Anti-inflammatory effects of berberine, a plant isoquinoline alkaloid

Introduction: The use of medicinal plants, especially Chinese anti-inflammatory medicinal plants, has gainedpopularity worldwide due to their low toxicity, side effects and availability. These plants have different sourcesand complex and diverse medicinal effects, especially their effects on the immune system have been studied alot. One of the anti-inflammatory substances in these plants are alkaloids. Alkaloids are a group of naturalchemical compounds that mainly contain nitrogen atoms. The main source of alkaloids is flowering plants, andthey are among the most diverse, effective, and therapeutically important plant substances. Berberine(C۲۰H۱۸NO۴+) is a quaternary ammonium compound from the group of bioactive isoquinoline alkaloids, whichis the major active component of traditional Chinese herb Coptis chinensis. This alkaloid has significant anticancer,antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-apoptotic and anti-autophagy activities. In thisreview, we have investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of berberine .Methods: In this study, the databases PubMed and Google Scholar were queried using the keywords antiinflammatory,autoimmunity, and berberine.Results: Today, the anti-inflammatory effects of berberine have been proven in vivo and in vitro studies .invitro, this substance decreases the production of iNOS, PGE۲ and IL-۶, TNF-a form macrophages and PBMCcells stimulated with LPS, respectively, and increases the production of IL-۱۰, thereby reducing inflammation.And among its immunomodulatory effects in vivo, reducing the production of IL-۶, TNF-a and preventingnephrotoxicity in mice, reducing p۶۵Lys۳۱۰ acetylation in peritoneal macrophages and resistance toinflammatory response in mice, reducing the production of IL-۱B and TNF-a and reducing the expression NFKBin diabetic rats, inhibiting the adhesion of monocytes to the endothelium during inflammation ininflammatory models, reducing the differentiation of Th۱۷ cells and reducing the production of theinflammatory cytokine IL-۱۷ and improving behcet's syndrome, preventing the cytokine storm and balancebetween Th۱ and Th۲ cells in covid-۱۹ infection, decreasing of IL-۱B, IL-۶ and TNF-a cytokine levels inpatients with schizophrenia and ulcerative colitis, and decreasing of CRP, IL-۶ and caspase ۳ levels in acuteischemic stroke patients can be mentioned.Conclusion: The review of studies shows excellent properties of berberine in reducing inflammation andhealing inflammatory and autoimmune diseases invitro and invivo .Therefore, we can use this alkaloid tobalance the immune responses, and maybe it can be used to increase the immunomodulatory properties ofregulatory cells in cell therapy.

Keywords:

anti-inflammatory , autoimmunity , berberine