Immunomodulatory effect of Thai herbal recipes in male retired breeder mice

Abstract

An increase in the elderly population is associated with an increased incidence of various diseases among the elderly, one of which is Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Several previous studies have shown that aging and diabetes are leading causes of the gradual deterioration of the immune system. Recently, two Thai herbal recipes have been formulated, of which recipe 1 composes of Momordica cochinchinensis, Clitoria ternatea, and Gymnema inodorum (1:1:1), whereas, recipe 2 consists of M. cochinchinensis, C. ternatea, and Cinnamomum zeylanicum (1:1:1). Objectives of the present study were to investigate the immunomodulatory effect of these two herbal recipes in both non-diabetic and diabetic models of male retired breeder mice. The mice were orally gavaged once daily with both herbal recipes at doses of 250, 500, and 1,000 mg/kg for 28 days, and immunological parameters were assessed. In addition, an antidiabetic effect was assessed in the diabetic model. The results indicated that non-diabetic mice treated with both herbal recipes had decreased relative thymus weights and peripheral blood lymphocyte count, and also showed a reduction in nitric oxide production by LPS-activated macrophages. On the other hand, both herbal recipe treatments increased the percentage of CD3+CD4+ T cells in spleens of non-diabetic mice, meanwhile, treatment with herbal recipe 2 at a 1,000 mg/kg dose tended to increase relative spleen weights and tumor necrosis factor-α production in LPS-induced splenocytes. Furthermore, this study found that when compared with non-diabetic aging mice, the diabetic aging mice had lower body weights, relative thymus and spleen weights, and the percentage of CD3+CD8+ T cells in the spleen but had a higher percentage of CD19+CD3- B cells. Diabetic mice treated with a 250 mg/kg dose of herbal recipe 1 and a 1,000 mg/kg dose of herbal recipe 2 had increased relative thymus and spleen weights, whereas treatment with both herbal recipes at a 1,000 mg/kg dose in diabetic mice seemed to increase tumor necrosis factor-α and nitric oxide productions in LPS-stimulated splenocytes and macrophages, respectively. In addition, diabetic mice treated with a 1000 mg/kg dose of herbal recipe 1 had significantly increased total white blood cells, lymphocytes, and basophils counts in peripheral blood, while treatment with all three doses of herbal recipe 1 tended to increase the percentage of CD19+CD3- B cells in spleens of diabetic mice. However, both herbal recipe treatments had no effect on the different mitogen-induced proliferation of splenocytes derived from both non-diabetic and diabetic mice. The present study also demonstrated that the two herbal recipe treatments could reduce blood sugar levels in diabetic rats after 240 minutes of a single-dose administration and 7 days after a repeated dose administration. Overall, the results from this study showed that two Thai herbal recipe treatments for 28 days in male retired breeder mice could not improve age-related deterioration in the functions of the immune system.