Immunomodulatory activities of Cedrela lilloi and Trichilia elegans aqueous leaf extracts.

The effects of Cedrela lilloi and Trichilia elegans (Meliaceae) aqueous leaf extracts on several parameters of the mouse immune system were studied. Both extracts showed a strong anticomplementary activity and inhibited the phagocytosis of opsonized sheep erythrocytes and the activation of the oxidative metabolism by opsonized zymosan on peritoneal macrophages. The in vitro proliferation of spleen T-lymphocytes was also impaired. Furthermore, treatment of mice with the extracts diminished the delayed-type hypersensitivity response to sheep erythrocytes. These results suggest that both extracts exert a marked immunomodulatory effect on the mouse immune system.