Pulicaria incisa infusion attenuates inflammatory responses of brain microglial cells Anat Elmann a, *, Elie Beit-Yannai b , Alona Telerman a , Rivka Ofir c , Sharon Mordechay a,d , Hilla Erlank a , Hamutal Borochov-Neori e a Department of Food Quality and Safety,The Volcani Center,Agricultural Research Organization, Israel b Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology Department, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel c Dead Sea & Arava Science Center, and Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel d Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Quality Sciences of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, Israel e Southern Arava Research and Development, Hevel Eilot, Israel ARTICLE INFO Article history: Received 14 March 2016 Received in revised form 17 May 2016 Accepted 24 May 2016 Available online ABSTRACT Activated microglial cells release various mediators, which cause neuronal cell death and have been implicated in different neurological disorders. The present study demonstrates that an infusion prepared from the plant Pulicaria incisa (Pi) inhibits microglial activation and down-regulates levels of the inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and of the toxic mediators nitric oxide and glutamate. The infusion was also shown to have antioxi- dant properties in cell-free assays (e.g.,differential pulse voltammetry) and in a cellular assay, in which the infusion attenuated the induced accumulation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS). We found that Pi infusion is rich in polyphenols, especially chlorogenic acids and ferulic acids, which might be responsible for the observed activities. It is proposed that Pi infusion be further evaluated for use as a functional beverage for the prevention and/or treatment of chronic diseases, especially neurodegenerative disorders in which microglial activation and oxidative stress play important roles. © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Pulicaria incisa Herbal infusion Neuroinflammation Microglial cells Glutamate Polyphenols 1. Introduction Inflammation in the central nervous system has been impli- cated in different neurological disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and infectious and autoimmune diseases of the central nervous system (Boche, Perry, & Nicoll, 2013; Glass, Saijo, Winner, Marchetto, & Gage, 2010; Singhal, Jaehne, Corrigan, Toben, & Baune, 2014). Neuroinflammation is mediated largely by mi- croglial cells, which are the resident immune cells of the brain (Nayak et al., 2014). Activated microglial cells secrete various immune mediators such as the pro-inflammatory cytokines * Corresponding author. Department of Food Quality and Safety,The Volcani Center, Agricultural Research Organization, Israel.Tel.: +972 3 9683516; fax: +972 3 9683692. E-mail address: aelmann@volcani.agri.gov.il (A. Elmann). Abbreviations: ABAP, 2,2′-Azobis(amidinopropane); DPV, Differential pulse voltammetry; IL-1β, Interleukin 1β; IL-6, Interleukin 6; LDH, Lactate dehydrogenase; LPS, Lipopolysaccharide; NO, Nitric oxide; Pi, Pulicaria incisa; ROS, Reactive oxygen species http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jff.2016.05.012 1756-4646/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Journal of Functional Foods 25 (2016) 110–122 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jff ScienceDirect