Turmeric and Eucalyptus Aqueous Extracts Reduced Inflammation in Macrophage Activation Syndrome (MAS) Mouse Model

Macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is a spectrum of cytokine storm syndrome (CSS) associated with autoimmune conditions. Due to the high number of cytokine storm patient deaths, mainly those that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of effective treatments against CSS spectrums, many people returned to nature and used plant-based remedies at the household level.

This study investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of commonly used medicinal plant decoctions; Turmeric (Tur) and Eucalyptus (Euc) on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and cytosine guanine dinucleotide (CpG)-induced MAS-BALB/c mouse model, Dexamethasone (Dex) was used as anti-inflammatory control.

A restoration in weight gain was noticed on day 8 by 2.8 ± 1.722 and 1.7 ± 1.976 g, for MAS Tur and MAS Euc, respectively. Levels of TNF-α and CCL2 in mice sera showed a peak after 2 hrs of LPS and CPG treatment in the MAS group. However, a significant reduction of 85.9% and 84.3% in TNF-α, and 77.1% and 54.6% in CCL2 were observed for MAS Tur and MAS Euc, respectively. In contrast, the reduction in IL-6 was less in MAS-Tur and MAS-Euc when compared to MAS-Dex (6.0%, 5.2%, and 17.4%, respectively). Cytokine gene expression in lung tissue at day 10 revealed a significant reduction in the expression of IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, and TGF-β in the MAS Tur and MAS Euc groups compared to the MAS group. Histopathological investigation revealed that lung tissue in MAS Tur and MAS Euc groups showed mild to moderate inflammatory areas with no signs of necrosis compared to the MAS group. High MMP-9 expression was noticed in the MAS group with a score of positively stained neutrophils of 3.8 ± 1.6 that has been reduced to 1.9 ± 0.9 and 2.3 ± 0.7 in MAS Tur and MAS Euc groups, respectively. Conclusion, natural plant extracts may help ameliorating MAS in a better way than dexamethasone.