Assessing the Immunomodulatory and Hepatoprotective Activities of Aqueous Tuber Extract of Typhonium flagelliforme (Lood) Blume in BALB/c Mouse

Immune cells play a very significant role in the body due to their capacity to preserve homeostasis. They function primarily in the quick elimination of potentially harmful substances from the system. There is a trend towards the increased utilization of the therapeutic potential of medicinal plants to treat a wide range of diseases through the regulation of immunomodulatory mechanisms. In this present work, our objective was to determine the extent to which Typhonium flagelliforme, also known as rodent tuber, has an immunomodulatory effect in vivo in BALB/c mice. Four treatment groups were used in this investigation on BALB/c mice, including the control group with each group receiving 0, 50, 100 and 500 mg/kg BW of the plant extract respectively. After fourteen days of treatment, the mice were sacrificed for further analysis. The spleen was isolated for flow cytometry study, and it was then stained with antibodies against CD4, CD8, CD4CD62L, and CD4CD25. The relative number of each immune cell subgroup to be monitored was calculated using the BD FACS Calibur flow cytometer. The liver was also subjected to histological examination using hematoxylin-eosin staining. Our findings indicated the increasing number of CD8⁺ T cells and CD4⁺CD62L⁺ naive T cells in the spleen. Similarly, the relative number of CD8⁺ T and CD4⁺ T cells in thymus were elevated. This findings suggest that the T. flagelliforme extract (TFE) exerted the immunomodulatory activity which promote some certain of immune cells.