ovalbumin and thiazolyl-blue

Physalis angulata is an annual herb widely used in folk medicine. It is mainly used for treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Following bioactivity-guided isolation, a representative immunosuppressive compound, Physalin H was been identified from this herb medicine. The purpose of this work was to assess the immunosuppressive activity of Physalin H on T cells and to explore its potential mode of action. The results showed that Physalin H in a dose-dependent manner significantly inhibited the proliferation of T cells induced by concanavalin A (ConA) and by the mixed lymphocyte culture reaction (MLR). This inhibitive activity was mainly due to interfering DNA replication in G1 stages. In vivo experiments showed that, administration of Physalin H dose-dependently suppressed CD4(+) T cell mediated delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reactions, and suppressed antigen-specific T-cell response in ovalbumin (OVA) immunized mice. Further study indicated that Physalin H could modulate Th1/Th2 cytokine balance and induce the production of immune regulation target Heme oxygenase (HO)-1 in T-cells in vitro. In this study, we demonstrated the immunosuppressive effect of Physalin H on T cells both in vitro and in vivo, and the immunosuppressive activity might be attributed to the suppression of T cell activation and proliferation, the modulation of Th1/Th2 cytokine balance and the induction of HO-1 in T cells.

Topics: Animals; Blotting, Western; Cell Proliferation; Coloring Agents; Concanavalin A; Dinitrofluorobenzene; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Flow Cytometry; Heme Oxygenase-1; Hypersensitivity, Delayed; Immunity, Cellular; Immunosuppressive Agents; Indicators and Reagents; Lymphocyte Culture Test, Mixed; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Ovalbumin; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; Secosteroids; Spleen; T-Lymphocytes; Tetrazolium Salts; Thiazoles