Evaluation of the efficacy of isopathic immunotherapy in the treatment of allergic asthma in BALB/C mice.

Introduction: Homeopathy is a therapeutic method based on the fundamental principle of "like cures like." Homeopathic remedies are extremely dilute but involve vigorous shaking at each dilution. Isopathy is one approach of homeopathy, in which the causative agents or products of a disease are used to treat the same disease. Allergen immunotherapy is the only potential disease-modifying treatment for allergic patients. Subcutaneous immunotherapy is more effective than sublingual immunotherapy. However, subcutaneous immunotherapy is ineffective at a low dose, whereas at high doses it can result in an unacceptably high frequency of systemic reactions. In the current study, we evaluated the efficacy of isopathic immunotherapy with highly diluted ovalbumin (HD OVA) in the treatment of OVA-induced allergic asthma in BALB/c mice.Methods: BALB/c mice were sensitized with OVA and alum. Two weeks later, the mice received HD OVA on days 21, 22, 32 and 41 (8 h after the last challenge) of the treatment. The mice were challenged with OVA (5%) aerosols on days 35, 38 and 41 for 20 minutes using an ultrasonic nebulizer and sacrificed the next day.Results: Isopathic immunotherapy significantly reduced lung tissue inflammation, the number of eosinophils in bronchoalveolar fluid, allergen-specific IgE and interleukin-4 production. It also insignificantly increased the production of transforming growth factor-beta and proliferation of regulatory T cells against the allergen.Conclusion: Isopathic immunotherapy may be a good candidate treatment for allergic asthma.

[Alkaloids from cervi cornu pantotrichum and its effect on murine splenocytes proliferation].

OBJECTIVE: To study the alkaloids of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum and its effect on murine splenocytes proliferation. METHODS: The constituents isolation and purification from Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum was carried out by reported column chromatography including Sephadex LH-20 and MCI (CHP20P) and their structures were elucidated on the basis of spectral compounds. The method of MTT was used to examine the effects of eight alkaloids and total alkaloids content (TAC) of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum on murine splenocytes proliferation. RESULTS: Eleven compounds were isolated from Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum, and their structures were identified as follows: uracil (1), hypoxanthine (2), uridine (3) inosine (4), guanosine (5), 2'-deoxyguanosine (6), guanine (7), thymidine (8), thymine (9), cytidine (10) and adenosine (11). By the experiment of murine splenocytes proliferation activity in vitro, the results showed that the total alkaloids, uracil and adenosine had significantly promoted the proliferation of mouse spleen cells. CONCLUSION: Compounds 4 - 11 are isolated from Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum for the first time. The total alkaloids is one of the material basis of immunomodulatory effects of Cervi Cornu Pantotrichum, and uracil and adenosine are the most active.

[Immunoloregulation effect of polysaccharide isolated from octopus dollfusi on mouse].

OBJECTIVE: To study the immunoloregulation effect of three polysaccharides OGI, OG2and OG3 extracted from Octopus dollfusi muscle, gonad, digestive gland, respectively. METHODS: Spleen cell proliferation was measured by MTT assay and index of immune organs were weighed and calculated. RESULTS: OGI and OG2 could increase the proliferation of mouse spleen cell of normal mice, and significantly increased the proliferation of the spleen of immunosuppression mice caused by sccyclophosphamide, while showed no cooperation with ConA; OG3 appeared suppression for the two spleens. The three polysaccharides could increase index of immune organs of normal mice and remarkably increased the indexof immunosuppression mice caused by sccyclophosphamide ; while showed obvious function on thymus index. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that OG1 and OG2 have enhancement immunity for normal and immunosuppression mice, and have better effect for the latter;OG3 has suppression proliferation the spleen cell in vitro, however it has better effect for increase index of immune organs in vivo.

The improvement effects of edible bird's nest on proliferation and activation of B lymphocyte and its antagonistic effects on immunosuppression induced by cyclophosphamide.

Edible bird's nest (EBN) is regarded as an immune-enhancing food in the People's Republic of China. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the efficiency of EBN in improving the immunity of mouse both in vivo and in vitro. We observed the effects of EBN on spleen lymphocytes proliferation and activation, as well as immunoglobulin isotypes as indicators. In addition, we evaluated the content of total sIgA in the intestinal juice to assess mucosal immunity. The results showed that EBN could promote the proliferation and activation of B-cells and increase IgE, IgA, IgM, and IgG3 levels. We also found that EBN extract can promote the secretion of sIgA in the small intestine. Using cyclophosphamide (CY), we established an immunosuppressed mouse model in which we identified a reversal influence on the ratio of CD3(+)/CD19(+) cells, which indicates that EBN also protects B-cells from the damage induced by CY. We also applied polymyxin B to exclude the interference of lipopolysaccharide throughout the experiment. In conclusion, we found that EBN can reduce the intestinal immune injury induced by CY by accelerating the proliferation and activation of B-cells and enhancing antibody secretion of B-cells.

The effect of perioperative analgesic drugs omnopon and dexketoprofen on the functional activity of immune cells in murine model of tumor surgery.

We aimed to investigate the effect of perioperative analgesia with nonselective cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor dexketoprofen and opioid drug omnopon on the functional activity of immune cells in tumor excision murine model. Lewis lung carcinoma cells were transplanted into hind paw of C57/black mice. On the 23th day tumor was removed. Analgesic drugs were injected 30 min before and once a day for 3 days after the surgery. Biological material was obtained a day before, 1 day and 3 days after the tumor removal. IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-ß mRNA levels in splenic cells were assessed by quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Cytotoxic activity of splenocytes was estimated by flow cytometry. We found that in splenocytes of mice received opioid analgesia IL-10 mRNA level was increased 2.3 times on day one after the surgery compared to preoperative level (P < 0.05), while in dexketoprofen group this parameter did not change. IFN-γ gene expression level on day 3 after tumor removal was 40% higher in splenocytes of dexketoprofen treated mice as compared with omnopon treated animals (P < 0.05). Cytotoxic activity of splenocytes on day 3 postsurgery was (62.2 ± 2.4)% in dexketoprofen against (50.2 ± 3.3)% in omnopon group. In conclusion, perioperative analgesia with cyclooxygenase inhibitor dexketoprofen in contrast to opioid analgesia with omnopon preserves higher functional activity of murine immune cells in the experimental model of tumor surgery.

[The effects of zhubi capsule on adjuvant arthritis in rats].

OBJECTIVE: To explore the therapeutic effects and mechanisms of Zhubi capsule on adjuvant arthritis (AA) in rats. METHOD: The model of rat was induced by intradermal injection of CFA. The perimeter of ankle joint was measured at different time points. Con A-induced splencyte proliferation was examined by MIT assay and the expression of IL-1, IL-6 in synovium was determined by immunohistochemical method. RESULT: After the preventive administration of Zhubi capsule (5.2, 2.6, 1.3 g x kg x d(-1), x 25 d), it was found that Zhubi capsule significantly inhibited the primary and secondary ankle joint swelling. The increased Con A-induced splencyte proliferation reaction and the activated IL1, IL-6 expression of AA rat were suppressed by the treatment with Zhubi capsule. CONCLUSION: Zhubi capsule has a therapeutic effect on AA rats, and its mechanism is related to the immunoregulative function.

Transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells obtained by a combined dye method fractionation of murine bone marrow.

Hematopoietic stem cells were purified from murine bone marrow cells (BMC). Their characteristic density, size, internal complexity, Hoechst 33342 dye uptake, and wheat germ agglutinin (WGA) affinity were used to distinguish them from other cells in the bone marrow. BMC suspensions were centrifuged over Ficoll Lymphocyte Separation Media (Organon Teknika, Durham, NC; density 1.077 to 1.08). The lower-density cells were drawn off, stained with Hoechst and labeled with biotinylated WGA bound to streptavidin conjugated to phycoerythrin (WGA-B*A-PE) or with WGA conjugated to Texas Red. These cells were then analyzed and sorted by an Ortho Cytofluorograph 50-H cell sorter. The cells exhibiting medium to high forward light scatter, low to medium right angle light scatter, low Hoechst intensity, and high WGA affinity were selected. Sorted BMC (SBMC) were stained with Romanowsky-type stains for morphologic assay, and were assayed in lethally irradiated (LI) mice for their ability to produce colony-forming units in the spleen (CFU-S) and for their ability to produce survival. The spleen seeding factor for day 8 CFU-S upon retransplantation of the isolated cells was 0.1. The isolated cells were found to have consistent morphology, were enriched up to 135-fold as indicated by day 8 CFU-S assay, 195-fold as indicated by day 14 CFU-S assay, and 150 sorter-selected BMC were able to produce long-term survival in LI mice with retention of donor karyotype. When recipients of this first transplantation were themselves used as BMC donors, their number of day 8 and day 12 CFU-S were found to be reduced. However, 3 X 10(5) of their BMC provided 100% survival among secondary recipients. When the previously SBMC were competed after one transplantation against fresh nonsorted BMC in a mixed donor transplant, they showed the decline in hematopoietic potency normally seen in previously transplanted BMC. We conclude that the use of combinations of vital dyes for fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) selection of survival-promoting murine hematopoietic stem cells provides results comparable with those produced by antibody-selected FACS and has the advantage of a method directly transferable to human BMC.