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Immunomodulatory Potential of Piperine in Rats
Alireza Ghavami1, Seyyed Meysam Abtahi Froushani1, Aliasghar tehrani21Urmia University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Microbiology, Urmia, Iran2Urmia University Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Pathobiology, Urmia, Iran
Objective: The ultimate goal of this research was to investigate the immunomodulatory potential of piperine, a black pepper alkaloid, on innate and acquired immune responses in Lewis rats.
Materials and Methods: In the first set of experiments, the effects of a one-month oral administration of piperine on the functions of neutrophils and peritoneal macrophages of Lewis rats were investigated. In a separate set of experiments, the effects of piperine gavage on T helper lymphocyte responses in vivo and ex vivo and their subsets were performed in animals challenged with ovalbumin (OVA).
Results: Oral administration of piperine for one month reduced the adhesion of neutrophils (p=0.04). The levels of nitric oxide (p=0.0001) and oxygen free radicals (p=0.003) were significantly decreased in peritoneal macrophages of rats treated orally with piperine for one month. Peritoneal macrophages obtained from rats treated with piperine at doses of 40 and 80 mg/kg for one month significantly produced lower levels of interleukin (IL)-12 after lipopolysaccharide stimulation (p=0.006). IL-10 level was significantly elevated in lipopolysaccharide-primed macrophages isolated from rats receiving piperine for one month (p=0.03). Piperine significantly reduced the intensity of delayed-type hypersensitivity responses in rats immunized with OVA (p=0.003). Ex vivo analysis indicated that oral treatment of piperine increased the expression of GATA3 in OVA-immunized rats (p=0.002). Piperine effectively reduced the expression of T-bet and RORγt mRNA in OVA-immunized rats (p=0.001). Piperine did not alter FOXP3 expression in OVA-immunized rats (p=0.15).
Conclusion: These findings show that piperine is a modulating agent of innate and acquired immune responses.
Manuscript Language: English
