Enhancing Th1 Cell Activities in Mice by Short-term Oral Administration of Gynostemma Pentaphyllum Extracts

[[abstract]]Gynostemma pentaphyllum is a plant widely distributed in South-China, Korea, and Japan. It is taken as an herbal tea in China and some Asian countries. We had tried to use the extract of herb to intraperitoneally inject into mice for 5 consecutive days and found that it could enhance levels of IgG2a in serum and Th1 and Th2-associated cytokines in spleen cells cultured with Con A. We also asked the question of whether an oral administration of G. pentaphyllum could promote the production of serum IgG2a and Th cell-associate cytokines the same as intraperitoneal injection did. Our result showed that short-term oral administration of G. pentaphyllum could suppress the level of serum IgG1, and enhanced amounts of serum IgG2a and Th1-associated cytokines secretion from spleen cells cultures.