Effect of plant extracts on rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells sensitized with IgE

In this study, the inhibitory activities of one hundred plant extracts were analyzed against the IgE-induced allergy reaction in the rat basophilic leukemia (RBL-2H3) cells. Release of IL-4 and beta-hexosaminidase from the IgE-sensitized RBL-2H3 cells treated with the plant extracts were measured. Additionally, the effects of the plant extracts on the cell viability were tested. From the analysis, 17 extracts including Rhamnus davurica Pall. (branch) significantly inhibited beta-hexosaminidase release at 20 µg/mL. And 41 plants such as Artemisia absinthium (leaf and stem) showed high suppressive activities on IL-4 release. All of the extracts proliferated the sensitized cells above 80% compared with control, which was not treated with plant extract samples but treated only with the buffer used for sample preparation.

In conclusion, the result suggests that the plants with the inhibitory activities on allergy reaction at cell level are candidates for developing useful anti-allergy materials and need to be study more.