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Immunomodulatory and Anti-inflammatory Effect of p-Coumaric Acid, a Common Dietary Polyphenol on Experimental Inflammation in Rats

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ABSTRACT

In this study, p-coumaric acid was evaluated for its immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory properties in vivo. The immunomodulatory effect of p-coumaric acid (100 mg/kg body weight) was assessed by evaluating its effect on cell-mediated immune responses (delayed type hypersensitivity reaction), serum immunoglobulin levels, and macrophage phagocytic index in rats. The anti-inflammatory effects of p-coumaric acid (100 mg/kg body weight) were investigated by examining its effect on expression of tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) in synovial tissue by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy and circulating immune complexes in serum of adjuvant-induced arthritic rats. The increased cell-mediated immune responses and macrophage phagocytic index observed in control rats were significantly reduced (p < 0.05) upon treatment with p-coumaric acid implying its immunosuppressive property, whereas serum immunoglobulin levels were found to be increased in p-coumaric acid treated control rats. p-coumaric acid also showed significant (p < 0.05) anti-inflammatory effects in adjuvant-induced arthritic rats by effecting a decrease in the expression of inflammatory mediator TNF-α and circulating immune complexes. Indomethacin was used as a reference drug for anti-inflammatory studies. Thus, our results show that p-coumaric acid could be considered a potential immunosuppressive agent in treating autoimmune inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Bio Sciences and Technology, VIT University, Vellore, 632 014, Tamil Nadu, India

    Samuel Joshua Pragasam & MahaboobKhan Rasool

  2. Department of Biochemistry/Stem cell Research, National Institute of Nutrition, Hyderabad, 500007, India

    Vijayalakshmi Venkatesan

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  1. Samuel Joshua Pragasam
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  2. Vijayalakshmi Venkatesan
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  3. MahaboobKhan Rasool
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Correspondence to MahaboobKhan Rasool.

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Pragasam, S.J., Venkatesan, V. & Rasool, M. Immunomodulatory and Anti-inflammatory Effect of p-Coumaric Acid, a Common Dietary Polyphenol on Experimental Inflammation in Rats. Inflammation 36, 169–176 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10753-012-9532-8

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