Effect of Artemisia argyi polysaccharide on immunity activity of macrophages and T cells in mouse

To study the immunoregulatory action of Artemisia argyi polysaccharide (AAP) on macrophage cells and T cells in mice- Methods: The percentage of phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus (STA) by mouse macrophages was detected through Giemsa dyeing. Splenic T-lymphocyte proliferation was measured with MTT assay in vitro. IL-6 and TNF-α in supernatants were detected by ELISA and biological assay. Results: Macrophages both in peripheral blood and in abdominal cavity in mice with i.p. administration of AAP showed phagocytosis of Staphylococcus aureus stonger than that in mice without i.p. administration of AAP, while phagocytosis index of macrophages in abdominal cavity was higher that of macrophages in peripheral blood. The activity of antigen presentation in macrophages group was stronger than that of B cells, and the production of IL-6 and TNF-α in activated macrophages was also higher than that of B cells in vitro. In the range of 0.2~0.6 mg/ml, AAP could enhance the proliferation of lymphocyte in the presence of macrophages, which was higher than that of lymphocyte in the absence of macrophages, and 0.5 mg/ml of AAP showed highest activity in the proliferation of lymphocytes. Conclusion: The results showed that AAP can significantly up-regulate IL-6 and TNF-α of the peritoneal macrophage, which indicated that AAP could increase the expression of IL-6 and TNF-α in macrophages and promote T cellular immunity.