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Planta Med 1993; 59(4): 354-358
DOI: 10.1055/s-2006-959700
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© Georg Thieme Verlag Stuttgart · New York

Mitogenic Activities in African Traditional Herbal Medicines

Yoko Tachibana1 , Atsushi Kato1 , Yumi Nishiyama1 , Kazuko Kawanishi1 , Hiroshi Tobe2 , F. D. Juma3 , J. O. Ogeto4 , S. G. Mathenge5
  • 1Kobe Women's College of Pharmacy, 4-19-1, Motoyamakita-machi, Higashinada-ku, Kobe 658, Japan
  • 2Department of Biology, College of Liberal Arts and Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606, Japan
  • 3Department of Medical Pharmacology, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 4Department of Pharmacy, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30588, Nairobi, Kenya
  • 5Department of Botany, University of Nairobi, P. O. Box 30197, Nairobi, Kenya
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Publication History

1992

1992

Publication Date:
04 January 2007 (online)

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Abstract

Mitogenic activities in African traditional herbal medicines were examined using protein fractions obtained from their extracts by precipitation with ammonium sulfate. Potent mitogenic activities for human and mouse lymphocytes were found in the three plants: Croton macrostachyus, Croton megalocarpus (Euphor-biaceae), and Phytolacca dodecandra (Phytolacca-ceae). All the gel chromatographic patterns of these protein fractions progressed toward the smaller molecule site with pronase treatment, while their mitogenic activities decreased significantly. Protein fractions from these three plants induced mitogenesis both in human and mouse isolated T cells, but not in lymphocytes from athymic nude mice. By testing further fractionated protein fractions with gel filtration chromatography, it was found that all three plants contained several mitogens having different molecule sizes.

Key words

African traditional herbal medicine - mitogenic activity - protein fraction - target lymphocyte (T cell) - Croton macrostachyus - Croton megalocarpus - Phytolacca dodecandra