Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai (Chloranthaceae) is a medicinal plant used as herbal tea or food supplement to promote human health. We isolated 14 phenolic compounds from the n-butanol fraction of S. glabra and investigated their anti-inflammatory potential using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated RAW264.7 macrophages. We demonstrated that methyl isorinate, a previously uncharacterized compound in S. glabra, is able to suppress NF-κB activation and reduce the expression of iNOS and COX-2 as well as the phosphorylation of IκB in LPS-treated RAW264.7 cells. In addition, the production of two inflammatory cytokines (IL-6 and TNF-α), as well as release of reactive oxygen species, in the LPS-stimulated macrophages was also inhibited by this compound. Furthermore, the structure-activity relationships of all of the isolated phenolic compounds present were analyzed. Overall, this study revealed several anti-inflammatory compounds that were present in S. glabra, and the results suggest that these diverse phenolic compounds are associated with the anti-inflammatory effects of S. glabra.
Keywords: NF-κB; Sarcandra glabra; anti-inflammation; methyl isorinate.