Thais luteostoma has been utilized as a crude drug whose shell and soft tissue have been widely used for the treatment of heat syndrome in China for thousands of years. The present study was designed to investigate the
antipyretic and anti-inflammatory activities of T. luteostoma. T. luteostoma was divided into shell (TLSH) and soft tissue (TLST) samples in the present study. The rat model of yeast-induced
fever was used to investigate their
antipyretic effects; and the rat model of hind paw
edema induced by
carrageenan was utilized to study their anti-inflammatory activities, and at the same time, the concentration variations of the central
neurotransmitter [
prostaglandin E2 (
PGE2) and cyclic
adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)], inflammatory mediators [
tumor necrosis factor (TNFα), interleukin-1β (IL-1),
interleukin-2 (IL-2) and
interleukin-6 (IL-6)] and ion (Na(+) and Ca(2+)) were also tested. The results showed that TLSH and TLST extracts significantly inhibited yeast-induced
pyrexia in rats (P < 0.05), and exhibited more lasting effects as compared to
aspirin, and TLSH had the better
antipyretic activity than TLST, and that TLSH and TLST could significantly prevent against
carrageenan induced paw
edema in rats (P < 0.05); and markedly reduced levels of
PGE2, cAMP, TNFα, IL-1β,
IL-2,
IL-6, and Na(+)/Ca(2+). In
fever model, TLST could significantly reduce the levels of
PGE2 (P < 0.01) in rats' homogenate and TNFα (P < 0.05), IL-1β (P < 0.01) in the plasma than TLSH, whereas TLSH could reduce the content of
IL-2 (P < 0.01) and
IL-6 (P < 0.01) in plasma and increase the content of Ca(2+) (P < 0.01) in plasma and homogenate more significantly than TLST. In conclusion, T. luteostoma extract has
antipyretic and anti-inflammatory activities, which may be mediated through the suppression of production of
PGE2, cAMP, Na(+)/Ca(2+), TNFα, IL-1β,
IL-2, and
IL-6.