Shadma Wahab, Arshad Hussain, Alaul Hasan Abad Farooqui, Md. Parwez Ahmad, Md. Sarfaraj Hussain, Aliza Rizvi, Md. Faruque Ahmad, and Nizamul Haque Ansari
Objective: The present study evaluated the antioxidant and immunomodulatory activity of methanol extract of the bark of Bombax ceiba in normal and immunosuppressed mice models.
Materials and Methods: In vivo immunomodulatory and antioxidant activity of Bombax ceiba methanol extract was evaluated by assessing its effect on Hemagglutinating antibody (HA) titer, delayed type of hypersensitivity (DTH) response, hematological profile (Hb, WBC, RBC), lipid per oxidation (LPO), reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and cytokine release.
Results: The animals treated with Bombax ceiba methanol extract showed increase in antibody titer values 11.2 ± 0.30 and 13.1 ± 0.27 at 150 and 300 mg/kg (p.o.) dose and DTH reaction induced by SRBC was also found significant (P < 0.001). Also it caused increase in hematological profile, GSH, SOD, CAT activity and significantly decreased LPO levels in cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppressed mice. The extract treated animals showed a significant up regulation of (IL-6 and TNF-α) cytokines in comparison to control group animals.
Conclusion: These findings suggested that the methanol extract of Bombax ceiba possessed promising immunostimulant properties which could be ascribed, in part, to its anti-oxidant capacity.
