Inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase by extracts derived from inflammation-treating Chinese medicinal herbs

• Published in: Phytotherapy research Vol. 22; no. 9; pp. 1264 - 1268
• Main Authors: Shi, Da-Hua, Xu, Chen, Guo, Bin-Xin, Wang, Xiao-Ting, Chen, Yun-Xi, Tan, Ren-Xiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Chichester, UK John Wiley & Sons, Ltd 01.09.2008; Wiley
• Subjects: Biological and medical sciences; Chinese medicinal herbs; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; Enzyme Inhibitors - pharmacology; Enzyme Inhibitors - therapeutic use; Epoxide Hydrolases - antagonists & inhibitors; Fabaceae; General pharmacology; Humans; inflammation; Inflammation - drug therapy; inhibition; Medical sciences; Pharmacognosy. Homeopathy. Health food; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Plant Extracts - therapeutic use; Recombinant Proteins - pharmacology; Recombinant Proteins - therapeutic use; soluble epoxide hydrolase; Sophora; Enzyme; Pharmacognosy; Plant origin; Chinese medicinal herbs; Ether hydrolases; Hydrolases; inhibition; Extract; Inflammation; soluble epoxide hydrolase; Epoxide hydrolase; Medicinal plant
• ISSN: 0951-418X; 1099-1573
• DOI: 10.1002/ptr.2326

Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) has been proved to be a key enzyme involved in inflammation progression, and inhibition of sEH is therefore very helpful or crucial for the treatment of inflammation-related diseases. In order to uncover new clues suggesting the presence of phytochemical-based sEH inhibitors, and to rationalize the utility of the inflammation-treating Chinese medicinal herbs, the ethanol extracts derived from 46 medicinal herbs, traditionally used for the treatment of inflammation-associated diseases in China, were tested for sEH-inhibition activity using a recently developed sensitive fluorescence-based assay. Screened at 10 μg/mL, four extracts showed substantial inhibitions of sEH (inhibition rates >50%). The ethanol extract of Sophora flavescens root (Fabaceae) possessed the strongest inhibitory activity against sEH (IC₅₀: 2.07 μg/mL). These preliminary findings highlighted the presence of sEH inhibitor(s) in the plant kingdom, and the possibility that the inflammation-treating herbal medicines could be an untapped reservoir for sEH-inhibition agents. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.