concanavalin-a and alpinetin

Abstract Alpinetin, a flavonoid compound extracted from the seeds of Alpinia katsumadai Hayata, has been known to possess antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and other important therapeutic activities. In the current study, we investigated alpinetin for its immunosuppressive effect on activation and cytokines secretion of murine T lymphocytes. The data showed that alpinetin markedly suppressed ConA-induced murine splenocyte proliferation, Th1/Th2 cytokines production, CD4(+) T-cell populations and ratio of CD4(+)/CD8(+). This inspired us to further study the effects of alpinetin in vivo. The results showed that administration of alpinetin suppressed T-cell-mediated delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction in mice. In addition, we studied signal transduction pathways about T-cell activation on puried murine T lymphocytes by Western-blot assay. The data revealed that alpinetin could shock the activation of NF-κB, NFAT2 signal transduction pathways. These observations indicated that alpinetin have potential effects in downregulating the immune system and might be developed as a useful immunosuppressive agent in treating undesired immune responses.

Topics: Animals; Cell Proliferation; Cell Survival; Cells, Cultured; Concanavalin A; Cytokines; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Flavanones; Hypersensitivity, Delayed; Immunosuppressive Agents; Lymphocyte Activation; Male; Mice, Inbred BALB C; NF-kappa B; NFATC Transcription Factors; Signal Transduction; Spleen; T-Lymphocytes; Th1 Cells; Th2 Cells