TNF-α level in human macrophages: (A) Pretreatment with lotus petal extracts for 6 h prior to LPS inflammatory stimulation for 6 h, (B) LPS stimulation for 6 h and post-treatment with lotus petal extracts for 6 h. Anti-inflammatory drugs (aspirin, ASA; dexamethasone, DEX) were tested along with the extracts. Levels of TNF-α were determined from cell culture supernatant using ELISA. RPMI-10 is culture medium, PE stands for petal extract, SO for Soxhlet extraction, EA for ethyl acetate, ET for ethyl alcohol, LO for low lethal concentration (5%), HI for high lethal concentration (10%), and * denotes p < 0.05.