Neovestitol, an isoflavonoid isolated from Brazilian red propolis, reduces acute and chronic inflammation: involvement of nitric oxide and IL-6

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 36401
• Main Authors: Franchin, Marcelo, Colón, David F., da Cunha, Marcos G., Castanheira, Fernanda V. S., Saraiva, André L. L., Bueno-Silva, Bruno, Alencar, Severino M., Cunha, Thiago M., Rosalen, Pedro L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 07-11-2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 13/31; 14/63; 42/35; 631/154/309/436/2388; 64/60; 82/29; 96/2; Acute Disease; Animals; Anti-inflammatory agents; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - chemistry; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - pharmacology; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - therapeutic use; Arthritis; Arthritis, Experimental - etiology; Arthritis, Experimental - prevention & control; Brazil; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - cytology; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - drug effects; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - metabolism; Cell Line; Cell Movement - drug effects; Cell Survival - drug effects; Chemotaxis; Chronic Disease; Collagen; Cytokines - metabolism; Flavonoids - chemistry; Flavonoids - pharmacology; Flavonoids - therapeutic use; Functional foods & nutraceuticals; Guanidines - pharmacology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Inflammation; Intercellular adhesion molecule 1; Interleukin 17; Interleukin 6; Interleukin-6 - metabolism; Isoflavonoids; Leukocyte migration; Leukocyte rolling; Leukocytes (neutrophilic); Lipopolysaccharides; Lipopolysaccharides - toxicity; Mesenteric Veins - drug effects; Mesenteric Veins - metabolism; Mesenteric Veins - pathology; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Mice, Inbred DBA; multidisciplinary; Neutrophils; Neutrophils - cytology; Neutrophils - drug effects; Neutrophils - immunology; Nitric oxide; Nitric Oxide - metabolism; Nitric-oxide synthase; Nitrites; Peritonitis; Peritonitis - etiology; Peritonitis - prevention & control; Propolis; Propolis - chemistry; Propolis - metabolism; Science; Therapeutic applications; Tumor necrosis factor
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep36401

Isoflavonoids have been largely studied due to their distinct biological activities identified thus far. Herein, we evaluated the activity of neovestitol, an isoflavonoid isolated from Brazilian red propolis, in acute and chronic inflammation. As for acute inflammation, we found that neovestitol reduced neutrophil migration, leukocyte rolling and adhesion, as well as expression of ICAM-1 in the mesenteric microcirculation during lipopolysaccharide-induced acute peritonitis. No changes were observed in the levels of TNF-α, CXCL1/KC and CXCL2/MIP-2 upon pretreatment with neovestitol. The administration of an inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor abolished the inhibitory effects of neovestitol in neutrophil migration and ICAM-1 expression. Nitrite levels increased upon treatment with neovestitol. No effects of neovestitol were observed on the chemotaxis of neutrophils
in vitro
. As for chronic inflammation, neovestitol also reduced the clinical score and joint damage in a collagen-induced arthritis model. There was no change in the frequency of IL-17-producing TCD4+ cells. In addition, pretreatment with neovestitol reduced the levels of IL-6. These results demonstrate a potential anti-inflammatory activity of neovestitol, which may be useful for therapeutic purposes and/or as a nutraceutical.