For centuries, natural products are regarded as vital medicines for human survival. Clematis terniflora var. mandshurica (Rupr.) Ohwi is an ingredient of the herbal medicine, Wei Ling Xian, which has been used in Chinese medicine to alleviate pain, fever, and inflammation. In particular, C. terniflora leaves have been used to cure various inflammatory diseases, including tonsillitis, cholelithiasis, and conjunctivitis. Based on these properties, this study aimed to scientifically investigate the anti-inflammatory effect of an ethanol extract of leaves of C. terniflora (EELCT) using activated macrophages that play central roles in inflammatory response. In this study, EELCT inhibited the essential inflammatory mediators, such as nitric oxide, cyclooxygenase-2, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin- (IL-) 6, IL-1β, and inducible nitric oxide synthase, by suppressing the nuclear factor-κB and mitogen-activated protein kinase activation in macrophages. Acute lung injury (ALI) is a fatal respiratory disease accompanied by serious inflammation. With high mortality rate, the disease has no effective treatments. Therefore, new therapeutic agents must be developed for ALI. We expected that EELCT can be a promising therapeutic agent for ALI by reducing inflammatory responses and evaluated its action in a lipopolysaccharide- (LPS-) induced ALI model. EELCT alleviated histological changes, immune cell infiltration, inflammatory mediator production, and protein-rich pulmonary edema during ALI. Collectively, our results may explain the traditional usage of C. terniflora in inflammatory diseases and suggest the promising potential of EELCT as therapeutic candidate for ALI.

中文翻译：

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铁线莲叶对脂多糖所致急性肺损伤的抗炎作用

几个世纪以来，天然产物被视为人类生存的重要药物。铁线莲变种 mandshurica (Rupr.) Ohwi 是草药味灵仙的成分，在中药中用于缓解疼痛、发烧和炎症。特别是，三花叶已被用于治疗各种炎症性疾病，包括扁桃体炎、胆石症和结膜炎。基于这些特性，本研究旨在利用在炎症反应中发挥核心作用的活化巨噬细胞，科学研究三花叶乙醇提取物 (EELCT) 的抗炎作用。在这项研究中，EELCT通过抑制核因子来抑制重要的炎症介质，如一氧化氮、环氧合酶-2、肿瘤坏死因子-α、白细胞介素-(IL-)6、IL-1β和诱导型一氧化氮合酶。 -巨噬细胞中的κ B 和丝裂原激活蛋白激酶激活。急性肺损伤（ALI）是一种致命的呼吸道疾病，伴有严重炎症。该病死亡率高，尚无有效治疗方法。因此，必须开发新的ALI治疗剂。我们预计 EELCT 可以通过减少炎症反应而成为 ALI 的有前途的治疗剂，并评估其在脂多糖（LPS）诱导的 ALI 模型中的作用。EELCT 减轻了 ALI 期间的组织学变化、免疫细胞浸润、炎症介质产生和富含蛋白质的肺水肿。总的来说，我们的结果可以解释C. terniflora在炎症性疾病中的传统用途，并表明 EELCT 作为 ALI 治疗候选者的巨大潜力。