Background: Traditional Chinese medicine
Taraxacum officinale
has been widely used to treat various inflammatory diseases.
Taraxasterol is one of the main active components isolated from
Taraxacum officinale. Recently, we have demonstrated that
taraxasterol has the
in vitro anti-inflammatory effects. This study aims to determine the
in vivo anti-inflammatory effects of
taraxasterol against animal models.
Materials and Methods: Anti-inflammatory effects were assessed in four animal models by using dimethylbenzene-induced mouse
ear edema, carrageenan-induced rat paw edema, acetic acid-induced mouse vascular permeability and cotton pellet-induced rat
granuloma tests.
Results: Our results demonstrated that taraxasterol dose-dependently attenuated dimethylbenzene-induced mouse ear edema and
carrageenan-induced rat paw edema, decreased acetic acid-induced mouse vascular permeability and inhibited cotton pellet-induced
rat granuloma formation.
Conclusion: Our finding indicates that taraxasterol has obvious
in vivo anti-inflammatory effects against animal models. It will
provide experimental evidences for the traditional use of
Taraxacum officinale and taraxasterol in inflammatory diseases.
