J. Baharara - Department of Biology, Research Center for Applied Biology, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
E. Amini - Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran
F. Salek - Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Mashhad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran

Marine saponins are naturally glycosides compounds which possess important biomedical properties such as anti-cancer, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. Nevertheless, no systematic studies on the anti-inflammatory potential of brittle star saponin and its underlying mechanisms have been reported. In this study, Ophiocoma erinaceus extracted saponin was investigated for its in vitro anti-inflammatory capacity. The antioxidant capacity of extracted saponin has evaluated using anion superoxide scavenging assay. Further, the anti-inflammatory effect of brittle star saponin on the production of inflammatory cytokines in THP-۱/M cells has evaluated. Molecular mechanisms inhibitory effects of brittle star saponin were assessed by analyzing the expression of inflammatory mediators at transcriptional level. The results showed scavenging properties of extracted saponin against superoxide anion radical and demonstrated that brittle star saponin dose-dependently attenuated the release of inflammatory mediators such as NO, TNF-α, and COX-۲, Real Time-PCR analysis elucidated that the anti-inflammatory action of brittle star saponin is correlated with its inhibitory effect on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced TNF-α and COX-۲ mRNA expression in THP-۱/M cells. The results have been showed, intensely afford the anti-inflammatory combined with its antioxidant potential of marine saponin extracted from brittle star.

Inflammation, Saponin, Cytokines, Brittle star, Natural product