Scientists have found that luteolin, a plant flavonoid found in celery and green peppers can disrupt a key component of the inflammatory response in the brain typical of aging and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and multiple sclerosis.

Graduate research assistant Saebyeol jang studied the inflammatory response in microglial cells. She spurred inflammation by exposing the cells to lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a component of the cell wall of many common bacteria.

Those cells that were also exposed to luteolin showed a significantly diminished inflammatory response. Jang showed that luteolin was shutting down production of a key cytokine in the inflammatory pathway, interleukin-6 (IL-6). The effects of luteolin exposure were dramatic, resulting in as much as a 90 percent drop in IL-6 production in the LPS-treated cells.

In vivo experiments in mice also showed similar results. The authors suggest that these results indicate a possible role for luteolin in treating neuroinflammation.

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