The effect of turtle (Trachemys scripta elegans) shell extract in normal and cyclophosphamide-treated mice

Abstract

In the present study, the immune effect of turtle shell extract on normal and cyclophosphamide (CP)-treated mice was determined. Mice treated with the turtle shell extract and CP had significantly (p<0.05) elevated levels of serum IgG, ATL, ATS and CREA compared with CP-treated mice. The turtle shell extract-treated mice had significantly elevated serum IgG (p<0.001), reduced serum CREA level (p<0.05), but the serum ATL, ATS and BUN did not change significantly compared with normal mice. Treatment with the turtle shell extract significantly improved the CD3⁺, CD4⁺CD8⁻, CD4⁻CD8⁺ and CD4⁺CD8⁺ cells percentages (p<0.05) in normal mice, and also significantly improved CD3⁺ and CD4⁺CD8⁻ cells percentages in CP-treated mice (p<0.05). There was significant difference (p<0.001) in the proliferation rate of PHA-stimulated spleen lymphocyte in vitro between the turtle shell extract + CP-treated mice and CP-treated mice, and also between the turtle shell extract-treated mice and normal mice (p<0.05). These results demonstrate that the turtle shell extract can up-regulate the immune states of normal and CP-treated mice, and shows some protective effect on liver and kidney damage in CP-induced mice.

Keywords:

• Mice
• turtle shell extract
• cyclophosphamide
• immunomodulation
• protective function

Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China to AXL, and the China National Science Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists (no. 30225033) to XQZ. The authors are grateful to Professor Yang De-Po for providing equipment for the preparation of turtle shell extract and technical assistance.