%0 Journal Article
%T Evaluation of Artemisia amygdalina D. for Anti-Inflammatory and Immunomodulatory Potential
%A Khan Mubashir
%A Bashir A. Ganai
%A Khalid Ghazanfar
%A Seema Akbar
%A Akhtar H. Malik
%A Akbar Masood
%J ISRN Inflammation
%D 2013
%R 10.1155/2013/483646
%X Artemisia amygdalina D. is a critically endangered endemic medicinal plant of Kashmir Himalayas. In the current study anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory activity of the plant was carried out. Carrageenan paw edema model was used to study the potential of the drug in inflammation in Wistar rats. SRBC-specific haemagglutination titre and DTH assays were carried out in Balb/C mice for observing the effect of test drugs on immune system. The plant extracts used as test drugs showed to have anti-inflammatory potential. The methanolic fraction was observed to have the maximum effect on the inhibition of paw edema formation with the inhibitory potential of 42.26%, while in the immunomodulation studies the test drugs were found to have the immunosuppressant activity with methanolic fraction again showing the maximum potential for the suppression of both humoral (55.89% and 47.91%) and cell-mediated immunity (62.27% and 57.21%). The plant in total seems to have the anti-inflammatory potential. The suppression of immune system suggests some mechanistic way by which the inhibition of inflammation takes place. Since, in chronic inflammation like arthritis, there is the involvement of immune system, the plant in that way may serve as an alternative for the treatment of such autoimmune diseases. 1. Introduction Inflammation is the reaction of living tissues to injury, infection, or irritation. It is an essential protective process preserving the integrity of organisms against physical, chemical, and infective insults. However, it is frequent that the inflammatory response to several insults erroneously leads to the damaging of normal tissues responsible for certain pathological conditions such as heart attacks, septic shocks, and rheumatoid arthritis [1]. One of the early cellular events in inflammation is the migration of leukocytes, primarily neutrophils. This response can be measured by using the neutrophil-specific enzyme myeloperoxidase (MPO), an indicator of neutrophil accumulation [2]. In addition, nitric oxide (NO) and TNF-¦Á produced by macrophages play an important role in inflammation, and NO synthase inhibitors can reverse several classic inflammatory symptoms [3]. TNF-¦Á is a cytokine which plays an important role in inflammation. TNF-¦Á stimulates neutrophils to transcribe and release cytokines and chemokines biosynthesis [4]. In autoimmune diseases, on one hand pathogenic self-reactivity of T cells plays an important role, while on the other hand self-reactivity is needed to regulate autoaggressive responses. Delayed-type hypersensitivity can be
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/isrn.inflammation/2013/483646/