Inhibition of chemiluminescence and chemotactic activity of phagocytes in vitro by the extracts of selected medicinal plants

• Main Author: Nurul Hikmah, Harun
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: R Medicine (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/2050/1/FH02-FSK-20-40903.pdf; http://eprints.unisza.edu.my/2050/
• Institution: Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin

The methanol extracts of 20 selected medicinalplants were investigated for their effects on the respiratoryburst of human whole blood, isolated human polymorpho-nuclear leukocytes (PMNs) and isolated mice macrophagesusing a luminol/lucigenin-based chemiluminescence assay.We also tested the effect of the extracts on chemotacticmigration of PMNs using the Boyden chamber technique.The extracts ofCurcuma domesticaL.,Phyllanthus amarusSchum & Thonn andC. xanthorrhizaRoxb. were thesamples producing the strongest oxidative burst of PMNswith luminol-based chemiluminescence, with IC50valuesranging from 0.5 to 0.7lg/ml. For macrophage cells, theextracts which showed strong suppressive activity forluminol-based chemiluminescence wereC. xanthorrhizaandGarcinia mangostanaL.Among the extracts studied,C. manggaValton & Vazsjip, Piper nigrumL. andLabisiapumilavar.alatashowed strong inhibitory activity onlucigenin-amplified oxidative burst of PMNs, with IC50values ranging from 0.9 to 1.5lg/ml. The extracts ofZingiber officinaleRosc.,Alpinia galangal(L.) Willd andAverrhoa bilimbiLinn showed strong inhibition on thechemotaxic migration of cells, with IC50values compara-ble to that of ibuprofen (1.5lg/ml). The results suggestthat some of these plants were able to modulate the innateimmune response of phagocytes at different steps,emphasizing their potential as a source of new immuno-modulatory agents