RESEARCH - Potential use of Plectranthus amboinicus in the treatment of RA

[Guest guest]

eCAM Advance Access published online on November 23, 2007

eCAM, doi:10.1093/ecam/nem168

Potential Use of Plectranthus amboinicus in the Treatment of

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Jia-Ming Chang, Chun-Ming Cheng, Le-Mei Hung, Yuh-Shan Chung and Rey-Yuh Wu

Chinese Herbal Medicine Program, Division of Research and Development,

Development Center for Biotechnology, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC

Abstract

Plectranthus amboinicus (P. amboinicus) is a folk herb that is used to

treat inflammatory diseases or swelling symptoms in Taiwan. We

investigated therapeutic efficacy of P. amboinicus in treating

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) using collagen-induced arthritis animal

model. Arthritis was induced in rats by immunization with bovine

type II collagen. Serum anti-collagen IgG, IgM and C-reactive protein

(CRP) were analyzed. To understand the inflammation condition of

treated animals, production of TNF-, IL-6 and IL-1â from peritoneal

exudates cells (PEC) were also analyzed. P. amboinicus significantly

inhibited the footpad swelling and arthritic symptoms in

collagen-induced arthritic rats, while the serum anti-collagen IgM and

CRP levels were consistently decreased. The production of

pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-, IL-6 and IL-1â were also decreased in

the high dosage of P. amboinicus group. Here, we demonstrate the

potential anti-arthritic effect of P. amboinicus for treating RA,

which might confer its anti-rheumatic activity. This differs the

pharmacological action mode of indomethacin.

*****************************************************

Read the full article here:

http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/nem168v1

Not an MD