Effects of extracts of Tanacetum species on human polymorphonuclear leucocyte activity in vitro

✍ Scribed by A. M. G. Brown; C. M. Edwards; M. R. Davey; J. B. Power; K. C. Lowe

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 108 KB
• Volume: 11
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0951-418X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-1573(199711)11:7<479::aid-ptr129>3.0.co;2-w

✦ Synopsis

The inhibitory effects of whole and fractionated acetone extracts of leaves of four species of Tanacetum were assessed in vitro, using a human polymorphonuclear leucocyte-based bioassay. Biochemical investigation detected the bioactive germacranolide, parthenolide, at high concentrations, in extracts from T. parthenium and T. niveum (1.72% ± 0.16% and 2.62% ± 0.23% leaf dry weight, respectively; n = 5). The compound was present at much lower concentrations ( < 0.03% leaf dry weight) in extracts of T. ptarmiciflorum and T. vulgare. All extracts inhibited phorbol myristate acetate-induced chemiluminescence of human polymorphonuclear leucocytes, with IC 50 s from 0.79 ± 0.19 to 2.46 ± 0.39 mg leaf dry weight/mL whole blood for T. parthenium and T. vulgare, respectively. Fractionation of crude leaf extracts revealed a number of fractions, in addition to those containing parthenolide, which influenced polymorphonuclear leucocyte activity by > 5%. Such fractions presumably contained compounds that augmented the pharmacological activity of extracts beyond that predicted on the basis of parthenolide content alone, and were responsible, in part, for the pharmacological activity of the extracts lacking parthenolide. These effects on phorbol myristate acetate-induced chemiluminescence suggested the activity of the responsible compound(s) was a result of inhibition of protein kinase C, or subsequent events, in polymorphonuclear leucocyte activation in vitro.