PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - HISATOSHI MATSUMOTO
AU  - JUN SHIMADA
AU  - HIROSHI NAGASAKA
AU  - ISAO MATSUMOTO
AU  - KEN HASHIMOTO
AU  - HIROSHI SAKAGAMI
TI  - Inhibition by Moxa Smoke of NO Production and iNOS Expression in Mouse Macrophage-like Cells Raw 264.7
DP  - 2005 Mar 01
TA  - In Vivo
PG  - 471--474
VI  - 19
IP  - 2
4099  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/19/2/471.short
4100  - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/19/2/471.full
SO  - In Vivo2005 Mar 01; 19
AB  - The biological activities of Moxa, used as moxibustion, have not been well documented. We investigated the effect of Moxa smoke on nitric oxide (NO) production by mouse macrophage-like Raw 264.7 cells. Moxa smoke failed to stimulate the Raw 264.7 cells to produce detectable amounts of NO, but rather inhibited the NO production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated Raw 264.7 cells. The 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) of NO production by Moxa smoke (0.16%) was one order lower than the 50% cytotoxic concentration (CC50) (4.67%). Western blot and RT-PCR analyses demonstrated that a slightly higher concentration of Moxa is required to reduce the iNOS expression at protein and mRNA levels (IC50=0.99 and 2.03%, respectively). The inhibition of NO production by Moxa smoke is, thus, probably due to both the inhibition of iNOS expression and radical-scavenging activity. The present data suggest the possible anti-inflammatory effect of Moxa smoke.