Banzragch Dorjsembe

Goat’s beard (Aruncus dioicus var. kamtschaticus) is a traditional medicinal plant, widely used in Chinese and Korean traditional medicine because of its anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-cancer activity. However, its effect on skin inflammatory diseases like psoriasis is unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the therapeutic potency of A. dioicus extract (ADE) in in vitro and in vivo psoriasis models. ADE treatment significantly attenuated skin inflammation and improved skin integrity in imiquimod-treated mice by suppressing keratinocyte hyperproliferation, inhibiting the infiltration of immune cells, and downregulating the expression of psoriatic markers. Further, ADE treatment suppressed protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin (Akt/mTOR) and Janus kinase 2/signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (JAK2/STAT3) signaling in HaCaT cells. Overall, the application of ADE relieves psoriasis-like skin inflammation possibly by regulating the Akt/mTOR and JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathways, making it an effective alternative for psoriasis therapy.

Black soybean has been used in traditional medicine to treat inflammatory diseases, cancer, and diabetes and as a nutritional source since ancient times. We found that Korean black soybean cultivar A63 has more cyanidin-3-O-glucoside, (C3G), procyanidin B2 (PB2), and epicatechin (EPC) contents than other cultivars and has beneficial effects on cell viability and anti-oxidation. Given the higher concentration of anthocyanidins and their strong anti-oxidant activity, we predicted that A63 extract could relieve inflammatory disease symptoms, including those of atopic dermatitis (AD). Here, we evaluated the anti-AD activity of A63 extract in an oxazolone (OXA)-induced mouse model. A63 extract treatment significantly reduced epidermal thickness and inflammatory cell infiltration, downregulated the expression of AD gene markers, including Interleukin (IL)-4 and IL-5, and restored damaged skin barrier tissues. Furthermore, A63 extract influenced the activation of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 and STAT6, extracellular regulatory kinase (ERK), and c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) signaling pathways, which play a crucial role in the development of AD. Altogether, our results suggest that A63 can ameliorate AD-like skin inflammation by inhibiting inflammatory cytokine production and STAT3/6 and Mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and restoring skin barrier function.

Ganoderma lucidum extract is a potent traditional remedy for curing various ailments. Drying is the most important postharvest step during the processing of Ganoderma lucidum. The drying process mainly involves heat (36 h at 60 °C) and freeze-drying (36 h at −80 °C). We investigated the effects of different postharvest drying protocols on the metabolites profiling of Ganoderma lucidum using GC-MS, followed by an investigation of the anti-neuroinflammatory potential in LPS-treated BV2 microglial cells. A total of 109 primary metabolites were detected from heat and freeze-dried samples. Primary metabolite profiling showed higher levels of amino acids (17.4%) and monosaccharides (8.8%) in the heat-dried extracts, whereas high levels of organic acids (64.1%) were present in the freeze-dried samples. The enzymatic activity, such as ATP-citrate synthase, pyruvate kinase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatase dehydrogenase, glutamine synthase, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase, and D-3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase, related to the reverse tricarboxylic acid cycle were significantly high in the heat-dried samples. We also observed a decreased phosphorylation level of the MAP kinase (Erk1/2, p38, and JNK) and NF-κB subunit p65 in the heat-dried samples of the BV2 microglia cells. The current study suggests that heat drying improves the production of ganoderic acids by the upregulation of TCA-related pathways, which, in turn, gives a significant reduction in the inflammatory response of LPS-induced BV2 cells. This may be attributed to the inhibition of NF-κB and MAP kinase signaling pathways in cells treated with heat-dried extracts.