Buckwheat Sprouts and Colon Cancer

Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Buckwheat Sprouts in Lipopolysaccharide-Activated Human Colon Cancer Cells and Mice.

Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2008 Dec 7.

Ishii S, Katsumura T, Shiozuka C, Ooyauchi K, Kawasaki K, Takigawa S, Fukushima T, Tokuji Y, Kinoshita M, Ohnishi M, Kawahara M, Ohba K.

Department of Agricultural and Life Sciences, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine.

 

In conducting an in vitro screening of ethanol extracts from various natural foods using a human colon cancer cell line (CoLoTC cells), an extract of buckwheat sprouts (ExtBS) was found to express significant anti-inflammatory activity. The anti-inflammatory activity of ExtBS was confirmed by oral administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) to mice. Inflammatory cytokines (interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha) were markedly up-regulated in the spleen and liver from LPS-administrated mice, and combinatory treatment with LPS and ExtBS decreased up-regulation of them in both cytokines. Both serum cytokine levels corresponded to their gene expressions in tissues, but no anti-inflammatry effect in mice was observed when ExtBS was treated intraperitoneally. ExtBS oral administration also showed protective activity as to hepatic injury induced by galactosamine/LPS treatment. Based on these data, we suggest that ExtBS contains anti-inflammatory compounds.