In vitro anti-inflammatory activity of Pachymelania aurita (Muller) and Tympanotonos fuscatus var. radula (Linnaeus) whole body extracts in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated peritoneal macrophage cells

Abstract Inflammation is the immune system’s response to infection and injury. Although it is a natural and beneficial process, it has been implicated in the pathogeneses of arthritis, cancer, neurodegenerative, and cardiovascular disease. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro anti-inflammatory activity of the alcohol and aqueous extracts of marine gastropods Pachymelania aurita and Tympanotonos fuscatus (syn. Tympanotonus fuscatus) var. radula in peritoneal macrophage cells treated with lipopolysaccharide. Peripheral macrophages were harvested from mice following the injection of foetal calf serum into the peritoneal space. The cytotoxicity of the extracts on the macrophages and the maximum non-toxic dose was determined using the MTT assay. Cells were challenged with lipopolysaccharide and treated with crude extracts of T. fuscatus and P. aurita 24 h later. The antioxidant activity was also evaluated, using the DPPH assay. Both extracts of P. aurita and T. fuscatus exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activities in terms of their ability to inhibit the production of NO, TNF-α, IL-1 and PGE2, which are key mediators of the inflammation response. Also, the alcohol extracts proved to be as effective as vitamin C in the free radical scavenging of DPPH. Thus, the extracts from P. aurita and T. fuscatus are useful candidates for further drug studies, especially as drug candidates for the treatment of inflammatory conditions.