Rajabather Krishnaraj wrote:
> If I have a capsule or tablet of an extract from a plant material, (and
> is generally believed to be non-toxic), what would be minimum number and
> type of critical immunological tests I would need to perform (in a mouse
> or rat model) to prove at least initially that the extract is not a
> general immunosuppressant?
For a response considered as preliminary ("initially"...) :
- antibody responses in vivo against soluble antigen (eg ovalbumin) and
particle antigen (eg sheep red blood cells)
- in vitro tests :
*mixed lymphocyte reaction
*response to mitogens (eg ConA for T cells, LPS for B cells)
*Cytotoxic activity of NK cells
- comparison of the number of cells (B cells, T cells CD4 or CD8,
antigen-presenting cells) in spleen of animals treated and untreated
Really preliminary experiments, but giving informations on the state of
the immune system.
Paul
(sometimes immunologist)
