Abstract
A dried decoction of a kampo (Japanese herbal) medicine, Juzen-Taiho-To (TJ-48), has
been fractionated into five fractions and tested for their effects on antibody response
of mice. An intraperitoneal injection (300 mg/kg) of TJ-48 stimulated anti-sheep red
blood cell (SRBC) antibody response of normal Balb/c mice, but only the polysaccharide
fraction (F-5, 300 mg/kg) enhanced the antibody response among the fractions from
TJ-48.
When F-5 (0.5 or 1.0 g/kg/day) was orally administered to normal Balb/c mice (7-weeks-old)
from 7 days before to 4 days after immunization with SRBC, the number of anti-SRBC-IgM-PFC
in spleen and the titer of anti-SRBC-IgM in plasma were increased significantly. However,
a lower dose (0.1 g/kg/day) of F-5 did not show a significant stimulative activity
on the anti-SRBC-response. Although aged Balb/c mice (6-months-old) produced a lower
level of anti-SRBC-IgG in comparison with young Balb/c mice (8-weeks-old), the anti-SRBC-IgG
response of the aged mice was stimulated significantly when F-5 (0.13 g/kg/day) or
TJ-48 (l.0 g/kg/day) was orally administered to the aged mice from 6 days before immunization.
Intraperitoneal injections of i -carrageenan (2.5 mg/kg/day) at 3 and 1 days before the immunization with SRBC increased
the level of anti-SRBC antibody response compared with normal mice. Oral administrations
of TJ-48 (1.0 g/kg/day) or F-5 (0.5 g/kg/day) to the i -carageenan-treated mice reduced the level of the anti-SRBC-antibody response near
to that of normal mice.
When cis -diaminedichloroplatinum (CDDP, 5 mg/kg/day) was injected to Balb/c mice 5 times from
3 days before to 1 day after the immunization, the production of anti-SRBC-IgM in
the CDDP-treated mice was decreased in comparison with that of normal mice. However,
when F-5 was orally administered to the CDDP-treated mice from 4 days before the first
injection of CDDP, the anti-SRBC-IgM response was increased to the level of normal
mice. The anti-SRBC-response was also stimulated by oral administrations of the other
fractions [MeOH-soluble fraction (F-1, 0.6 g/kg/day) and mixture of water-soluble-dialyzable
(F-3) and EtOH-soluble-non-dialyzable (F-4) fractions (0.13 g/kg/day)] from TJ-48.
Key words
Kampo medicine - pectic polysaccharide - antibody response - stimulative effect -
oral administration