Anti-inflammatory Activity of Solvent Fractions from Ginseng Berry Extract in LPS-Induced RAW264.7 Cells

Anti-inflammatory activity of the extracts of ginseng berry (GBE) was investigated through the evaluation of its inhibitory effect on the production of inflammatory meditator, nitric oxide(NO), tumor necrocis factor-alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) in LPS-induced RAW264.7 macrophage cells. GBE was fractionated using n-hexane, chloroform, ethy- lacetate, buthanol and H2O, sequentially. RAW264.7 cells were induced 100 ng/㎖ of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and treated with 0, 1.6, 8, 40 and 200 ㎍/㎖ of GBE fractions. LPS-induced NO production on all of GBE fractions was inhibited with increasing added concentration of GBE fractions. Chloroform fraction of GBE was the most effective in inhibiting LPS- induced TNF-α production. Hexane, chloroform and H2O fractions of GBE exhibit strong inhibition LPS-induced IL-6 pro- duction. Especially, H2O fractions of GBE was the most effective in inhibiting LPD-induced IL-6 production without signifi- cant cytotoxicity in RAW264.7 cells, and reduced the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and IkB phosphorylation. These results indicate that H2O fractions of GBE exhibits strong anti-inflammatory effects by inhibition of NF-kB by inhibition of p-38 on MAPK and IkB phosphorylation.