Lentinan has a regulatory effect on Th1 type immune response for BALB/c mice infected with Plasmodium yoelii

In order to investigate the regulatory effect of Lentinan(Lent) on Th1 type immune response during BALB/c mice infected with virulent Plasmodium yoelii 17XL(Py17XL),BALB/c mice were treated with Lent in different time(15d,6d,and 0d before infection).Then the mice were infected by intraperitoneal injection with 1×106 virulent Py17XL parasitized erythrocytes,parasitemia and survival rate were dynamic observed during the whole infection course.IL-12,IFN-γ production from the splenocyte supernatants were determined by ELISA.And the levels of NO were checked by Griess reaction.The results showed that,compared with Lent-untreated group,the mice treated with Lent 15d before infection could obviously decrease the parasitemia and all the mice survived this infection.The secretion of IL-12 and IFN-γ,which are the necessary cytokine for Th1 type immune response,also increased significantly.The level of NO production was elevated,too.Therefore,we concluded that Lent pre-treated could help the set-up of Th1 type immune response efficiently during the BALB/c mice infected with Py 17XL.These results indicated that the regulation of immune response is important for host against virulent malarial infection during early stage.