Avaliação do efeito do extrato hidroetanólico de Lafoensia pacari sobre a resposta imune

Abstract

Lafoensia pacari St. Hil. (Lythraceae) is a specie of the “cerrado” flora, traditionally used in Mato Grosso for loosing weight, healing external wounds, treatment pain and gastric ulcers and as an anti-inflammatory agent. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the hydroethanolic extract of L. pacari on the number of peripheral blood leukocytes, spleen cells and the production of IgG1 in mice immunized or not with a low dose of antigen in the presence or absence of incomplete Freund’s adjuvant. For this purpose, we used inbred mice of the C57BL/5 strain, adult, females, randomly distributed into six groups with 4-5 animals per group which received 200 mg/kg/day of the hydroethanolic extract of L. pacari for 21 days. The results show that the hydroethanolic extract of L. pacari administered for 21 days does not alter the total number of white cells and also the number of subpopulations of these cells in peripheral blood and spleen. Our results indicate that the hydroethanolic extract of L. pacari does not alter the kinetics or the levels of anti-OVA IgG1, suggesting that L. pacari does not have significant effects on mature cells of the immune system, including those that are responding to ovalbumin.