황기 부탄을 분획물이 생위의 세포성 면역기능에 미치는 영향

Effects of the Butanol Fraction of Astragali Radix on the Cellular Immune Function in Mice

Effects of the butanol fraction of Astragali Radix (BFAR) on the cellular and nonspecific immune responses were investigated in ICR mice. Mice were divided into 4 groups and BFAR at doses of 5,25 and 125 mg/kg were administered orally to mice daily for 3 weeks, and the normal animals were given vehicle. The results of this study are summarized as follows; the relative weight of thymus was greatly increased by BFAR treatment, compared with that in normal mice. However, the body weight gain was not affected. Delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) reaction to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) for cellular immunity was significantly enhanced by BfAR treatment, compared with those in normal mice. In these mice, BFAR also dose-dependently increased activities of phagocyte and natural killer (NK) cells as well as the number of leukocyte resulted from nonspecific immunity, Thus, these results demonstrate that BFAR treatment results in a significant increase in both cellular and nonspecific immune responses to antigen in concentrations that enhance humoral immune function.