Ragini Sahai

Immunostimulant activity of dry fruits and plant materials used in Indian traditional medical system for mothers after child birth and invalids.

Products of certain plants given to mothers after child birth or to invalids were studied for immunostimulant activity using the macrophage migration index (MMI) as a parameter of macrophage activation and cell-mediated immunity and haemagglutinating antibody (HA) titres and plaque-forming cell (PFC) counts as parameters of humoral immunity. Feeding of Prunus amygdalus (Almond(1)) and Buchanania lanzan (Chirronji(1)) significantly stimulated both CMI and humoral immunity in BALB/c mice as evidenced by the enhancement of MMI, HA titres, and PFC counts. Euryale ferox (Tel makhana(1)), Phoenix dactylifera (Chhohara(1)) and Zingiber officinale (Sonth(1)), however, stimulated humoral immunity to a greater extent than CMI. The observation provides scientific basis for feeding the products of above plants to mothers after child birth and to invalids with a relatively poor immune status.

A novel pentasaccharide from immunostimulant oligosaccharide fraction of buffalo milk.

A processed oligosaccharide mixture of buffalo milk induced significant stimulation of antibody, delayed-type hypersensitivity response to sheep red blood cells in BALB/c mice. This also stimulated non-specific immune response of the animals measured in terms of macrophage migration index. A novel pentasaccharide has been isolated from the oligosaccharide containing fraction having immunostimulant activity of buffalo milk. This compound was isolated by a combination of gel filtration chromatography, silica gel column chromatography of derivatised oligosaccharides while the homogeneity was confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography. The results of structural analyses, i.e. proton nuclear magnetic resonance, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, chemical transformations and degradations are consistent with the following structure: GlcNAcbeta(1-->3)Galbeta(1-->4)GlcNAcbeta(1-->3)Gal beta(1-->4)Glc

STUDIES ON THE PROFILE OF IMMUNOSTIMULANT ACTIVITIES OF MODIFIED IRIDOID GLYCOSIDES

Immunostimulant activity profile of modified iridoid glycosides prepared from loganin (1), ketologanin (2) and arbortristoside A (3) have been studied and some structure–activity relationships have been obtained.

Synthesis and Immunostimulant Activity of Novel Analogs of Human Casein Fragment (54–59)

Structural analogs of the hexapeptide sequence 54-59 (A) human casein, reported to stimulate immune response, were synthesized and evaluated for immunostimulant activity. Hexapeptide 91/409 (C), 90/649 (D) and 91/361 (E) stimulated higher antibody titre and delayed type of hyper-sensitivity (DTH) response than the natural casein hexapeptide in BALB/c mice-sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and guinea pig-ovalbumin models. These peptides also induced higher stimulation of non-specific immune response as evidenced by increase in macrophage migration index (MMI), phagocytosis of (14C) lecuine labelled Escherchia coli, incorporation of (14C)-glucosamine in peritoneal macrophages and proliferative response of mouse thymocytes. Significant suppression on the course of Plasmodium berghei infection was also observed on day 4, in the animals treated with hexapeptidse C and D.

Immunomodulatory activity of hexapeptides related to proline rich peptide from colostrum.

Twelve analogues of an immunomodulatory hexapeptide YVPGFP (I) derived from Proline rich peptide (from colostrum) have been synthesized with modifications at positions 2, 4 and 6. In MLR assay one of the analogues exhibited approx 50% inhibition at 0.1 microg/mL concentration in contrast to prednisolone and I which caused around 70 and 20% suppression respectively, at the same concentration.

Immunosuppressant activity in human β-casein fragment analogs☆

Abstract Human β-casein fragment (54–59) having the amino acid sequence Val-Glu-Pro-lle-Pro-Tyr, has been shown potent immunostimulant activity. Several analogs of this hexapeptide have been synthesized with modification in the N-terminal region and tested for their immunomodulatory activity. Intrestingly, two hexapeptides have shown significant immunosuppressant activity.