MITOGENIC ACTIVITIES IN AFRICAN TRADITIONAL HERBAL MEDICINES

Mitogenic activities in African traditional herbal medicines were exam ined using protein fractions obtained from their extracts by precipita tion with ammonium sulfate. Potent mitogenic activities for human and mouse lymphocytes were found in the three plants: Croton macrostachyus , Croton megalocarpus (Euphorbiaceae), and Phytolacca dodecandra (Phyt olaccaceae). All the gel chromatographic patterns of these protein fra ctions progressed toward the smaller molecule site with pronase treatm ent, while their mitogenic activities decreased significantly. Protein fractions from these three plants induced mitogenesis both in human a nd mouse isolated T cells, but not in lymphocytes from athymic nude mi ce. By testing further fractionated protein fractions with gel filtrat ion chromatography, it was found that all three plants contained sever al mitogens having different molecule sizes.