Abstract

ALVARENGA, Nelson et al. Plant extracts of three species of the genus Baccharis induce human mononuclear cells proliferation. Mem. Inst. Investig. Cienc. Salud [online]. 2018, vol.16, n.2, pp.12-20. ISSN 1812-9528.  https://doi.org/10.18004/mem.iics/1812-9528/2018.016(02)12-020.

Plants used in traditional medicine are an important source of compounds with immunomodulatory activity. Species of the genus Baccharis, popularly known as "Jaguareteka'a" in our country, are used in folk medicine for the treatment of liver, gastrointestinal, inflammatory and infectious diseases. In this study, we evaluated the immunomodulatory activity of methanolic extracts of three species of the genus Baccharis (B. trimera, B. notosergila and B. punctulata) on the proliferation of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Extracts of the three species studied stimulated the proliferation of mononuclear cells. The extract of B. notosergila stimulated cell proliferation at all concentrations tested, while extracts of B. trimera and B. punctulata stimulated at 5 and 10 μg/mL. In addition, we carried out a separation with different solvents of the methanolic extract of B. notosergila and B. punctulata. The ethyl acetate fraction of both plant extracts induced the proliferation of immune cells. These results show that the extracts of B. trimera, B. notosergila and B. punctulata had immunomodulatory activity on human mononuclear cells. Future work will be required to identify the components responsible for the activity on the immune system.

Keywords : immunomodulation; Baccharis; lymphocytes; cell proliferation.

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