{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,12]],"date-time":"2026-10-12T11:52:04Z","timestamp":1791805924695,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":37,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"3","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,24]],"date-time":"2022-01-24T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1642982400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100000038","name":"Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["CRDPJ 448052"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["CRDPJ 448052"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100000038","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Pharyngitis is an inflammation of the pharynx caused by viral, bacterial, or non-infectious factors. In the present study, the anti-inflammatory efficacy of carvacrol was assessed using an in vitro model of streptococcal pharyngitis using human tonsil epithelial cells (HTonEpiCs) induced with Streptococcus pyogenes cell wall antigens. HTonEpiCs were stimulated by a mixture of lipoteichoic acid (LTA) and peptidoglycan (PGN) for 4 h followed by exposure to carvacrol for 20 h. Following exposure, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, human beta defensin-2 (HBD-2), epithelial-derived neutrophil-activating protein-78 (ENA-78), granulocyte chemotactic protein-2 (GCP-2), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-\u03b1), and prostaglandin (PGE2) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA). The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, IL-6, IL-8, ENA-78, and GCP-2 were decreased in a carvacrol dose-dependent manner. The production of HBD-2 was significantly suppressed over 24 h carvacrol treatments. PGE2 and COX-2 levels in the cell suspensions were affected by carvacrol treatment. TNF-\u03b1 was not detected. The cell viability of all the tested carvacrol concentrations was greater than 80%, with no morphological changes. The results suggest that carvacrol has anti-inflammatory properties, and carvacrol needs to be further assessed for potential clinical or healthcare applications to manage the pain associated with streptococcal pharyngitis.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu14030503","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,25]],"date-time":"2022-01-25T21:07:11Z","timestamp":1643144831000},"page":"503","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":19,"title":["Carvacrol Suppresses Inflammatory Biomarkers Production by Lipoteichoic Acid- and Peptidoglycan-Stimulated Human Tonsil Epithelial Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Niluni","family":"Wijesundara","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Animal Science, Faculty of Animal Science and Export Agriculture, Uva Wellassa University, Badulla 90000, Sri Lanka"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Song","family":"Lee","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 6R8, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Applied Oral Sciences, Faculty of Dentistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada"},{"name":"Canadian Center for Vaccinology, Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia Health Authority, and the Izaak Walton Killam Health Centre, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ross","family":"Davidson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 6R8, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Division of Microbiology, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Nova Scotia Health Authority, Halifax, NS B3H 1V8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7240-9126","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zhenyu","family":"Cheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology & Immunology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 6R8, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-3435-0052","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"H.","family":"Rupasinghe","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Plant, Food, and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University, Truro, NS B2N 5E3, Canada"},{"name":"Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2022,1,24]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"7204","DOI":"10.18632\/oncotarget.23208","article-title":"Inflammatory responses and inflammation-associated diseases in organs","volume":"9","author":"Chen","year":"2017","journal-title":"Oncotarget"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Wolford, R.W., Goyal, A., Belgam Syed, S.Y., and Schaefer, T.J. 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