Abstract:

Objective To investigate the immunomodulatory effects of Mountain Cultivated Ginseng Health Wine on cellular immunity，humoral immunity，monocyte macrophage function，and natural killer cell（NK） activity in mice. Methods Totally 200 SPF female Kunming mice were randomly divided into 4 major groups，and each major group was further divided into 5 subgroups，corresponding to 500，333，250，167 and 0 mg/（kg·bw·d） of crude drug dosage，10 animals in each subgroup. The mice were administered orally Mountain Cultivated Ginseng Health Wine with different concentrations for 37 days，the gavage volume was 0.2 mL/（10 g·bw·d）. The alcohol-based control group was given the same amount of the wine base. Following the final administration of the test substances，cellular immunity was measured by mouse splenic lymphocyte transformation test and delayed type hypersensitivity assay（DTH），humoral immunity was measured by plaque forming cell assay（PFC） and half hemolysis value（HC₅₀），the function of mononuclear macrophages was determined by carbon particle clearance test in mice and the phagocytosis assay of chicken red blood cells by macrophages，and NK cell activity was measured using lactate dehydrogenase assay（LDH）. Results After oral administration of different doses of Mountain Cultivated Ginseng Health Wine for 37 days，the growth and activity of animals in each group were good，and no influence was exerted on the organ coefficients of immune organs. In the 500 and 333 mg/（kg·bw·d） groups，the plantar metatarsal thickness difference before and after sheep red blood cell（SRBC） attack in mice was 1.14 and 1.00 mm，respectively，both greater than that in the alcohol-based control group（0.80 mm）（t=0.000，0.047，bothP<0.05）. In the 500 and 333 mg/（kg·bw·d） groups，the HC₅₀ value was 150.9 and 145.0，respectively，both higher than that in the alcohol-based control group（121.3）（t=0.007，0.039，bothP<0.05）. The NK cell activity in 500 mg/（kg·bw·d） group was 37.1%，higher than that in the alcohol-based control group（20.7%）（t=0.004，P<0.05）. No evidence of immunosuppression was observed in the other experiments. Conclusion Mountain Cultivated Ginseng Health Wine can enhance cellular immunity，humoral immunity，and NK cell activity in mice，suggesting that it has the effect of improving immune function in mice.

Key words: Mountain Cultivated Ginseng, Immune function, Mice, Humoral immunity, Cellular immunity, NK cell