Bin-Hafeez B, Ahmad I, Haque R, Raisuddin S
Department of Medical Elementology & Toxicology, Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University), New Delhi, 110 062, India.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2001 Apr;75(1):13-8. doi: 10.1016/s0378-8741(00)00382-2.
Cassia occidentalis L. (Kasaundi) is a widely used medicinal plant. Earlier, we have shown that it possesses antimutagenic activity against benzo[a]pyrene (BaP) and cyclophosphamide (CP)-induced mutagenicity in mice. In this study, we investigated if this plant could also provide protection against CP-induced immunosuppression in animal models. Swiss albino male mice were treated per os with the aqueous extract of C. occidentalis (100 mg/kg, body weight (b.w.)) for 14 days. Cyclophosphamide was given intraperitoneally in a single dose of 50 mg/kg b.w. Body weight, relative organ weight, lymphoid organ cellularity, hemagglutination titre (HT), plaque forming cell (PFC) assay and quantitative hemolysis of SRBC (QHS) were studied in these animals. CP, as expected, showed suppressive effects on lymphoid organ weight and cellularity and other parameters of humoral immunity. Plant extract treatment itself produced no toxicity. The administration of plant extract to CP-exposed animals resulted in improved humoral responses. C. occidentalis treatment significantly (P<0.01) enhanced PFC response in CP-treated animals. In QHS assay, also C. occidentalis showed protection in CP-treated animals. Bone marrow cell counts, which were reduced in CP-treated animals, were reversed significantly (p<0.01) to normal levels in CP+ plant extract group animals. In our earlier study, we found that C. occidentalis modulated hepatic drug metabolizing enzymes. It is suggested that by a similar mechanism, it may be influencing the hematotoxic and immunotoxic responses of cyclophosphamide.
西番莲（决明子）是一种广泛使用的药用植物。此前，我们已经表明它对苯并[a]芘（BaP）和环磷酰胺（CP）诱导的小鼠致突变性具有抗诱变活性。在本研究中，我们调查了这种植物是否也能在动物模型中提供针对CP诱导的免疫抑制的保护作用。将瑞士白化雄性小鼠经口给予西番莲的水提取物（100mg/kg体重（b.w.）），持续14天。环磷酰胺以50mg/kg b.w.的单剂量腹腔注射。在这些动物中研究了体重、相对器官重量、淋巴器官细胞数量、血凝滴度（HT）、空斑形成细胞（PFC）测定和SRBC的定量溶血（QHS）。正如预期的那样，CP对淋巴器官重量和细胞数量以及体液免疫的其他参数显示出抑制作用。植物提取物处理本身没有产生毒性。给暴露于CP的动物施用植物提取物导致体液反应得到改善。西番莲处理显著（P<0.01）增强了CP处理动物的PFC反应。在QHS测定中，西番莲在CP处理的动物中也显示出保护作用。在CP处理的动物中减少的骨髓细胞计数在CP+植物提取物组动物中显著（p<0.01）恢复到正常水平。在我们早期的研究中，我们发现西番莲调节肝脏药物代谢酶。有人认为，通过类似的机制，它可能正在影响环磷酰胺的血液毒性和免疫毒性反应。
