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Beneficial Effects of Rosmarinic Acid on Suppression of Collagen Induced Arthritis
JEEHEE YOUN, KYUNG-HEE LEE, JONGHWA WON, SUNG-JIN HUH, HYE-SUN YUN, WON-GIL CHO, and DOO-JIN PAIK
ABSTRACT. Objective. To assess the therapeutic potential of rosmarinic acid (RosA) in an inflammatory autoimmune arthritis model. Methods. Collagen induced arthritis is established in male DBA/1 mice. Mice were administered daily with 50 mg/kg/day of RosA for 15 days from Day 21 post-immunization and inspected daily to determine the progression of arthritis. After termination of injection, affected hindpaws were subjected to histopathological analyses and immunohistochemical assays for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression. Results. Repeated administration of RosA dramatically reduced the arthritic index and number of affected paws. Histopathologic observations closely paralleled clinical data, showing that RosA treated mice retained nearly normal architecture of synovial tissues, whereas control mice exhibited severe synovitis. Synovial tissues from RosA treated mice exhibited remarkably reduced frequency of COX-2-expressing cells, compared to those from untreated mice. Conclusion. RosA suppressed synovitis in a murine collagen induced arthritis model; this effect may be beneficial for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in clinical settings. (J Rheumatol 2003;30:1203-7) Key Indexing Terms:
ROSMARINIC ACID
From the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology and Institute of Biomedical Science, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Seoul; and the Signal Transduction Laboratory, Mogam Biotechnology Research Institute, Yonginsi, Korea. Supported by grants from the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology (M1-9808-00-0036) and the Korean Green Cross Company. J. Yun, PhD, Assistant Professor; K-H. Lee, MS; S-J. Huh, MS; H-S. Yoon, MS; W-G. Cho, PhD; D-J. Paik, MD, PhD, Professor, Hanyang University; J. Won, PhD, Senior Scientist, Mogam Biotechnology Research Institute. Address reprint requests to Dr. D-J. Paik, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, 17 Haengdang-dong, Sungdong-gu, Seoul 133-791, Korea. E-mail: paikdj@hanyang.ac.kr Submitted July 29, 2002; revision accepted November 28, 2002. |