Insight Into Invitro Immune Stimulatory Effect Of Phyllathus Amarus Extracts

Abstract

The medicinal property of Phyllanthus amarus (P. amarus) has been well appreciated and well documented in Indian system of traditional medicines namely Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani. P. amarus  has been long used to treat various ailments, however its mechanism of action is still obscure because of the lack of scientific proofs to support its medical benefits. The current study was performed to elucidate the immune modulation properties of  P. amarus by measuring free radical scavenging ability, nitric oxide stimulation potential and LTB₄ production.  Aqueous extracts of P. amarus (100 µg/ml) had quenched the free radicals by 81.4 ± 1.1 % of activity followed by 76.1 ± 2.4 % quenching by methanolic extract. Aqueous extract of P. amarus (100 µg/ml) produced a profound NO to a tune of 580 ± 10 µMol. Methanolic extract produced 530 ± 17.3 µMol of NO. There was an increase of NO with aqueous extract in comparison to methanolic extract however these data are not statistically significant (p> 0.05). LTB₄ production with 100 µg/ml concentration of aqueous extract was 103 ± 6.2 pg/ml and it was 113.2 ± 7.8 with methanolic extract.