Srikumar Ramasundaram, Jeya Parthasarathy Narayanaperumal, Sheela Devi Rathinasamy
Department of Medical Physiology, Immunology Laboratory, Dr. A.L. Mudaliar Post-Graduate Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, University of Madras, Taramani Campus, Chennai-600 113, India.
Biol Pharm Bull. 2005 Aug;28(8):1398-403. doi: 10.1248/bpb.28.1398.
Immune activation is an effective as well as protective approach against emerging infectious diseases. The immunomodulatory activities of Triphala (Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis) were assessed by testing the various neutrophil functions like adherence, phagocytosis (phagocytic index (P.I) and avidity index (A.I)) and nitro blue tetrazolium (NBT) reduction in albino rats. In recent years much attention is being focused on the immunological changes occur during stress. Noise (100 dB) stress for 4 h/d for 15 d, was employed to alter the neutrophil functions. The neutrophil function tests and corticosterone levels were carried out in eight different groups of animals, namely control, Triphala, noise-stress, Triphala noise-stress, and corresponding immunized groups were used. Sheep red blood cells (SRBC 5 x 10(9) cells per ml) were used for immunizing the animals that belongs to immunized groups. In Triphala administration (1 g/kg/d for 48 d), A.I was found to be significantly enhanced in the Triphala group, while the remaining neutrophil functions and steroid levels were not altered significantly. However the neutrophil functions were significantly enhanced in the Triphala immunized group with a significant decrease in corticosterone level was observed. Upon exposure to the noise-stress, the neutrophil functions were significantly suppressed and followed by a significant increase in the corticosterone levels were observed in both the noise-stress and the noise-stress immunized groups. These noise-stress-induced changes were significantly prevented by Triphala administration in both the Triphala noise-stress and the Triphala noise-stress immunized groups. Hence our study has divulged that oral administration of Triphala appears to stimulate the neutrophil functions in the immunized rats and stress induced suppression in the neutrophil functions were significantly prevented by Triphala.
免疫激活是对抗新出现的传染病的一种有效且具有保护作用的方法。通过检测白化大鼠的各种中性粒细胞功能，如黏附、吞噬作用（吞噬指数（P.I）和亲和力指数（A.I））以及硝基蓝四氮唑（NBT）还原，评估了三果（诃子、毛诃子和余甘子）的免疫调节活性。近年来，人们十分关注应激期间发生的免疫变化。采用每天4小时、持续15天的100分贝噪声应激来改变中性粒细胞功能。在八组不同的动物中进行了中性粒细胞功能测试和皮质酮水平检测，即对照组、三果组、噪声应激组、三果噪声应激组，并使用了相应的免疫组。用绵羊红细胞（每毫升5×10⁹个细胞）对属于免疫组的动物进行免疫。在给予三果（每天1克/千克，持续48天）时，发现三果组的A.I显著增强，而其余中性粒细胞功能和类固醇水平未发生显著改变。然而，三果免疫组的中性粒细胞功能显著增强，同时观察到皮质酮水平显著降低。暴露于噪声应激后，噪声应激组和噪声应激免疫组的中性粒细胞功能均受到显著抑制，随后皮质酮水平显著升高。在三果噪声应激组和三果噪声应激免疫组中，三果给药均显著预防了这些由噪声应激引起的变化。因此，我们的研究表明，口服三果似乎能刺激免疫大鼠的中性粒细胞功能，并且三果能显著预防应激诱导的中性粒细胞功能抑制。
