Essiac (ES) and Flor-essence (FE) are two herbal teas widely taken by North American cancer patients during chemo- and radiation-therapy. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of these two herbal teas were assessed in this study. Cell-free trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity assay shows that at 1/5 dilution, ES and FE have hydroxyl radical scavenging activity equivalent to 10.65 µM and 5.74 µM of Trolox respectively. Treatment with ES at 1/10 and 1/20 dilutions significantly increased nitric oxide (NO) production by murine RAW 264.7 cells, but inhibited NO production in a concentration-dependent manner by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated cells. In contrast, FE at 1/10 and 1/20 dilutions did not significantly induce NO production by RAW 264.7 cells, nor did it, at these dilutions, inhibit the NO production by LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. RT-PCR assay shows that both 1/20 and 1/100 dilutions of ES and FE induced mRNA expression of IL-1β, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) pro-inflammatory molecules in RAW 264.7 cells compared to untreated controls. Addition of ES and FE at 1/20 and 1/100 dilutions to LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells did not alter IL-1β, iNOS and COX-2 mRNA expression in these cells. ES and FE treatment did not affect TNFα mRNA expression in non-stimulated or LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. Our data show that ES but not FE stimulated NO release by non-stimulated and inhibited LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells. There were only minor differences between ES and FE in their induction of mRNA expression of pro-inflammatory molecules. Further research is needed to investigate the differential activities of these two herbal teas in stimulating pro-inflammatory mediators release by RAW 264.7 cells.

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