| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>Litchi chinensis </it>is regarded as one of the 'heating' fruits in China, which causes serious inflammation symptoms to people.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In the current study, the effects of isolates of litchi on prostaglandin E<sub>2 </sub>(PGE<sub>2</sub>) and nitric oxide (NO) production in J774 murine macrophage cells were investigated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The AcOEt extract (EAE) of litchi was found effective on stimulating PGE<sub>2 </sub>production, and three compounds, benzyl alcohol, hydrobenzoin and 5-hydroxymethyl-2-furfurolaldehyde (5-HMF), were isolated and identified from the EAE. Benzyl alcohol caused markedly increase in PGE<sub>2 </sub>and NO production, compared with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as positive control, and in a dose-dependent manner. Hydrobenzoin and 5-HMF were found in litchi for the first time, and both of them stimulated PGE<sub>2 </sub>and NO production moderately in a dose-dependent manner. Besides, regulation of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression and NF-κB (p50) activation might be involved in mechanism of the stimulative process.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The study showed, some short molecular compounds in litchi play inflammatory effects on human.</p>
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