Immunomodulatory activity of a novel polysaccharide from Lonicera japonica in immunosuppressed mice induced by cyclophosphamide

PLoS One. 2018 Oct 8;13(10):e0204152. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0204152. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Lonicera japonica is a typical Chinese herbal medicine. We previously reported a method to isolate polysaccharides from Lonicera japonica (LJP). In this study, we first performed a qualitative analysis of LJP using the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FT-IR) and explored the monosaccharide composition of LJP using the pre-column derivatization high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. We then investigated the immunomodulatory function of LJP in cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced immunosuppressed mouse models. The results showed that LJP had the characteristic absorption of typical polysaccharides consisting of 6 types of monosaccharides. In addition, LJP can increase significantly the organ index, splenic lymphocyte proliferation, macrophage phagocytosis, and natural killer (NK) cell activity in CTX-treated mice. LJP could also restore the levels of serum cytokines interleukin (IL-2), tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) and Interferon-γ (IFN-γ) in the CTX-treated mice. Finally, the results on measuring the T-lymphocytes subsets of spleen also confirmed LJP-induced immunomodulatory activity in immunosuppressed mice from another perspective. Therefore, LJP could be used as a potential immunomodulatory agent.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid
  • Cyclophosphamide / adverse effects*
  • Cytokines / blood
  • Immunocompromised Host / drug effects*
  • Immunologic Factors / administration & dosage*
  • Immunologic Factors / chemistry
  • Immunologic Factors / pharmacology
  • Lonicera / chemistry*
  • Lymphocytes / cytology
  • Lymphocytes / drug effects
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Plant Extracts / administration & dosage
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology
  • Polysaccharides / administration & dosage*
  • Polysaccharides / chemistry
  • Polysaccharides / pharmacology
  • Qualitative Research
  • Random Allocation
  • Spectroscopy, Fourier Transform Infrared
  • Spleen / drug effects
  • Spleen / immunology*

Substances

  • Cytokines
  • Immunologic Factors
  • Plant Extracts
  • Polysaccharides
  • Cyclophosphamide