Protective Effects of Machilus thunbergii Siebold & Zucc on Airway Inflammation in Allergic Asthma Model Caused by Ovalbumin Inhalation

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Background: Asthma is a chronic pulmonary inflammatory disorder with a persistently increasing prevalence. Although many researchers have developed therapeutic agents to control asthma, their applications are limited because of their adverse effects. Machilus thunbergii Siebold & Zucc. has been used as a traditional herbal remedy to control various inflammatory conditions. Methods and Results: In this study, we investigated the therapeutic effects of M. thunbergii ethanol extract (MTE) in an ovalbumin (OVA)-induced asthma model and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) treated RAW264.7 cells. MTE significantly decreased the inflammatory cell count, airway hyper-responsiveness, and cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and OVA-specific immunoglobulin E in serum compared with those in asthmatic mice. Additionally, MTE decreased inflammatory responses and mucus production in asthmatic animals with decreases in NF-κB expression. These results are consistent with the results of in vitro experiments. MTE reduced cytokine and nitric oxide production in LPS treated cells, accompanied with reductions in NF-κB translocation into the nucleus. Conclusions: MTE effectively suppressed asthma induced by OVA exposure, which was associated with the suppression of NF-κB. Therefore, our data suggest that MTE may be a potential therapeutic agent for the control of asthma.