Abstract
Medicinal herbs are commonly used worldwide as immune boosters and immunomodulators in the management of various disease conditions. Many of these herbs commonly used have not been scientifically evaluated for their immune modulating activities. The study investigated the immunomodulatory activity of the total crude leaf extract of Hibiscus sabdariffa in Wistar albino rats. It was an experimental study that was conducted on four groups of animals each with 6 healthy adult rats. Group I was dosed each with 1mL of normal saline. Groups II, III and IV were dosed 1mL of 125, 250 and 500 mg/Kg bwt of total crude extract, daily for 14 days respectively. On the 15th day, whole blood was collected into a clean ethlenediaminetetracetic acid (EDTA)-vacutainer. The complete blood count (CBC), immune blood cell count, hemagglutination antibody (HA) titers, neutrophil adhesion and delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) response were determined. All the doses caused an increase in mean red blood cell (RBC) counts as compared to control group. Similarly, the mean percentage neutrophils, monocytes, basophils and eosinophils increased with dose while the opposite was true for percentage lymphocytes. The mean HA titers for the herb were higher than control though no statistical difference (p≥0.05) was observed. Similar effects were observed with neutrophil adhesions response as that of HA titers. For DTH, the highest footpad thickness (175.2% increment) was observed at a dose of 500 mg/Kg bwt after 12 h and was statistically significant (p≤0.05) as compared to control. H. sabdariffa contain compounds with immunomodulatory activity in Wistar albino rats. Key words: Immunomodulation, Hibiscus sabdariffa, total crude extracts.
Highlights
Natural medicinal herbs have long been used as aliments in management of various disease conditions, as immune boosters and immunomodulators worldwide (Joy et al, 1998; Zhang, 1999; Okwari and Ofem, 2011)
The mean white blood cell (WBC) counts in rats dosed with 125 mg/Kg were slightly higher than the control group while the 250 and 500 mg/kg were generally slightly lower as compared to the control group
Dosing rats with 125, 250 and 500 mg/Kg of the total crude leaf extracts of H. sabdariffa caused a slight elevation in red blood cell (RBC) counts as compared to the control but the difference was not statistically significant (p >0.05)
Summary
Natural medicinal herbs have long been used as aliments in management of various disease conditions, as immune boosters and immunomodulators worldwide (Joy et al, 1998; Zhang, 1999; Okwari and Ofem, 2011). Modulation of the immune system responses to alleviate disease conditions has been of medical interest worldwide for many years (Maizels, 2009; Shuklaa et al, 2009). There is increased scientific interest in agents that can modulate the immune system in severely immunocompromised individuals like in cases of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected individual, stress, malnutrition and many others (Shuklaa et al, 2009). Many people worldwide have resorted to the use of medicinal plants as immunomodulators especially in developing countries
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