Immunotoxicity induced in mice by subacute exposure to berberine

Abstract

The immunotoxic effects of the isoquinoline alkaloid berberine (BBR) were investigated in Balb/c mice. Here, BBR was administered daily by intraperitoneal injection at doses of 5 and 10 mg/kg for 14 days. Following the exposure, host spleen weight, cellularity and histopathology, as well as delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) responses, hemagglutination titers (HA), spleen cell subtype profiles, splenocyte cytokine production and lymphocyte proliferation were studied in all of the test groups of animals. The results showed that the high dose of BBR (10 mg/kg) could suppress both cellular and humoral immune functions in the treated hosts. BBR at 5 mg/kg only appeared to impact on DTH responses and lymphoproliferation. Based on the finding here, it would seem that BBR has effective immunosuppressive properties. Mechanistic studies are required to determine exactly how this material is acting to impart many of the immunotoxic effects demonstrated here. At the same time, further research should also be performed on BBR to further develop its potential use as an effective immunosuppressant or co-adjuvant for the treatment of diseases caused by an exaggerated or unwanted immune response.

• Berberine
• cellular immunity
• humoral immunity
• immunotoxicity

Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Vice Chancellor of Research, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences for their financial support.

Notes

¹The flow analysis was performed in a certified central collaborative laboratory that performs a large amount of similar analyses for all the investigators at the Bu-Ali Research Institute. This laboratory collected and analyzed all the dot-plots generated from the current study's samples provided and then forwarded to us all the data as numerical outputs for statistical analyses and presentation here (Table 2). Unfortunately, the original representative dot-plots of the spleen cell analyses are not currently available for presentation (due to issues of memory capacity of the instrument used).