Original article: SUPPRESSIVE EFFECTS OF MIMOSA PUDICA (L.) CONSTITUENTS ON THE PRODUCTION OF LPS-INDUCED

The present study deals with the isolation of fourteen compounds from the active ethyl acetate (MPE) extract of M. pudica (L.) whole plant and their subsequent evaluation for the nitric ox-ide (NO), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 1 beta (IL-1β) inhibitory ac-tivities in lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulated RAW 264.7 and J774A.1 cells. Among the tested compounds, L-mimosine (12; IC50 = 19.23 to 21.15 μM), crocetin (4; IC50 = 23.45 to 25.57 μM), crocin (14; IC50 = 27.16 to 31.53 μM) and jasmonic acid (11; IC50 = 21.32 to 29.42 μM) were identified as potent NO inhibitor when tested on the macrophages. Similarly, towards TNF-α and IL-1β inhibition, including these four compounds, and ethyl gallate (3), gallic acid (10) and caffeic acid (7) were found to be more active with half maximal concen-tration, 17.32 to 62.32 µM whereas the other compounds depicted moderate and mild effects (IC50 = 59.32 to 95.01 μM). Also, at a dose of 40 mg/Kg, L-mimosine (12), jasmonic acid (11), crocin (14) and its de-esterified form, crocetin (4) were found to significantly (p < 0.05 and 0.001) reduce 60.7 %, 48.9 %, 48.4 % and 43.6 % respectively of TNF-α production in female Sprague Dawley rats. However, in case of IL-1β, with the same dose (40 mg/Kg)