여주(Momordica charantia)의 RAW 264.7 세포에서의 항염증 효과

Abstract

We investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) in this study. Bitter melon was extracted with methanol and then fractionated into 4 fractions (hexane, methylene chloride, ethyl acetate, and butanol fractions). The extract and fractions from bitter melon showed the strong scavenging activities of nitric oxide (NO). Also, in order to investigate the anti-inflammatory activity of bitter melon, we employed NO-induced cellular inflammatory system using RAW 264.7macrophage cell. Among the extract and fractions, MeOH extract and butanol fraction showed the highest protective effect from inflammation through increase in cell viability. In addition, bitter melon scavenged NO generated by both exotoxin SNP and endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) & interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). The results represent that bitter melon would have the protect role against inflammation induced by exotoxin and endotoxin. In particular, among the extract and fractions, the butanol fraction showed the highest protective effect from inflammation, suggesting that the butanol fraction from bitter melon includes the promising protective compounds from inflammation.