Orally administered Dendrobium officinale and its polysaccharides enhance immune functions in BALB/c mice.

The immunoactivity was evaluated of Dendrobium officinale Kimura & Migo, a Chinese herbal plant, and its crude polysaccharides. Different dosages of D. officinale and its polysaccharides were orally administered to healthy BALB/c mice. The control group was given distilled water. After 4 weeks, immune parameters, including cellular immunity (delayed-type hypersensitivity and natural killer cell activity), humoral immunity (serum hemolytic complement activity), nonspecific immunity (peritoneal macrophage phagocytosis) and interferon-gamma production by splenocytes were measured. The results showed that D. officinale and its polysaccharides can significantly enhance cellular immunity and nonspecific immunity in mice. Humoral immunity was also enhanced after oral administration of D. officinale, but the polysaccharides had no influence. Both D. officinale and its polysaccharides markedly increased IFN-gamma production by murine splenocytes. Six fractions were isolated from the polysaccharides; the molecular weight of the major fraction was 533,700 Da, and composed of mannose, glucose and rhamnose in a molar ratio of 7.3:1.3:1.0.