Background: Pollen and pollen products have a long history of use in traditional herbal medicine and have been reported to display a wide range of antimicrobial, antioxidative, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and hepato-protective activities. This study aimed to investigate the role of date palm pollen (DPP) ethanolic extract on the formation of granuloma induced by Schistosoma mansoni soluble egg antigen (SEA) in vitro.
Methodology: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from 20 S. mansoni monoinfected, 50 Hepatitis C virus/S. mansoni coinfected patients and 25 healthy individuals. The isolated PBMCs were used for in vitro granuloma induction using SEA conjugated polyacrylamide beads. Different concentrations of DPP ethanolic extract (10 mg/mL, 20 mg/mL, 30 mg/mL, and 40 mg/mL) were added to the granuloma at the first day, then the sizes of granulomas were measured by granuloma index (GI) that was assessed by quantitation of cellular reactivity around the beads after 3, 7, and 14 days.
Results: Treatment of granuloma induced by SEA conjugated polyacrylamide beads with the optimum concen-tration of DPP ethanolic extract (30 mg/mL) resulted in significant (P < 0.05) reduction of GI using PBMCs iso¬lated from Schistosoma monoinfected, hepatitis C virus/Schistosoma coinfected patients or healthy individuals at all the experimental time intervals.
Conclusion: DPP suppressed the effect of SEA and prevented granuloma formation. The results of the present study suggest that DPP could be considered a promising source of new natural anti-inflammatory herbal med¬icine against the S. mansoni associated granulomatous inflammation.
Key words: Date palm pollen, Schistosoma mansoni, granuloma, soluble egg antigen.
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