Abstract
The alkaloidal fraction (AFCP) of roots of Cissampelos pareira Linn. was screened for in-vitro antioxidant activity and immunomodulatory activity in mice. The HPTLC finger print profile was also established for the identification of AFCP which was found to contain 0.176 % of berberine. AFCP possess strong antioxidant activity which was revealed by its ability to scavenge the stable free radical DPPH, superoxide ion and to inhibit lipid peroxidation in rat liver homogenate induced by iron/ADP/Ascorbate complex. AFCP was found to have significant immunosuppressive activity at lower doses (25 and 50 mg/kg) while no activity was observed at higher doses (75 and 100 mg/kg). Humoral antibody titre was significantly (p<0.01) lowered by AFCP at the doses of 25 and 50 mg/kg. Delayed type hypersensitivity response was also significantly (p<0.01) suppressed by the AFCP at the dose of 75 mg/kg. Thus the present study revealed the immunosuppressive and antioxidant activities of the alkaloidal fraction of C. pareira roots.
Highlights
Immunomodulation using medicinal plants, especially ‘rasayana’ drugs, can provide an alternative to conventional chemotherapy for a variety of diseases, especially when the host defense mechanism has to be activated under the conditions of impaired immune response or when a selective immunosuppression is desired in situations like autoimmune disorders
Alkaloids from roots of this plant were mainly screened for various pharmacological activities and in order to correlate immunomodulatory activity with alkaloids the present work was aimed at studying effect of alkaloidal fraction of C. pareira on immune system as well as its ability to scavenge free radicals
AFCP showed strong in vitro antioxidant activity in tested models viz., scavenging of DPPH and superoxide radicals and inhibition of lipid peroxidation induced by Iron/ADP/Ascorbate complex in rat liver homogenate
Summary
Immunomodulation using medicinal plants, especially ‘rasayana’ drugs, can provide an alternative to conventional chemotherapy for a variety of diseases, especially when the host defense mechanism has to be activated under the conditions of impaired immune response or when a selective immunosuppression is desired in situations like autoimmune disorders. Our earlier work reported the immunomodulatory activity of methanol extract of C. pareira [10]. Alkaloids from roots of this plant were mainly screened for various pharmacological activities and in order to correlate immunomodulatory activity with alkaloids the present work was aimed at studying effect of alkaloidal fraction of C. pareira on immune system as well as its ability to scavenge free radicals. Present investigation was undertaken to mainly evaluate the antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities of one of the rasayana drug C. pareira using some reported methods.
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