Reduce production of inflammatory factors with honokiol, a natural lignan. Derived from the plant Magnolia grandiflora, honokiol possesses antineoplastic and neuroprotective properties (Woodbury et al.). Honokiol inhibits the phosphorylation of Akt, a protein kinase that plays a role in regulating the production of inflammatory molecules (Kim and Cho). It also demonstrates anti-inflammatory effects by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) activation along with the production of inflammatory factors, such as nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and RANTES/CCL5 in glial cells (Zhang et al.).

Honokiol has been used for:

CANCER RESEARCH
· Induces apoptosis in various (breast, blood, prostate, and intestinal) cancer cells (Huang et al.; Shigemura et al.; Ishitsuka et al.).
· Reduces inflammation and senescence-associated biomarkers in cigarette smoke-damaged skin cells in vitro (Costa et al.).
· Blocks in vitro angiogenesis and in vivo tumor growth (Bai et al.).
DISEASE MODELING
· Promotes neurite growth and enhances survivability in rat cortical neurons (Fukuyama et al.).
· Protects rat cerebellar granule neurons from glutamate- and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-induced excitotoxic injury as well as H2O2-induced neurotoxicity (Lin et al.).
· Induces anti-cardiac hypertrophic effects in vitro and in mice by activating mitochondrial SIRT3 (Pillai et al.).