Barrier protective effects of piperlonguminine in LPS-induced inflammation in vitro and in vivo

Piperlonguminine (PL), an important component of Piper longum fruits, is well known to possess potent anti-hyperlipidemic, anti-platelet and anti-melanogenesis activities. In this study, we first investigated the possible barrier protective effects of piperlonguminine against proinflammatory responses induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and the associated signaling pathways in vitro and in vivo. The barrier protective activities of PL were determined by measuring permeability, monocytes adhesion and migration, and activation of proinflammatory proteins in LPS-activated human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) and in mice. We found that PL inhibited LPS-induced barrier disruption, expression of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) and adhesion/transendothelial migration of monocytes to human endothelial cells. PL also suppressed LPS-induced hyperpermeability and leukocytes migration in vivo. Further studies revealed that PL suppressed the production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) or Interleukin (IL)-6 and activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) or extracellular regulated kinases (ERK) 1/2 by LPS. Moreover, treatment with PL resulted in reduced LPS-induced septic mortality. Collectively, these results suggest that PL protects vascular barrier integrity by inhibiting hyperpermeability, expression of CAMs, adhesion and migration of leukocytes, thereby endorsing its usefulness as a therapy for vascular inflammatory diseases.