Immunomodulatory activity of Dioscorea membranacea Pierre rhizomes and of its main active constituent Dioscorealide B

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Arunporn Itharat³  Busarawan Sriwanthana⁴  Pakakrong Thongdeeying²  Srisopa Ruangnoo¹  Sumalee Panthong² 

[1] Department of Applied Thai Traditional Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand;Student of Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Medicine, Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand;Center of Excellence in Applied Thai Traditional Medicine Research (CEATMR), Thammasat University, Pathumthani 12120, Thailand;Department of Medical Sciences, National Institute of Health, Ministry of Public Health, Nonthaburi 11000, Thailand

关键词: Dioscorealide B;    Immunomodulatory activity;    Dioscorea membranacea Pierre;    Hua-Khao-Yen;   

Others  :  1085956
DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-14-403

 received in 2014-03-08, accepted in 2014-10-09,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

The rhizomes of Dioscorea membranacea Pierre, also called Hua-Khao-Yen by Thai name, are used as ingredients in many Thai traditional medicines for the alternative or complementary treatment of cancer and AIDs. Preliminary in vitro studies have indicated that D. membranacea extracts exhibited high cytotoxic activity with several cancer cell lines, but the underlining mechanisms are far from clear. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of ethanolic and aqueous crude extracts from D. membranacea Pierre, and pure compound from D. membranacea Pierre, Dioscorealide B, on natural killer cells activity and on lymphocyte proliferation.

Methods

Immunomodulatory activity was investigated using PBMCs from healthy donors. NK cells activity was performed by the chromium release assay using PBMCs as effector cells, and K562 cells line labelled with chromium as target cells. Lymphocyte proliferation was determined by ³H-thymidine uptake. The degree of activation was expressed as the stimulation index.

Results

The crude ethanolic extracts of D. membranacea Pierre significantly stimulated NK cells activity against K562 cells line at lower concentrations of 10 and 100 ng/ml, but not at higher concentrations. The ethanolic extracts showed no observable effect on lymphocyte proliferation. The crude water extracts significantly increased NK cell activity at concentrations of 10 ng/ml, 100 ng/ml, 1 μg/ml, 10 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml, and also activated lymphocyte proliferation at concentration of 1 ng/ml, 10 ng/ml, 100 ng/ml, 1 μg/ml, 5 μg/ml, 10 μg/ml and 100 μg/ml. However, Dioscorealide B had no significant effect at lower concentrations (0–1 μg/ml and 0–0.1 μg/ml, respectively) on NK cell activity and lymphocyte proliferation. In fact higher concentrations (>10 μg/ml and >0.5 μg/ml) of Dioscorealide B cause a significant decrease in NK cell activity and lymphocyte proliferation.

Conclusions

D. membranacea Pierre stimulated NK cells activity and lymphocyte proliferation, but Dioscorealide B either had no effect, and at higher concentrations decreased NK cell activity and lymphocyte proliferation. Our results suggest that both extracts of D. membranacea Pierre significantly increases immune function, but the underlining mechanism is not clearly understood.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Panthong et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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