Immunostimulant activity of dry fruits and plant materials used in Indian traditional medical system for mothers after child birth and invalids

Products of certain plants given to mothers after child birth or to invalid s were studied for immunostimulant activity using the macrophage migration index (MMI) as a parameter of macrophage activation and cell-mediated immun ity and haemagglutinating antibody (HA) titres and plaque-forming cell (PFC ) counts as parameters of humoral immunity. Feeding of Prunus amygdalus (Al mond(1)) and Buchanania lanzan (Chirronji(1)) significantly stimulated both CMI and humoral immunity in BALB/c mice as evidenced by the enhancement of MMI, HA titres, and PFC counts. Euryale ferox (Tel makhana(1)), Phoenix da ctylifera (Chhohara(1)) and Zingiber officinale (Sonth(1)), however, stimul ated humoral immunity to a greater extent than CMI. The observation provide s scientific basis for feeding the products of above plants to mothers afte r child birth and to invalids with a relatively poor immune status. (C) 200 0 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.