Abstract
Oviductus ranae (OR) is a traditional Chinese medicine, which was first recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty. OR contains high amounts of proteins and elicits therapeutic effects on neurasthenia, insomnia, and respiratory symptoms, which are related to oxidative stress and immunodeficiency. This study aimed to obtain the potential of OR for the development of functional food possessing antioxidant and immune-enhancement functions in the same dose. In antioxidant evaluation, OR can significantly decrease malondialdehyde and protein carbonyls (P < 0.05, P < 0.01) and significantly increase total superoxide dismutase and glutathione in a dose-dependent manner (P < 0.05, P < 0.01) against ethanol-induced oxidative stress in mice at 0.1, 1.0, and 3.0 g/kg BW. In immunomodulatory evaluation, OR could significantly enhance the phagocytosis of liver macrophages (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), delayed-type hypersensitivity response (P < 0.05, P < 0.01), hemolytic activity (P < 0.05), antibody-producing cells (P < 0.05), and natural killer cell activity (P < 0.05) in the same dose range described in antioxidant evaluation compared with those in the normal control. OR slightly influenced lymphocyte proliferation, peritoneal macrophage phagocytosis, and immune organ indices in mice. Thus, 3.0 g/kg BW OR showed potential for the development of functional food with antioxidant and immune-enhancement activities.
Highlights
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated inside cells as metabolism products play a dual role as harmful and beneficial species
YAC-1 mouse lymphoma cells were obtained from the Cell Bank of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Shanghai, China), and Indian ink was obtained from Zeye Biological Technology Co., Ltd. (Shanghai, China). 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT), lithium lactate, 2-(4-iodophenyl)-3-(4nitrophenyl)-5-phenyltetrazolium chloride, phenazine methosulphate (PMS), nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), agarose, concanavalin A (Con A), Drabkin’s reagent, and nonidet P-40 (NP-40) were procured from Sigma Aldrich Co., Ltd
Excess free radicals in vivo react with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to produce lipid peroxides, and MDA is the most common product of lipid peroxidation, which is in proportion to the degree of oxidative damage (Esterbauer, Schaur, Zollner, 1991)
Summary
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated inside cells as metabolism products play a dual role as harmful and beneficial species. Low/moderate ROS concentrations participate in some physiological processes, including signal transduction pathway, mitogenic response induction, cell proliferation, and differentiation in body (Valko et al, 2007). When bodies are influenced by harmful environmental stress, such as X-ray irradiation, smoking and alcohol overconsumption, and long-term exposure to heavy metals or organic pollutants, the balance between ROS generation and elimination can be destroyed to produce excess ROS, thereby inducing oxidative stress (Srivastava et al, 2017). ROS-induced oxidative stress can damage DNA, proteins, and lipids (Martinez–Useros et Endogenous enzyme-based antioxidants and metabolites, such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase, catalases, and glutathione (GSH), can quench excess ROS to reduce the damaging effects of free radicals. The main components of immune cell membrane are polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), which are sensitive to free radicals; antioxidants in immune cells can protect PUFAs against
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