Table 2.

Antioxidant and immunomodulatory activities of Chinese tonifying herbs

	aDPPH radical scavenging IC50 (mg/ml)	bImmunomodulatory index in vitro	cImmunomodulatory index ex vivo
Control		1.00 ± 0.03	1.00 ± 0.05
Yang herbs
Cortex Eucommiae	> 5	0.46 ± 0.02*	1.04 ± 0.09
Fructus Psoraleae	1.0 ± 0.0	1.42 ± 0.02*	1.23 ± 0.01*
Herba Cistanches	1.8 ± 0.0	0.75 ± 0.13	0.95 ± 0.12
Herba Epimedii	1.1 ± 0.1	0.57 ± 0.03*	0.98 ± 0.01
Radix Dipsaci	0.8 ± 0.0	0.42 ± 0.08*	1.02 ± 0.02
Radix Morindae	> 5	2.16 ± 0.10*	1.31 ± 0.04*
Rhizoma Cibotii	0.6 ± 0.0	0.16 ± 0.03*	0.97 ± 0.04
Rhizoma Drynariae	> 5	0.59 ± 0.09*	0.98 ± 0.08
Yin herbs
Fructus Ligustri	0.5 ± 0.0	1.73 ± 0.07*	1.80 ± 0.17*
Herba Dendrobii	1.4 ± 0.1	2.54 ± 0.09*	1.59 ± 0.09*
Herba Ecliptae	> 5	1.65 ± 0.02*	1.27 ± 0.12*
Radix Asparagi	> 5	0.70 ± 0.02*	1.24 ± 0.05*
Radix Ophiopogonis	> 5	1.65 ± 0.05*	1.44 ± 0.11*
Radix Oryzae	> 5	0.78 ± 0.13	0.97 ± 0.04
Rhizoma Polygonati	3.5 ± 0.3	1.43 ± 0.09*	1.21 ± 0.06*
Semen Prinsepiae	> 5	1.70 ± 0.03*	1.39 ± 0.11*

^aMethanol extracts of tonifying herbs were subjected to the DPPH assay. Values given are means ± S.D., (n = 3). (DPPH scavenging activity was regarded as negligible if the IC₅₀ was > 5 mg/ml).

^bSplenocytes isolated from mice were cultured in 96-well microtiter plates in a final volume of 100 μl of culture medium, with the respective methanol extracts added at final concentrations ranging from 15.6–1000 μg/ml. Values given are means ± S.E.M., (n = 4).

^cAnimals were pretreated orally with the methanol extracts at a daily dose of 1 g/kg for 3 days. All animals were sacrificed 24 hours post-dosing. Splenocytes isolated from pretreated animals were cultured in microtiter plates in a final volume of 100 μl culture medium. Values given are means ± S.E.M., (n = 3–5).

* Significantly different from the control group (P < 0.05)