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Potential role of embelin in the prevention of Freund’s adjuvant induced inflammation and ROS

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Abstract

Inflammation is a complex biological response involving immune cells to an infection creating injury to the normal tissues. The anti-inflammatory efficacy of embelin, a benzoquinone from the plant Embelia ribes, was screened for antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in carrageenan and Freund’s adjuvant-induced inflammation models. Embelin exhibited significant dose-dependent antioxidant potential. In carrageenan-induced inflammation, embelin (20 mg/kg) showed an inhibition of oedema by 71.01 ± 0.12% and 81.91 ± 0.67% in Freund’s adjuvant-treated chronic inflammation model and resulted in a noticeable increase in adrenal size and restoration of the weight of spleen. Embelin also demonstrated cytoprotective effects on HEK-293 cells under induced oxidative stress. In silico analysis, embelin demonstrated binding energy of − 7.7 kcal/Mol and − 7.0 kcal/Mol with COX1 and COX2 with two hydrogen bonds. These results further prove that embelin could be a promising anti-inflammatory agent and supports the traditional use of Embelia ribes for rheumatism.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Experimental Medicine, Department of Biotechnology, Kuvempu University, Shimoga, Shankarghatta, Karnataka, 577451, India

    H. M. Kumaraswamy, V. Krishna, P. Meghana, R. Sandeep Kumar Jain & N. Prashanth

  2. Department of Food Technology, Davangere University, Shivagangothri, Davangere, Karnataka, 577002, India

    R. Sharath

  3. Department of Studies and Research in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Kuvempu University P.G Centre, Kadur, Karnataka, 577548, India

    N. D. Satyanarayan

  4. Department of Biotechnology, Tumkur University, Tumkur, Karnataka, 572103, India

    H. Raja Naika

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  1. H. M. Kumaraswamy
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  2. V. Krishna
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  3. R. Sharath
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  4. N. D. Satyanarayan
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  5. P. Meghana
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  6. R. Sandeep Kumar Jain
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  7. N. Prashanth
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  8. H. Raja Naika
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Contributions

KHM performed all the experiments and wrote the manuscript. Prof. VK supervised the whole work and edited the manuscript. SR helped in performing certain parts of the experiment. SND helped in compound characterization. MP conducted in silico analysis. SKJ and PN performed cell-based assays. All the authors contributed in editing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to H. M. Kumaraswamy.

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Kumaraswamy, H.M., Krishna, V., Sharath, R. et al. Potential role of embelin in the prevention of Freund’s adjuvant induced inflammation and ROS. 3 Biotech 12, 10 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13205-021-03071-5

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