Study the Effect of Echinacea Purpurea Extract on Cellular Delayed Type Hypersensitivity and Splenocyte Proliferation in BALB/c Mice

Objective: Purple cone flower plant (Echinacea purpurea) is one of the mostimportant Herbal products in many countries. Up to now a lot of experimentsdemonstrated the controversial effects of this herb on immune system . In thisresearch we study the in vivo and in vitro effect of Iranian E.purpurea extract oncellular immunity.Materials and Methods: At first we determined the lethal dose of E.purpurea extract after intraperitoneal injection in BALB/c mice. Then we made five groups of mice and treat them by four times intraperitoneal injection of 1 ml extract at different doses (0, 0.4, 2, 10 and 50 mg/ml) during two weeks. Splenocyte proliferation response to extract was assessed by MTT method. Delayed-Type Hypersensitivity (DTH)response was evaluated by priming mice with 1×108 Sheep Red Blood Cell (SRBC) injected subcutaneously in the back on day 7after treatment.Results: As a result no significant variation in weight and spleen index of test groups to control was observed. Splenocyte proliferation and DTH response of test groups to control increased significantly (p