Interference in Macrophage Balance (M1/M2): The Mechanism of Action Responsible for the Anti-Inflammatory Effect of a Fluorophenyl-Substituted Imidazole

Table 1

Effect of fluorophenyl-imidazole on the production of pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines.

Cytokines	B (only vehicle 1%)	LPS (1 µg/mL)	Dexa (7 µM) + LPS	Flu (1 µM)	Flu (1 µM) + LPS
Proinflammatory
TNF-α	1,447.0 ± 156.2	187,429.0 ± 8,371.0	71,350.0 ±	1,441.0 ± 100.2	129,845.0 ±
IL-6	9.9 ± 0.2	45.2 ± 2.479	36.2 ±	10.3 ± 0.7	29.1 ±
MCP-1	224.8 ± 2.0	6,443.0 ± 144.2	5,648.0 ±	271.2 ± 3.7	4,748.0 ±
IL-12p70	8.0 ± 0.4	8.7 ± 0.4	5.4 ±	8.3 ± 0.9	5.5 ±
IFN-γ	6.6 ± 0.2	7.8 ± 0.1	7.3 ±	7.1 ± 1.0	7.3 ±
Anti-inflammatory
IL-10	11.5 ± 0.8	9.7 ± 2.0	18.5 ±	17.9 ± 1.2^#	16.4 ±
IL-4	1,140.0 ± 38.5	1,211.0 ± 46.3	1,653 ±	1,550.0 ± 18.2^###	1,390.0 ±
IL-13	431.8 ± 12.5	512.2 ± 32.8	800.4 ±	771.8 ± 9.5^##	695.1 ±

The effect of fluorophenyl-imidazole (flu) on the pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines measured by flow cytometry/CBA (TNF-α, IL-6, MCP-1, IL-12p70, IFN-γ, and IL-10) and ELISA (IL-4 and IL-13). Both results were expressed in pg/mL. The experimental groups used was B: cells pretreated with vehicle and incubated with PBS (blank group); LPS: cells pretreated with vehicle and stimulated with LPS (1 μg/mL); dexa: cells pretreated with dexamethasone (7 μM) and stimulated with LPS (1 μg/mL); flu: fluorophenyl-imidazole: cells pretreated with the best concentration (based on IC₅₀ values) (1 µM) of fluorophenyl-imidazole alone, and flu (1 μM) + LPS: cells pretreated with the best concentration (based on IC₅₀ values) (1 µM) of fluorophenyl-imidazole and stimulated with LPS (1 μg/mL). Each measurement was performed in triplicate, and each group represents the mean of five samples. The results were expressed as the mean ± SEM of the absolute values (pg/mL). , , and (compared with the LPS group). ^#, ^##, ^### (compared with the blank group).