Escin may exert a synergistic anti-inflammatory effect with glucocorticoids

Abstract

Escin is a natural mixture of triterpenoid as- ponin isolated from the seed of the horse chestnut and demonstrates anti-oedematous and anti-inflammatory effects. As yet, the pre-cise mechanisms by which escin exerts its anti- inflammatory effects remain unclear. The data from current studies indicate that the anti-in-flammatory properties of escin were attributed to its ability to reduce the adhesiveness of neu-trophils and the associated release of inflam-matory mediators; its ability to decrease hista-minic and serotoninergic activities; its ability to inhibit phospholipase A2; its ability to decrease nuclear factor-κ B activation and down-regulate the expression of tumor necrosis factor-α. All these effects are similar to glucocorticoids. Mo- reover, escin depends on adrenal glands to ex-ert its anti-inflammatory effects. Also, our recent research showed that the serum corticosterone level in mice did not increase after a 7-day in-travenous injection of escin. The results sup-port the hypothesis that escin may exert a syn-ergistic anti-inflammatory effect with glucocor-ticoids. Confirming this hypothesis will play a role in elucidating the anti-inflammatory mech- anisms of escin.