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Auraptene suppresses inflammatory responses in activated RAW264 macrophages by inhibiting p38 mitogen-activated
Shan Lin1, Shizuka Hirai, Tsuyoshi Goto
1Laboratory of Molecular Function of Food, Division of Food Science and Biotechnology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University, Uji, Kyoto, Japan.
Scope:
Inflammation plays a key role in obesity-related pathologies such as insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Hypertrophied adipocytes trigger the enhancement of macrophage infiltration and the release of various proinflammatory factors in obese adipose tissue. In this study, we examined whether auraptene, a citrus-fruit-derived compound, could suppress the production of inflammatory factors that mediate the interaction between adipocytes and macrophages.
Methods And Results:
Experiments using a co-culture system of 3T3-L1 adipocytes and RAW264 macrophages showed that auraptene reduced the production of nitric oxide and tumor necrosis factor-α. In RAW264 macrophages, auraptene also suppressed the inflammation induced by either LPS or the conditioned medium derived from 3T3-L1 adipocytes. In addition, auraptene inhibited the phosphorylation of the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase and suppressed the production of proinflammatory mediators in activated macrophages.
Conclusion:
Our findings indicate that auraptene exhibits anti-inflammatory properties by suppressing the production of inflammatory factors that mediate the interaction between adipocytes and macrophages, suggesting that auraptene is a valuable food-derived compound with a potential to attenuate chronic inflammation in adipose tissue and to improve obesity-related insulin resistance.
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