Anti-inflammatory effects of Morinda Officinalis

I can spend hours researching plants. One of the research I am currently interested is the traditional usage of Morinda officinalis. Publication on the anti-inflammatory effects of Ba Ji Tian has been published in the U.S. National Library of Medicine. This plant has been used 2 thousands years ago by the Chinese. I stand in awe of how these people 2 thousand years without any medicnal technology are able to identify the beneficial properties and effect on biological activities of human cells. It is truly amazing that many effective Chinese plants and herbs have not yet been studied in any detail by Western medicine.

Taking western medicine like (NSAIDs) is risky. Many people have no idea what these drugs are made of. It takes many years of research to find out the internal problems and the history of western medicines. Modern technologies in medicine has helped millions to diagnose the problems effectively and easily but they treatment using drugs is not really the proper solution.

For instance, many people are taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) unknownly or knownly to relieve pain such as muscular aches and pains, period pains, headache, backache, rheumatic pain, dental pain and neuralgia. The most prominent members of this group of drugs are aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen. These drugs merely brings temporary relief. It doesn't cure the situation. All the medicines in this group (NSAIDs) reduce inflammation caused by the body's own immune system, and are effective pain killers. Ibuprofen can be used to relieve pain such as muscular aches and pains, period pains, headache, backache, rheumatic pain, dental pain and neuralgia. It can also reduce feverishness and the symptoms of colds and flu.
Ibuprofen works by blocking the action of a substance in the body called cyclo-oxygenase. Cyclo-oxygenase is involved in the production of various chemicals in the body, some of which are known as prostaglandins. Prostaglandins are produced in response to injury or certain diseases and would otherwise go on to cause pain, swelling and inflammation. Ibuprofen is therefore used to relieve pain and inflammation.

Understanding NSAIDs
There is no question that the risks of NSAIDs can be serious, even life-threatening. According to the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA), each year the side effects of NSAIDs hospitalize over 100,000 people and kill 16,500 in the U.S., mostly due to bleeding stomach ulcers.

But it's important to put those numbers in context. The AGA also says that every day, more than 30 million Americans use NSAIDs for pain from headaches, arthritis, and other conditions. And while some experts emphasize the dangers, others stress that living with chronic pain is terrible in itself.

Search through the internet on NSAIDs and you will find thousands of articles and publication warning the public about the risk and side effect on your health of these drugs.

Morinda officinalis
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15901350
The anti-inflammatory effects of the methanol extract of the roots of Morinda officinalis (MEMO) (Rubiaceae) were evaluated in-vitro and in-vivo. The effects of MEMO on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)induced responses in the murine macrophage cell line RAW 264.7 were examined. MEMO potently inhibited the production of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophages. Consistent with these results, the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) at the protein level, and of iNOS, COX-2 and TNF-alpha at the mRNA level, was also inhibited by MEMO in a concentration-dependent manner. Furthermore, MEMO inhibited the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) activation induced by LPS, and this was associated with the prevention of degradation of the inhibitor kappaB (IkappaB), and subsequently with attenuated p65 protein in the nucleus. The anti-inflammatory effect of MEMO was examined in rats using the carrageenan-induced oedema model. The antinociceptive effects of MEMO were assessed in mice using the acetic acid-induced abdominal constriction test and the hot-plate test. MEMO (100, 200 mg kg-1 per day, p.o.) exhibited anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive effects in these animal models. Taken together, the data demonstrate that MEMO has anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive activity, inhibiting iNOS, COX-2 and TNF-alpha expression by down-regulating NF-kappaB binding activity.