Inhibitory effect of ferulic acid on in?ammatory response in microglia induced by lipopolysaccharides

Ferulic acid (FA) is a natural compound that expresses antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. Microglial cells are innate immune cells that reside within the central nervous system (CNS). Activated microglia mediated neuronal immunity contributes to the neurodegeneration associated with Alzheimer's disease. In this study, we investigated the inhibitory effect of FA on neuroinflammation in BV-2 microglial cells induced by lipopolysaccharides (LPS). Our study showed that FA significantly suppressed the production of nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and decreased induced type II nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein in LPS-stimulated BV-2 microglia cells in a dose dependent manner. We hypothesized that this was achieved by suppressing the protein level of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4).