Coicis Semen is one of the oriental medicine that has been used for the treatment of the diseases such as pulmonary abscess, periappendicular abscess and wart since ancient times. However, the mechanism of the action of the drug is not
well
studied. This study was done to investigate the effects of Coicis Semen on the host defence mechanism. Effects of Coicis Semen on the imune responses were analyzed by measuring the contact
hypersensitivity, hemagglutinin, hemolysin and rosette formation, cytotoxicity, and reactive oxygen intermidiates production.
As the results, water extract of Coicis Semen administration enhanced the antibodies (hemagglutinin and hemolysin) formation and the appearance of rosette forming cells of the spleen. Also Coicis Semen increased the allogeneic
immune
response in the mouse, showed cytotoxic activity against human leukemia cell line(K562) and decreased the contact hypersensitivity against dinitroflurobenzene.
Also administration of Coicis Semen slightly increased NK cell activity and enhanced the production of such reactive oxygen intermediates as superoxide and hydrogen peroxide from the macrophages in vivo and in vitro.
The above results demonstrate that Coicis Semen has enhancing effects on cellular and humoral immune responses against disease.
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