As aforementioned in introduction, although the root bark of
Morus alba L. was used for the regulation of inflammatory pulmonary diseases in folk medicine, there is no report about the pharmacologic action of extract of
Morus alba L., kuwanon E, kuwanon G, mulberrofuran G, and morusin on airway mucin secretion and production from inflammatory pulmonary disease model. As can be seen in results, SO
2 exposure via aerosolized sodium metabisulfite to rats for 3 weeks resulted in significant increase in mucin secretion and mucosubstances (acidic mucins) in tracheal tissues, compared with the normal control group (
Figure 2). Dexamethasone, a positive control, showing prominent anti-inflammatory effect, significantly inhibited mucin secretion and the amount of mucosubstances (acidic mucins) in tracheal tissues. However, AMA stimulated the secretion of airway mucin and mucosubstances (acidic mucins) in tracheal tissues in this rat model. This result can explain, at least in part, the traditional use of AMA as expectorants for controlling various pulmonary inflammatory diseases that are accompanied by mucus hypersecretion. AMA might stimulate the secretion of airway mucus and then remove the mucus from airway by inducing cough reflex. AMA can provoke the expelling of sputum through inducing cough reflex via stimulation of secretion of mucus in airway luminal surface under inflammatory status. Dexamethasone, one of the corticosteroidal compounds used as a remedy for inflammatory diseases, might suppress the overproduction of
in vivo airway mucin and resultantly might decrease the amount of secretion of mucin, under inflammatory condition. Since AMA showed the stimulatory action on airway mucin secretion in
in vivo model, we tried to investigate which component of AMA can contribute to its pharmacologic activity. Among the twenty one MUC genes coding human mucins reported to date, MUC5AC was mainly expressed in goblet cells in the airway surface epithelium
2,20. PMA was reported to stimulate the endogenous activator of protein kinase C (PKC), diacylglycerol
21 and to be an inflammatory stimulant that can control a gene transcription
22, cell growth and differentiation
23. PMA also can induce MUC5AC gene expression in NCI-H292 cells
5. PMA activates a type of PKC isoforms. This activates matrix metalloproteinases, which cleave pro-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) ligands from the cell surface to become mature EGFR ligands. These ligands bind to the EGFR, provoking the phosphorylation of its intracellular tyrosine kinase. This leads to activation of MEK leading to ERK activation. Following is the activation of the transcription factor (Sp1) and binding of the factor to specific sites with the
MUC5AC gene promoter. Eventually, the promoter is activated and produced the gene transcription and translation to MUC5AC mucin protein
22. Based upon these reports, we investigated the effects of AE and 70% EE of
Morus alba L. on PMA-induced MUC5AC mucin production from NCI-H292 cells, a human pulmonary mucoepidermoid cell line. As shown in results, AE and 70% EE of
Morus alba L. inhibited the production of MUC5AC mucin induced by PMA, respectively (
Figure 3). Also, kuwanon E, kuwanon G, mulberrofuran G, and morusin, the natural products derived from
Morus alba L., inhibited the production of MUC5AC mucin induced by PMA, respectively (
Figure 4). The production and the secretion of airway mucin are known to be regulated through separate signaling steps
2. However, based just on the result of this study, we cannot explain the reason AE, 70% EE and the single compounds derived from
Morus alba L., kuwanon E, kuwanon G, mulberrofuran G, and morusin, inhibited the production of airway mucin, although AE of
Morus alba L. stimulated the secretion of airway mucin. This result might be interpreted that, although AE of
Morus alba L. can stimulate the secretion of airway mucin already produced by inflammatory condition, AE and EE and the single compounds derived from it can inhibit
de novo production of airway mucin under inflammatory or stimulatory conditions. This interpretation of the result is coincident with the record that AE of
Morus alba L. was utilized as a folk remedy which shows an antiinflmmatory activity (decrease in mucin production) and expectorating (increase in mucin secretion) activity
6. The underlying mechanisms of action of these single compounds on MUC5AC mucin secretion and production are not clear at present, although we are investigating whether kuwanon E, kuwanon G, mulberrofuran G and morusin act as a potential regulator of the mitogen-activated protein kinase cascade and/or a potential regulator of nuclear factor-kB signaling pathway, in mucin-producing NCI-H292 cells. In summary, these results can explain, at least in part, the folk use of AMA as expectorants and anti-inflammatory agents for controlling various pulmonary inflammatory diseases that are accompanied by hypersecretion of mucus. We suggest it is valuable to find the natural products that have specific regulative effects on mucin production and secretion-in view of both basic and clinical sciences-and the result from this study suggests a possibility of developing kuwanon E, kuwanon G, mulberrofuran G, and morusin as a candidate for the new efficacious mucoregualtors for inflammatory pulmonary diseases, although further studies are essential.