Figure 1.

Effects of hyperforin on prostanoid formation in LPS-stimulated human whole blood. (A) Chemical structure of Hyp. (B,C) Heparinized human whole blood, treated with 1 μM TX synthase inhibitor CV4151 and 50 μM aspirin, was pre-incubated with the indicated agents or vehicle (DMSO) for 5 min at room temperature, and then, prostanoid formation was induced by addition of 10 μg ml⁻¹ LPS. After 5 h at 37°C, PGE₂ (B) was extracted from plasma by RP-18 solid phase extraction, separated by RP-HPLC, and quantified by ELISA as described. 6-Keto PGF_1α (C) and TXB₂ (D) were directly determined in the plasma by ELISA. The 100% values correspond to prostanoid levels in the range of 14–27 ng ml⁻¹ PGE₂, 3–5 ng ml⁻¹ 6-keto PGF_1α, and 47–64 ng ml⁻¹ TXB₂ in the individual experiments, respectively. MK-886 (30 μM), MD-52 (6 μM), indomethacin (Indo, 50 μM), and celecoxib (Cele, 20 μM) were used as controls. Data are given as mean ± SE, n = 3–4, *p < 0.05, ***p < 0.001 vs. vehicle (0.1% DMSO) control, ANOVA + Tukey HSD post hoc tests.