Lactoferrin (LAT), a multi-functional protein involved in numerous physiological functions, and the medicinal plant Pelargonium sidoides DC (PEL), have been described for their anti-inflammatory properties. Because the main advantage of natural products consists in administering them in combination rather than as single compound, we aimed to understand whether the combination of PEL and LAT, herein PELIRGOSTIM, could still prove beneficial or additive/synergistic activities during inflammatory conditions. To pursue this goal, we used macrophagic cells (J774.1) and treated them with PEL and LAT in a concentration-dependent manner. We found that PELIRGOSTIM was able to reduce the levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitrite, effects that were correlated to the release of lower levels of IL-1β after LPS treatment. In addition, the combination of PEL and LAT showed bacteriostatic activities against S. aureus and E. coli which had limited growth starting from 5 hours up to 20 hours. This effect was stronger than that observed for penicillin/streptomycin. Our results provide PELIRGOSTIM as an innovative combination of natural products capable to prevent inflammation-, oxidative stress- and microbial-related disorders.

中文翻译：

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天竺葵DC和乳铁蛋白组合的抗氧化和抗微生物特性。

乳铁蛋白（LAT）是一种涉及多种生理功能的多功能蛋白质，而药用植物天竺葵（Pelorgonium sidoides）DC（PEL）具有抗炎特性。由于天然产物的主要优势在于可以组合而不是单一化合物的形式给药，因此我们旨在了解PEL和LAT的结合物（此处为PELIRGOSTIM）在炎性条件下是否仍可证明有益或加/协同作用。为了实现这一目标，我们使用了巨噬细胞（J774.1），并以PEL和LAT浓度依赖性方式对其进行了处理。我们发现，PELIRGOSTIM能够降低活性氧（ROS）和亚硝酸盐的水平，这种作用与LPS治疗后释放较低水平的IL-1β有关。此外，PEL和LAT的组合显示出对金黄色葡萄球菌和大肠杆菌的抑菌活性，从5小时到20小时开始生长受限。该作用强于青霉素/链霉素。我们的结果为PELIRGOSTIM提供了一种天然产品的创新组合，能够预防炎症，氧化应激和微生物相关疾病。