Anti-inflammatory effects of compounds from Kaempferia parviflora and Boesenbergia pandurata

Kaempferia parviflora and Boesembergia pandurata are perennial herbs in the Zingiberaceae family. The rhizomes of these two plants have been used as food ingredients and in Thai traditional medicine for treatment of several inflammatory-related diseases, such as gout, allergy, apthous ulcer and peptic ulcer. The compounds isolated from the rhizomes of K. parviflora and B. pandurata were, therefore, examined for their inhibitory activities against nitric oxide (NO) production. For K. parviflora, compound 5 (5-hydroxy-3,7,3',4'-tetra met hoxyflavone) exhibited the highest activity against the NO inhibitory effect, with an IC50 value of 16.1 mu M, followed by 4 (IC50 = 24.5 mu M) and 3 (IC50 = 30.6 mu M). Regarding the NO inhibitory activity of B, pandurata, compound 2 (panduratin A) displayed the most potent effect with an IC50 value of 5.3 mu M, followed by 3 (hydroxypanduratin A, IC50 = 13.3 mu M) and 7 (cardamonin, IC50 = 24.7 mu M), respectively. The 5-hydroxy-3,7,3',4'-tetramethoxyflavone (5), panduratin A (2) and hydroxypanduratin A (3), were also tested on prostaglandin E-2 (PGE(2)) and turnout necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) production. 5-Hydroxy-3,7,31,4'-tetramethoxyflavone (5) exhibited a potent inhibitory effect on PGE(2) production (IC50 = 16.3 mu M), but a mild effect on TNF-alpha (IC50 > 100 mu M). Panduratin A and hydroxypanduratin A showed strong activity against PGE(2) with IC50 values of 10.5 and 12.3 mu M, respectively, and a moderate effect on TNF-alpha (IC50 = 60.3 and 57.3 mu, respectively). This study indicated that compound 5 (5-hydroxy-3,7,3',4'-tetramethoxyflavone) is responsible for anti-inflammatory activity of K. parviflora, while 2 (panduratin A) and 3 (hydroxypanduratin A), the prenylated chalcones, are responsible for that of B. pandurata.