Structural Features of Polyphenolic Compounds in Their NO Inhibitory Activities

Polyphenolic compounds are reported to have various pharmacological activities such as anti-oxidative, anti-cancerous, anti-inflammatory and anti-aging effects. Although numerous papers explore their functional roles in many different cellular actions, not many studies handle their structural features in anti-inflammatory responses. In this study, therefore, we examined structural role of substituted transstilbenes in their NO inhibitory and NF-${\kappa}B$ suppressive activities. Of 10 compounds tested, 4 compounds (cinnamic acid, resveratrol, piceatannol and curcumin) displayed NO inhibitory activities in a dose-dependent manner. Similarly, these compounds blocked LPS-induced cytotoxicity of RAW264.7 cells. All NO inhibitory compounds also inhibited $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ phosphorylation, a hallmark for NF-${\kappa}B$ activation. However, these inhibitory compounds exhibited distinct suppressive pattern in tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$- or phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ and AP-1 activation. According to structure-activity relationship study, polarity and size of ring B seem to be important for diminishing NO production. Therefore, our data suggest that substituted trans-stilbenes can be developed as novel anti-inflammatory drug or further developed as lead compounds for another improvement.