Investigation of immunomodulatory potential of whole plant of Boerhavia erecta Linn

Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate immunomodulatory activity of aqueous extract of whole plant Boerhavia erecta. The concept of immunomodulation has been gaining much significance worldwide as people started realizing the indispensible role of the immune system in maintaining a disease-free state. Natural products have been considered a plentiful source in the search for new chemical entities that modulate the immune system with reduced adverse effects. Pharmacological evaluation of the crude ethanolic extract of Boerhavia diffusa roots has shown to possess anti proliferative and immunomodulatory properties but not reported from Boerhavia erecta. Due to that, immunomodulatory activity was carried out for the aqueous extract of Boerhavia erecta (Family: Nyctaginaceae). In this present study, aqueous extract of whole plant of Boerhavia erecta exhibited phagocytosis stimulation of human neutrophils against Candida albicans in a dose dependent manner.