Tropical Journal of Pharmaceutical Research

Original Research Article | OPEN ACCESS

Immunomodulatory properties of ethanol extract of Canarium ovatum (Burseraceae) pulp

Daile Meek Salvador-Membreve , Lilibeth A Cajuday, Jocelyn E Serrano, Diomerl Edward B Baldo

Biology Department, College of Science, Bicol University, Rizal Street, Albay, 4500 Philippines;

For correspondence:- Daile Salvador-Membreve Email: dmsmembreve@bicol-u.edu.ph Tel:+63524805942

Accepted: 26 July 2018 Published: 31 August 2018

Citation: Salvador-Membreve DM, Cajuday LA, Serrano JE, Baldo DE. Immunomodulatory properties of ethanol extract of Canarium ovatum (Burseraceae) pulp. Trop J Pharm Res 2018; 17(8):1565-1569 doi: 10.4314/tjpr.v17i8.14

© 2018 The authors.
This is an Open Access article that uses a funding model which does not charge readers or their institutions for access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) and the Budapest Open Access Initiative (http://www.budapestopenaccessinitiative.org/read), which permit unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited..

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the immunomodulatory properties of ethanol extract of the pulp of Canarium ovatum (COPE).

Methods: The immunomodulatory activity of ethanolic extract of the pulp of C. ovatum was investigated in vivo using Balb/C mice. Extract doses of 300 and 600 mg/kg were orally administered to study its effect on delayed type hypersensitivity and humoral antibody response using sheep red blood cells (SRBC). Acute oral toxicity profile and phytochemical analysis were also determined.

Results: Orally -administered COPE did not exhibit any mortality or signs of toxicity at doses 300 - 2000 mg/kg. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of biologically-active compounds such as sterols, triterpenes, flavonoids, alkaloids, saponins, glycosides and tannins. Treatment with COPE for 7 days stimulated the early phase of DTH response through significant increase in foot pad thickness (111.87 ± 9.97 % at 300 mg/kg, and 91.27 ± 7.81 % at 600 mg/kg), when compared to distilled water and cyclophosphamide (CP) groups. Similarly, COPE significantly enhanced antibody titer, with highest titer at the dose of 300 mg/kg. Histological observations of the spleen showed follicles with active germinal centers and proliferating lymphocytes, which are consistent with the immunostimulatory effects of COPE.

Conclusion: These results show that COPE has stimulatory effects on cellular and humoral responses in mice, indicating its potential as an immunostimulatory agent.

Keywords: Immunomodulation, Canarium ovatum, Delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction, Antibody titer, Pili pulp