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Anti-inflammatory effect of certain dimethoxy flavones

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Abstract

Objective

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effect of four dimethoxy flavone derivatives; 7,2′-dimethoxy flavone, 7,3′-dimethoxy flavone, 7,4′-dimethoxy flavone and 7,8,-dimethoxy flavone and to investigate the possible cellular mechanisms involved.

Materials and methods

The acute anti-inflammatory effect of dimethoxy flavones was investigated by carrageenan induced hind paw oedema in rats. Further, the effect of dimethoxy flavones on certain mediators of pain and inflammation like cyclooxygenases (COX-1 and COX-2), pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β and TNF-α) and free radical scavenging activity (NO and LPO) were investigated by using in vitro tests.

Results

The investigated dimethoxy flavones produced a significant, dose and time dependent reduction of carrageenan induced paw oedema in rats with a maximum inhibition of 52.4 % observed for 7,4′-dimethoxy flavone. Although, the test compounds inhibited both the isoforms of cyclooxygenase, a higher degree of inhibition on COX-2 was evident. A concentration dependent inhibition of other inflammatory cytokines like tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-1β was identified in the present study. 7,4′-dimethoxy flavone was found to be maximally effective in inhibiting nitrite ion free radical generation and 7,8-dimethoxy flavone was more active in inhibiting lipid peroxidation than the other compounds.

Conclusion

The results of the present study reveal the anti-inflammatory action of the investigated dimethoxy flavones. Inhibition of cyclooxygenases, cytokines and reactive oxygen species, observed in subsequent experiments may be suggested as possible mechanisms involved in the action of these compounds.

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Acknowledgments

I acknowledge that this research work is carried out without any financial assistance from the university.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacology, Meenakshi Medical College and Research Institute, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Kanchipuram, 631 552, India

    Kamalakannan Pandurangan & Viswanathan Subramanian

  2. Department of Pharmacology, Madha Dental College and Hospitals, Chennai, 600 069, India

    Vidyalakshmi Krishnappan

  3. Department of Pharmacology, Sri Lakshminarayana Institute of Medical Sciences, Pondicherry, 605 502, India

    Ramaswamy Subramanyan

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  1. Kamalakannan Pandurangan
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Correspondence to Kamalakannan Pandurangan.

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As first author I declare that there is no competing interests between the authors in relation to this study.

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Pandurangan, K., Krishnappan, V., Subramanian, V. et al. Anti-inflammatory effect of certain dimethoxy flavones. Inflammopharmacol 23, 307–317 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10787-015-0242-3

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