IN VITRO ASSESSMENT OF PRASARANI SANDHAN, A TRADITIONAL POLYHERBAL AYURVEDIC MEDICINE, FOR IMMUNOSTIMULATING ACTIVITY IN SPLENIC CELLS OF BALB/C MICE Original Article

Objective: The objective of the present study was to evaluate the immunostimulating potential of an Ayurvedic preparation Prasarani Sandhan (PRS) by measuring immunoglobulinM (IgM) production and splenocytes proliferation in vitro. Methods: Freshly prepared BALB/c mice splenocytes were treated with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5, 2, 3, and 4% (v/v) of PRS and the cells were subcultured at 37°C, humidified atmosphere containing 5% CO 2 Results: PRS at the doses of 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, 1, 1.5% (v/v) significantly promoted polyclonal IgM productions (1.847, 2.024, 1.986, 1.958, and 1.465 µg/mL, respectively) compared to control (0.358 µg/mL). Similarly, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75, and 1% (v/v) of the preparation significantly stimulated splenocytes proliferation (absorbance 0.346, 0.394, 0.385, and 0.378 respectively, at 570 nm) compared to control (Abs. 0.156). The highest increment of IgM production and splenocytes proliferation by 0.50% PRS was 5.65 and 2.52-times than control. Polymixin B treated PRS significantly reduced its ability for IgM production and cells proliferation by 51.5% and 30%, respectively. Thus, the findings suggest that the apparently observed enhancement of IgM by PRS was due to the contamination of bacterial endotoxin, PRS has no immunostimulating property. for 120 hours. IgM production and cells proliferation were determined by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-y)-2,5-diphenylterazolium bromide (MTT) methods, respectively. The presence of endotoxin was determined by treating PRS with polymyxin B in culture.