Inhibitors of inducible nitric oxide synthase expression fromartemisia iwayomogi

Nitric oxide (NO) is an important bioactive agent that mediates a wide variety of physiological and pathophysiological events. NO overproduction by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) results in severe hypotension and inflammation. This investigation is part of a study to dis-cover new iNOS inhibitors from medicinal plants using a macrophage cell culture system. Two sesquiterpenes (1 and 2) were isolated fromArtemisia iwayomogi (Compositae) and were found to inhibit NO synthesis (IC50 3.64 μg/mL and 2.81 ng/mL, respectively) in lipopolysac-charide (LPS)-activated RAW 264.7 cells. Their structures were identified as 3-O-methyl-iso-secotanapartholide (1) and iso-secotanapartholide (2). Compounds 1 and 2 inhibited the LPS-induced expression of the iNOS enzyme in the RAW 264.7 cells. The inhibition of NO produc-tion via the down regulation of iNOS expression may substantially modulate the inflammatory responses.