Palbinone, A Novel Terpenoid From Peonia-Albiflora - A Potent Inhibitory Activity On Human Monocyte Interleukin-1-Beta

Palbinone, a novel terpenoid from the roots of Paeonia albiflora, has a very strong inhibitory activity on the reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) linked 3 alpha-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (3 alpha-HSD) of rat liver cytosol and showed a significant inhibitory activity on human monocyte interleukin-1 beta, a polypeptide which is though to play an important role in inflammation. In contrast the enzymes cyclooxygenase (GO), thromboxane A synthase (TX) and 5-lipoxygenase (LO) were not significantly inhibited by palbinone when it was compared with tenokisicum, indomethacin, imidazole and 2,3,5-trimethyl-6-(12-hydroxy-5,10-dodecadiynyl)-1,4-benzoquinone (AA-861) as positive controls under similar experimental conditions. The activity of palbinone was highly selective since it inhibited strongly only human monocyte interleukin-1 beta and did not show any significant activity on CO, TX and LO.