50 and 100µg/mL. On the other hand, the aqueous-ethanolic extract offruit showed the propensity to increase TNF-and IL-1secretion. The modulatory activity of theextracts was noted in the case of secretion of IL-8 in Caco-2 cells. The effect was comparable with dexamethasone. The content of loganin in aqueous and aqueous-methanolic extract offruit was higher than in the aqueous-ethanolic extract offruit, which was characterized by a significant quantity of loganic acid. In conclusion, the immunomodulatory effect observed in vitro may partially confirm the traditional use offruits through alleviation of the development of diabetes-derived inflammatory complications. Loganin and loganic acid are significant markers for standardization ofandfruit extracts, respectively.