Abstract
A number of natural compounds have been used as immunomodulatory agents, enabling the function of the immune system to be modified by stimulating or suppressing it. There has been increasing interest in the study of therapeutic action of plant extracts regarding their immunomodulatory activity. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate the action of extracts of the medicinal plants Calophyllum brasiliense, Ipomoea pes-caprae, Matayba elaeagnoides, Maytenus robusta, Rubus imperialis and Vernonia scorpioides on the development of spleen cells from mice, using the in vitro cellular proliferation assay. The cells, obtained by mechanical rupture of mice spleen (5x10(4) cells/mL), were incubated with methanol extracts (10, 50, 100 and 200 µg/mL) and phytohemagglutinin (PHA, 5 µg/mL). The basal control for proliferation consisted of cells alone, while the positive control consisted of cells and PHA. The cell culture was kept at 37 ºC in 5% CO2 for 72 hours, and cell proliferation was revealed by the blue tetrazolium reduction assay (MTT). The results were expressed as percentage of growth and were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests. The C. brasiliense, I. pes-caprae and M. elaeagnoides extracts showed dose-dependent induction of cell proliferation, with a significant increase in cell proliferation (p<0.03) and percentage growth of 88.2%, 73.1% and 52.7%, respectively, suggesting T lymphocyte stimulation. By contrast, M. robusta, R. imperialis and V. scorpioides extracts showed significance only with a negative percentage of growth, suggesting inhibition of cell proliferation (p<0.04). Further biomonitoring studies will enable the fractions and isolated substances responsible for the immunomodulatory activities to be identified.
Highlights
The identification of therapeutic activities of plant extracts by means of chemical, pharmacological and toxicological studies is an area of growing research interest
In view of the phytochemical and biological activity studies carried out in other models, with some species obtained from Santa Catarina, as C. brasiliense, I. pescaprae, M. eleagnoides, M. robusta, R. imperialis and V. scorpioides, and the lack of information on the immunomodulatory activity of these plants, this study aimed to evaluate the activity of methanol extracts of these six medicinal plants on the proliferation of murine spleen cells in vitro
The DMEM cell culture medium used was supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (CULTILAB, Campinas, SP), 2% sodium bicarbonate at 10% (Dinâmica, São Paulo, SP), 1% L-glutamine at 200 mM (Sigma), 1% HEPES at 10 mM (Sigma) and 110 mg/mL sodium
Summary
The identification of therapeutic activities of plant extracts by means of chemical, pharmacological and toxicological studies is an area of growing research interest. Several plants found in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil, have popular medicinal use These include homemade alcohol, infusions, baths and homogenized preparations of fresh plant, such as: Calophyllum brasiliense – used to treat bronchitis, kidney and gastric diseases, inflammation, diabetes, varicose, diarrhea, herpes, rheumatism, hemorrhoids and chronic ulcers (Noldin, Buffon, Cechinel Filho, 2006); Ipomea pes-caprae – used to treat dermatitis caused by jellyfish, cramps, diuretic disorder, gonorrhea, inflammation and pain (Pongprayoon et al, 1989; Souza et al, 1998); Matayba eleagnoides – used to treat inflammation, pain and liver cancer (Lorenzi, 2000; Souza et al, 2007); and Maytenus robusta (Niero et al, 2006; Andrade et al, 2007) and Rubus imperialis – used in the treatment of peptic ulcer, diabetes and pain (Cechinel Filho, 2000), and Vernonia scorpioides – used to treat skin disorders and varicose ulcers and to combat parasites (Monteiro et al, 2001).
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