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Updated: Jul 8, 2026
Isolation of Cortical Microglia with Preserved Immunophenotype and Functionality From Murine Neonates
Published on: January 30, 2014
Tetrandrine suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced microglial activation by inhibiting NF-kappaB pathway
Yang Xue1, Ying Wang, De-chun Feng
1Shanghai Institute of Immunology, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200025, China.
Aim:
Microglial activation has been implicated in many neurological diseases. In this study, we examined the effects of tetrandrine (TET), a major pharmacologically-active compound of Chinese herb Stephania tetrandra S Moore on microglial activation.
Methods:
The microglia pretreated with or without TET were activated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro. Nitric oxide (NO) release, superoxide anion (O2-) generation, as well as TNF-alpha and interleukin-6 (IL-6) production by microglia were measured afterwards. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay was performed to determine whether NF-kappaB activity in microglia was affected by TET treatment.
Results:
We found that TET inhibited the LPS-induced activation of microglia by decreasing the production of NO and O2-, consequently affecting the release of TNF-alphaand IL-6 in LPS-induced microglial activation. Such suppressive effect was accompanied by inhibiting transcription factor NF-kappaB activation.
Conclusion:
Our results suggest that TET might modulate LPS-induced microglial activation by inhibiting the NF-kappaB-mediated release of inflammatory factors.
