Objective        To investigate the underlying mechanism of sinomenine

a traditional Chinese herb extract monomer

in inducing autophagy and its anti-inflammation activity in EA.hy926 cells.       Methods        Western blotting was taken to detect the expression of autophagic markers LC3Ⅱ

ERK2

phosphorylation ERK2 and inflammatory cytokine HMGB1 in the EA.hy926 cells after the treatment of sinomenine at 50 or 100 μg/mL for 12 h. Acridine orange staining was used to observe the formation of acidic vesicular organelles in the cells by fluores

cence microscopy.       Results        Western blotting revealed that the expression of LC3Ⅱ （0.67±0.05）and phosphorylation ERK2 （1.08±0.05）were remarkably increased after the treatment of sinomenine at 100 μg/mL (

P

0.05). Autophagic vesicles were induced by sinomenine，while both LC3Ⅱ and autophagic vesicles were partially decreased by ERK-specific inhibitor U0126 (

P

0.05). LPS-induced HMGB1 expression could be reduced by sinomenine，which was partially reversed by autophagy inhibitor CQ (

P

0.05).       Conclusion        It may be one of the mechanisms of anti-inflammation activity of sinomenine that can reduce HMGB1 by promoting autophagy through the ERK pathway in EA.hy926 cells．