Abstract
The aim of this study was to investigate the immunomodulatory activities of protein fractions isolated from Delphinium staphysagria seeds used in Moroccan traditional medicine. D. staphysagria protein extract has been separated on sephadex column chromatography. The immunomodulatory activities were tested using primary culture of rabbit lymphocytes (splenocytes and thymocytes), by evaluation of macrophage phagocytosis and by studying the hemagglutination effect of proteins separated by chromatography. Three protein fractions were isolated on sephadex column. At 0.1mg/ml, these fractions didn’t show any cytotoxic effect against lymphocytes. The fraction F1 with the high molecular weight of 115 kDa exhibited a mitogenic action on splenocytes and positive hemagglutinating activity associated to inhibition of macrophage phagocytosis capacity. The second protein fraction F2 was about 11 kDa inhibited phagocytosis without affecting lymphocytes proliferation. The third fraction F3 was the smallest with 2.25 kDa indicated a stimulatory effect on both splenocytes and thymocytes proliferation without hemagglutinating activity but inducing decrease of macrophage phagocytosis. In conclusion, protein fractions isolated from D. staphysagria have no cytotoxic effect. The fraction F3 acted as an immunostimulating by enhancing proliferation of thymocytes and splenocytes while the F1 stimulated preferentially splenocytes via probably lectin pathway. All fractions studied decreased phagocytosis impairing the antigen presentation to lymphocytes. Key words: Delphinium staphysagria, protein fractions, immunomodulation, mitogenic effect, hemagglutination, MTT assay.
Highlights
A number of disorders such as viral infections, various cancers and autoimmune diseases can be managed with immunomodulators drugs from medicinal plants (Patwardhan et al, 1990; Patil et al, 2012)
Total protein extract obtained from aqueous extract after ammonium sulfate precipitation at 40% was separated on Sephadex (G100) chromatography column
The molecular weight of fractions F1, F2 and F3 were about 115 KDa, 11kDa and 2.25 kDa, respectively. The effect of these three fractions was tested on lymphocytes proliferation, on macrophage phagocytosis activity and for agglutination of blood cells
Summary
A number of disorders such as viral infections, various cancers and autoimmune diseases can be managed with immunomodulators drugs from medicinal plants (Patwardhan et al, 1990; Patil et al, 2012). Plants are a large species within the family Renonculaceae, largely distributed throughout the northern hemisphere region, such as Asia, Europe, and North America, while a few occur in equatorial Africa (Tang and Feng, 1981). Delphinium, an important genus of the family Ranunculaceae, is well known for its potential uses in medicine (Benn and Jacyno, 1983). It’s recognized as a rich source of biologically active and structurally complex diterpenoid and norditerpenoid alkaloids with febrifuge, sedative, cardiotonic and analgesic activities (Riedle and Nasir, 1991; Raza et al, 2001)
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