i don't quite follow you.  If by inflammation you mean cytokines, then you need an ELISA to measure.  can you be more specific?  so, if i follow from the paper's tittle you will use BSA as your stimulant (to induce an inflammatory response) and then treat with your herb to see if you can reduce the levels of induced-inflammation.  You are already using a cell line, so why would you not consider cells of the immune system, macrophages or dendritic cells (even T cells) that are will characterized for their ability to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to LPS (cheap) and then measure what effects your herb has on this?  I know little about fibroblast and their pro-inflammatory characterization, but they do make cytokines.  When you say cheap, in the end, you may end up spending more by trying to spend less.  If you are looking to measure cytokines as your end point, use an ELISA.  Dont waste your time (which is Money) doing a cheaper thing, you will ultimately have to do it anyway.  Good luck.  Hope this long winded explanation helped.

i don't quite follow you.  If by inflammation you mean cytokines, then you need an ELISA to measure.  can you be more specific?  so, if i follow from the paper's tittle you will use BSA as your stimulant (to induce an inflammatory response) and then treat with your herb to see if you can reduce the levels of induced-inflammation.  You are already using a cell line, so why would you not consider cells of the immune system, macrophages or dendritic cells (even T cells) that are will characterized for their ability to produce pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to LPS (cheap) and then measure what effects your herb has on this?  I know little about fibroblast and their pro-inflammatory characterization, but they do make cytokines.  When you say cheap, in the end, you may end up spending more by trying to spend less.  If you are looking to measure cytokines as your end point, use an ELISA.  Dont waste your time (which is Money) doing a cheaper thing, you will ultimately have to do it anyway.  Good luck.  Hope this long winded explanation helped.

What Dr. Ramírez has pointed is totally procedent: if you want to assess inflamation go for a cytokine ELISA as it is the most direct way. They are mostly affordable and they have the advantage of being very standardised. Using LPS as positive control to stablish your baseline of inflammation would be also appropriate, but you may use some other known pro-inflamattory molecules, such as TNFalpha. Besides ELISA you could analyse concentration of some cytokines through western blot but ELISA offers you the adavantage of loading several more experiments in a single 96 well plate instead of having to run multiple gels.

Consider carefully what timeframe you want to assess the inflammation in, since the synthesis' dynamics of distinct cytokines are different and some peak earlier than others. Examine the bibliography about fibroblasts but two common inflammmatory cytokines produced by several cell types are MCP-1 and RANTES. 

One last thing: you may also indirectly assess inflamation through RT-qPCR and examining the levels of genic expression of those cytokines but since it would require another test to verify directly the inflammatory process, you'd be better off with an ELISA from the start.

To beat a dead horse, I agree. An ELISA IS the most COST EFFECTIVE, dependable, reliable, and easy way to accomplish measuring cytokines.