Enhancement of Phagocytic Activity of Human Polymorphonuclear Leukocyte and Monocyte Cells by Aconitum lycoctonum L. Alkaloid Fraction

The immunomodulatory activity of diterpene alkaloids from Aconitum lycoctonum L. (Ranunculaceae family) was evaluated; the alkaloid components were extracted from plants grown wild in the Apennines near Parma (Northern Italy). The diterpene alkaloid lycoctonine evaluated by means of HPLC and IR techniques reaches its highest value in flowers, followed by stems, roots and leaves, while the maximal value of aconitine alkaloid is in leaves and stems. Aconitine content is not quantifiable in the hypogean apparatus; on the contrary, in the leaves aconitine exceeds the lycoctonine amount. In order to evaluate the immonomodulatory activity of the alkaloid fraction, a rapid and sensitive two-color flow cytometric method for simultaneous measurement of phagocytosis rate was performed. Phagocytosis was determined by the measurement of internalized Candida albicans by leukocytes (monocytes and granulocytes). The enhancement of phagocytosi on peripheral polymorphonuclear leukocytes a 7% increase, znd on monocytes statistically significative (**P<0.001). A. lycoctonum alkaloid extract had an immunomodulatory activity very similar to that reported for other Aconitum species from Asia..