%0 Journal Article %T Anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious effects of Evodia rutaecarpa (Wuzhuyu) and its major bioactive components %A Jyh-Fei Liao %A Wen-Fei Chiou %A Yuh-Chiang Shen %A Guei-Jane Wang %A Chieh-Fu Chen %J Chinese Medicine %D 2011 %I BioMed Central %R 10.1186/1749-8546-6-6 %X Inflammation is a protective physiological response of an organism to chemical, physical, infectious agents, environmental toxins, ischemia or an antigen-antibody interaction. However, prolonged or overactive inflammation may cause tissue damage. Inflammation is very common manifested as body temperature change, edema, itch and pain, occasionally as serious as septic shock, tissue cirrhosis, necrosis or cancer. In the United States, over 500,000 patients suffer from sepsis triggered by severe systemic inflammation per year [1].Various factors are involved in inflammation, such as calcium homeostasis, histamine, bradykinin, serotonin (5-HT), eicosanoids (prostaglandins, PG; thromboxanes, TX; leukotrienes, LT), platelet-activating factor, hormones (corticosterones), cytokines, interleukins (IL), chemotaxics, cyclooxygenase (COX), adhesion molecules, reactive oxygen species (ROS) (H2O2, O2-), nitric oxide (NO) and substance P. Cells taking part in inflammation are erythrocytes, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, platelet, natural killer cells, lymphocytes, mast cells, antigen presenting cells and dendritic cells [2]. Diseases and syndromes, such as arthritis, atherosclerosis, atopic dermatitis, brain or heart stroke, cancer, cataract, diabetes, neurodegeneration, pain, rhinitis and septic shock, are all related to inflammation.Natural products may still be the most abundant sources for new drug development. Aspirin and corticosterone are two well known examples for anti-inflammatory products derived from Nature. Favonoids are potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of inflammation, heart disease and cancer [3]. This article reviews the anti-inflammatory relative and anti-infectious effects of Evodia rutaecarpa (Wuzhuyu) and its major bioactive components such as dehydroevodiamine (DeHE), evodiamine (Evo) and rutaecarpine (Rut).Mechanisms of anti-inflammatory relative effects of Evodia rutaecarpa and its bioactive components are summarized in Additional file 1. %U http://www.cmjournal.org/content/6/1/6