Enhancing Th1 Cell Activities in Mice by Short-term Oral Administration of Gynostemma Pentaphyllum Extracts

Abstract

絞股藍 (Gynostemma pentaphyllum) 廣泛的分佈在中國南部、南韓與日本，在中國與有些亞洲國家，絞股藍被拿來當作保健茶飲用。我們曾嘗試將絞股藍的萃取液，連續五天腹腔注射到小鼠的腹腔，發現可以提升血液IgG2a的增加，脾臟細胞用Con A刺激後培養兩天，也可以發現Th1及Th2細胞相關的細胞激素會有上昇的現象。本實驗我們使用正常給藥的口服方式，觀察免疫反應表現是否與腹腔注射給藥一樣。實驗結果證明，短期口服絞股藍不僅可以增進血液IgG2a的量，也會促進脾臟細胞培養後Th1細胞相關的細胞激素增加，並且抑制Th2細胞相關的細胞激素IL-4的分泌量。

Gynostemma pentaphyllum is a plant widely distributed in South-China, Korea, and Japan. It is taken as an herbal tea in China and some Asian countries. We had tried to use the extract of herb to intraperitoneally inject into mice for 5 consecutive days and found that it could enhance levels of IgG2a in serum and Th1 and Th2-associated cytokines in spleen cells cultured with Con A. We also asked the question of whether an oral administration of G. pentaphyllum could promote the production of serum IgG2a and Th cell-associate cytokines the same as intraperitoneal injection did. Our result showed that short-term oral administration of G. pentaphyllum could suppress the level of serum IgG1, and enhanced amounts of serum IgG2a and Th1-associated cytokines secretion from spleen cells cultures.