白血球在血管管壁的黏附與移行是動脈粥狀硬化進展的早期主要因素，且血管內皮細胞表現的黏附因子在動脈粥狀硬化過程中扮演重要角色。抗氧化物具有抑制細胞黏附分子表現，進而降低動脈粥狀硬化發生的作用。故本研究主要探討桑葉相關萃取物，對於前發炎因子腫瘤壞死因子α刺激人類主動脈內皮細胞表現黏附因子的影響。將人類主動脈內皮細胞預先以桑葉相關萃取物處理18小時，可顯著性減少人類單核球細胞株U937的黏附。並使用細胞酵素連結免疫吸光分析法，顯示桑葉相關萃取物可明顯降低血管黏附分子（VCAM-1）30％- 63％、內皮細胞黏附因子（E-selectin）20％- 41％與細胞間黏附分子（ICAM-1）8.5％的表現。根據本研究結果顯示，桑葉相關萃取物，可經由抑制細胞內與活性氧化物種相關之核轉錄因子，即NF-κB路徑，而具有抗發炎特質；因此可能在預防動脈粥狀硬化與其他發炎反應中扮演重要角色。
The adhesion and migration of circulating leukocytes into the vessel wall is an early event in atherogenesis and the expression of cell adhesion molecules by the arterial endothelium plays a major role during atherogenesis. Antioxidants have been proposed to inhibit the expression of adhesion molecules and there by attenuate the processes leading to atherosclerosis. In this study, the effects of antioxidant extract from mulberry leaf-related on the expression of endothelial- leukocyte adhesion molecules in tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) treated human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) were investigated. Pretreated of HAEC with mulberry leaf-related extracts (100 μg/mL) for 18h significantly suppressed cellular binding between the human monocytic leukemic cell line-U937 and TNF-α-stimulated HAEC in a dose-dependent manner by using an in vitro binding assay.
