Investigating The Immonomodulatory Effect of Gynura Divaricata

Abstract

Immunomodulatory effect can be defined as the changes of immune response to the normal level. One of the sources of immunomodulator is herbal medicine. Traditional herbal medicine are receiving a lot of attention in human health nowadays, one of the reasons is because they are believed to have immunomodulatory activity. Gynura divaricata is a popular Asian herb that is commonly used as an alternative medicine due to its bioactive compounds like phenolic acid and flavonoid. These compounds are believed to show immunomodulatory effect in previous research, meanwhile, there are no previous research in checking the potential immunomodulatory activity of Gynura divaricata. Therefore the aim of this research is to investigate the potential immunomodulatory activity of Gynura divaricata using carbon clearance assay. The total phenolic and flavonoid content obtained were 0.42% ± 0.04% and 0.55% ± 0.07%, respectively. The Carbon Clearance Assay was done to evaluate the immunomodulatory effect of Gynura divaricata. The phagocytic index did not show any significant phagocytic activity between the negative control and the treatment groups. But interestingly, the immunomodulatory activity can be observed through the calculation of liver and spleen to body weight ratio. We found that there were immunomodulatory activity produced as indicated by the proliferation of macrophages and lymphocytes (B and T cell) in the liver and spleen, respectively