Yung Hyun Choi, Doctor: No relevant financial relationship(s) with ineligible companies to disclose.
Objectives: Because the immune system plays a role in protecting the body from harmful substances and invasions, immune function is important for maintaining a healthy physiological state. Therefore, natural compounds that modify immune responses have attracted great interest for many years. This study was conducted to investigate improved activity of immunity and hematopoetic function of Litsea japonica fruit extract (LJFT) as a potential functional food.
Methods: The immunity-stimulating activity was observed in BALB/c mice supplemented with LJFT at low, medium, and high dosage for 7 days after administration of cyclophosphamide.
Results: Our results showed that LJFT treatment significantly improved the spleen injury score and body weight change in cyclophosphamide-stimulated mice. The spleen-derived lymphocytes analysis demonstrated that numbers of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells were notably enhanced by approximately 2-fold in the spleen of mice treated with high dosage of LJFT. In mice splenocytes differentiated into T and B lymphocytes, LJFT significantly induced proliferations. Furthermore, in hematopoietic analysis, LJFT significantly recovered numbers of white blood cells, red blood cells, and platelets. By an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay analysis, serum levels of immune-related cytokines of tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-2, and IFN-γ were notably recovered. In addition, serum levels of immunoglobulin (Ig) A, IgM, and IgG were restored by LJFT treatment.
Conclusions: Although further investigation is needed on the underlying mechanism of LJFT that stimulates immune function, this study has provided a reference for the development of L. japonica as a source material applied in functional foods to improve human immunity and hematological function.
Funding Sources: This research was funded by the Kwangdong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd (funding number: 202203390001).
