Possible immunomodulating activities of carotenoids in in vitro cell culture experiments

Abstract

Immunomodulating activities of β-carotene and carotene-associated carotenoids such as canthaxanthin (β,β-carotene-4,4 dione) and astaxanthin (3,3′-dihydroxyl β,β-carotene 4,4-dione) were analyzed by in vitro cell culture experiments. (i) β-Carotene, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin caused significant stimulatory effects on the cell proliferative response of spleen cells and thymocytes from BALB/c mice at the concentrations of 2 × 10 −8 to 10 −7M, although they showed the activities different from each other. (ii) Astaxanthin exhibited the highest activity on the polyclonal antibody (immunoglobulin M and G) production of murine spleen cells at the concentrations of 2 × 10 −8 to 10 −7 M but β-carotene did not cause a significant effect at a low concentration (2 × 10 −8 M) although stimulated at a high concentration (2 × 10 −7M). Canthaxanthin expressed moderate activities at the same concentrations. (iii) All tested carotenoids significantly enhanced the release of interleukin-1 α and tumor necrosis factor-α from murine peritoneal adherent cells at the concentrations of 2 × 10 −9 to 10 −7M and the ranks of cytokine-inducing activities were astaxanthin > canthaxanthin > β-carotene. These results indicate that carotenoids such as β-carotene, canthaxanthin and astaxanthin have possible immunomodulating activities to enhance the proliferation and functions of murine immunocompetent cells.