Arctigenin is an extract from A. lappa, a burdock plant traditionally used in Japanese Kampo medicine for its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, and antiviral activity. At 0.1 μM, arctigenin can block the activation of Akt induced by glucose starvation in pancreatic cancer PANC-1 cells, which is a key process in the tolerance exhibited by cancer cells to glucose starvation. It has potent in vitro antiviral activities against in?uenza A virus and shows neuroprotective effects against an experimental mouse model of Japanese encephalitis. Arctigenin also demonstrates a therapeutic effect in ischemic stroke treatment of middle cerebral artery occluded rats by suppressing microglia activation and decreasing IL-1β and TNF-α expression.
