摘要或動機

在炎炎夏日總希望來點可以「降火氣」的食品，依據古籍記載某些中藥材具有降火氣的效應，而中醫所謂的降火氣與西醫的抗發炎反應密切相關。本實驗利用巨噬細胞株受到LPS (Lipopolysaccharide，革蘭氏陰性菌細胞壁表面所含有的脂多醣體)刺激後，會分泌發炎介質的現象，再分別加入各項傳統認為可降火氣(以菊花、薏仁、仙草作為樣品)或上火氣(選用龍眼作為樣品)的中藥食材，來評估中藥材對巨噬細胞分泌發炎介質能力的影響。經由實驗，我們發現市售的『降火氣』中藥食材，在適當的濃度下，確實具有降低IL-6、TNF-α 分泌量的能力，但濃度過高時卻會造成細胞凋亡。另外，傳統以水熬煮的方式比冷凍乾燥取得的樣品有更好的降低IL-6、TNF-α 分泌量的能力。 我們期望以此一系列的實驗，來建立篩選『降火氣』食材的抗發炎效用的研究模式，並在後續實驗中可用以篩選出更多具抗發炎效應的中藥材。In summer, people always consider eating some special things to refresh themselves. According to ancient books, there are some Chinese herbal medicines that were recorded to have the function of cooling us down, which is related to anti-inflammation in the Western. Macrophage cell lines can be stimulated by LPS (Lipopolysaccharide) and secrete proinflammatory mediators. Thus, it is often used to evaluate the anti-inflammatory effects of different herbs. In our experiment, we also use macrophage cell lines to test different anti-inflammatory effects between chrysanthemum, Job’s tears and grass jelly. In addition, some Chinese herbs such as longan that can parch us are also tested in our experiment. In our results, we found these herbs that are available indeed have ability to anti-inflame in appropriate consistency; however, high dose does harm to cells. In addition, the samples that are poached in ancient ways have better ability to show the low dose of IL-6 and TNF-α. Finally, we would set up a model to test the anti-inflammatory ability of different herbs that were said to be able to cool us down, and then we could test more herbs in the future.