Immunomodulating Activity of Salicornia herbacea Extract

Immunomodulating effect of Salicornia herbacea extract on the mouse splenocytes was investigated. Crude S. herbacea polysaccharide extract (CSP) and other kinds of fine S. herbacea polysaccharides (SPI and SPII) were prepared from S. herbacea by hot water extraction and further ultrafiltration and gel filtration chromatography. In vitro experiment, the mouse splenocytes and separated T cells were treated with CSP, SPI or SPII (0.5, 1, 2, 4 mg/ml). In vivo experiment, three different S. herbacea extracts were orally administrated everyday for one week. For the basic data, body weight and physiological parameters such as organ weight and spleen index were observed. The proliferation of the cells was used as an index for immunemodulating activity and the effect of proliferation was evaluated using MTS assay. The CSP, SPI and SPII directly induced the proliferation of splenocytes and separated T cells in a dose-dependent manner. In results, the proliferation was more increased in the SPI and SPII treated cells than in the CSP treated cells. The best proliferation was shown in the splenocytes cultured with SPI at the concentration of 4 mg/ml for 24 hr. The proliferation of splenocytes and separated T-cells was higher (3.2 and 3.5 times, respectively) than the control. Moreover, when the mouse splenocytes were treated with mitogen, the efficient proliferation was shown in the splenocytes cultured with SPI. In conclusion, polysaccharides from S. herbacea showed a substantial immunomodulating activity in the mouse immune cells.