eng Science and Education Publishing Journal of Food and Nutrition Research 2333-1240 2018-04-24 6 4 227 233 10.12691/jfnr-6-4-4 JFNR2018644 article Jun-Kyoung Lee 1 Soyoung Lee 2 Tae-Yong Shin 3 Dongwoo Khang dkhang@gachon.ac.kr, shkim72@knu.ac.kr 4 Sang-Hyun Kim dkhang@gachon.ac.kr, shkim72@knu.ac.kr 4 Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea Immunoregulatory Materials Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Jeongeup, Republic of Korea College of Pharmacy, Woosuk University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea Department of Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine, Gachon University, Incheon, Republic of Korea Inflammation is an important biological reaction in the body in response to external stimuli. Excessive inflammation causes various inflammatory disorders such as allergic hypersensitivity, autoimmune disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer. Macrophages play a major role in the inflammatory response by producing inflammatory mediators such as nitric oxide, prostaglandin E2, and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Natural products are often a source of bioactive compounds, which have great potential as novel therapeutic agents. Amomum xanthoides extract has been shown to possess various pharmacological activities including anti-inflammatory activity. This study evaluated the anti-inflammatory potential of o-vanillic acid (o-VA), a major compound in A. xanthoides, using lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced macrophages and in vivo animal models. o-VA decreased, in a concentration-dependent manner, the LPS-induced gene expression and production of inflammatory mediators, such as inducible nitric oxidase/cyclooxygenase-2 and pro-inflammatory cytokines, by reducing the nuclear factor-B activation. In addition, o-VA dose-dependently ameliorated acetic acid-induced vascular permeability and zymosan-induced leukocyte migration. Thus, we suggest that o-VA can be used as a pharmacological agent or food supplement in the treatment of inflammatory conditions. http://pubs.sciepub.com/jfnr/6/4/4/jfnr-6-4-4.pdf anti-inflammation o-vanillic acid macrophages pro-inflammatory cytokines