Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
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Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 2003; 8: 517
Extracts of the storage root of the southern African plant Harpagophytum procumbens have therapeutic properties in arthritic patients. The mechanism of anti-inflammatory action may be inhibition of TNF-α release from activated monocytes. We set out here to characterise the mechanism by which Harpagophytum inhibits TNF-α.
We investigated the extract that constitutes the proprietory preparation Allya® using isolated human monocytes stimulated with the endotoxin LPS in the presence and absence of the Allya® extract. Specific ELISA were used to assay the medium for TNF-α and other pro-inflammatory factors. Different semi-quantitative analysis of the RNA extracted from the monocytes were used to assess whether Harpagophytum exerts its effects at the transcriptional level. Western blot analysis was used to assess which intracellular second messenger pathways may be affected by Harpagophytum.
We confirmed for Allya® that the Harpagophytum extract inhibits the LPS-activated release of TNF-α and prostaglandin E2, IL-6 and IL-1b. The increase in TNF-α mRNA following LPS was attenuated by the Allya® extract. That this extract acts at the transcriptional level was further confirmed by expression analysis using a microarray system. Preliminary results suggest that Harpagophytum acts via inhibition of more than one of the second messenger systems.
These results reveal that H. procumbens (Allya®) extracts exert inhibitory effects on activated TNF-α. Thus, this traditional herbal drug acts on a pro-inflammatory factor that is the new target for the development of modern anti-arthritic drugs. In addition we have found that Harpagophytum exerts pluripotential effects on activated monocytes.
