Immunomodulatory effects of a new whole ingredients extract from Astragalus: a combined evaluation on chemistry and pharmacology

Chinese Medicine

Zhi Xin Li¹  Qiu Shuo Ma¹  Ke Gang Linghu¹  Wei Xiong¹  Wai San Cheang¹  Guan Ding Zhao¹  Hua Yu²  Yitao Wang³ 

[1] Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, University of Macau, Macao, China;Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, University of Macau, Macao, China;HKBU Shenzhen Research Center, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China;School of Chinese Medicine, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, China;Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Room 8008, Building N22, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao SAR, China;Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, University of Macau, Macao, China;Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Room 1050, Building N22, Avenida da Universidade, Taipa, Macao SAR, China;

关键词: Whole ingredients extract;    Chemical integrity;    Immunomodulation;    Astragali Radix;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s13020-019-0234-0

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundWater extract (WAE) and ultrafine powder (UFP) are two types of commonly used supplements in preparing various pharmaceutical products and functional foods. However, the correlations of the chemical compositions with the traditional functions between WAE and the herb itself, as well as the potential problems of safety for UFP have been more and more concerned by many doctors and customers.MethodsIn this study, a new whole ingredients extract of Astragalus (WIE) was prepared using the gradient solvent extraction method. The chemical compositions of WIE and WAE were comparatively analysed using spectrophotometric and chromatographic approaches. In addition, the in vivo immunomodulatory effect of WIE, WAE and UFP of Astragalus were comprehensively compared in cyclophosphamide (Cy)-induced immunosuppressive mice.ResultsThe compositions and contents of main active ingredients (polysaccharides, saponins and flavonoids) in WIE were determined to be more abundant than those in WAE. In Cy-induced immunosuppressive mice, oral administered with low dosage of WIE (equalled to 1.0 g herb/kg/day) for 18 consecutive days significantly improved the immune-related responses (body weight, number of peripheral white blood cells, thymus and spleen indexes, splenocyte proliferations, natural killer cell activity, splenic lymphocyte subset, and serum levels of immunoglobulins G and M). The potency of three Astragalus preparations on immunomodulation was observed to be WIE ≥ UFP > WAE.ConclusionsWIE maximally retained the chemical integrity of astragalus, and presented better therapeutic effectiveness than UFP and WAE. It can be further developed as new strategy for reasonable use of medicinal/edible herb-derived supplement (extract) for pharmaceutical and healthcare applications.

【 授权许可】

CC BY