Biol. Pharm. Bull. 28(7) 1234—1238 (2005)

widely distributed in South-east Asia, especially in most area of China, has been widely used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat acute and chronic inflammatory diseases including pharyngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia and cough etc, as well as cardiovascular diseases such as arrhythmia, angina and thrombosis etc. Chemical studies have shown that this plant includes saponins, polysaccharide and homoisoflavonoidal compounds. As the scientific evidence for its clinical efficacy, its cardiovascular activities have been confirmed in various assays such as anti-ischaemia, anti-arrhythmic, inhibiting platelets aggregation, protecting endothelium from apoptosis, improving microcirculation, and so on. However, there are few reports on its anti-inflammatory properties, and its anti-inflammatory active components have not been adequately elucidated. Therefore, in our present study, the anti-inflammatory effects of the aqueous extract from Radix Ophiopogon japonicus and its two components, ruscogenin and ophiopogonin D were investigated to provide some pharmacological evidence for its clinical use in inflammatory diseases.