Medicinal Plants from Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean Used as Immunostimulants

Table 4

In vitro immunostimulatory effects of plant compounds.

Family	Scientific name	Compound	Group	Range of concentration tested µM	Immunostimulatory effects, compared to untreated control [duration of the experiment]	Reference
Acanthaceae	Justicia spicigera Schtdl.	Kaempferitrin	Flavonoid	1–25	Induction of phagocytosis (0.4-fold) at 200 µg/mL using RAW 264.7 macrophages [48 h]; Induction of lysosomal enzyme activity (0.5-fold) at 25 µM with RAW 264.7 macrophages [48 h]; Increase of NK cell activity (10-fold) at 25 µM with RAW 264.7 macrophages cocultured with K562 cells [48 h]	[54]
Anacardiaceae	Amphipterygium adstringens (Schltdl.) Standl.	Masticadienonic acid	Triterpenoid	0.001–10	NO production (1.8-fold) [72 h] at 0.001 µM in murine primary peritoneal macrophages	[55]
		3α-Hydroxymasticadienolic acid	Triterpenoid	0.001–10	NO production (1.7-fold) [72 h] at 1 µM in murine primary peritoneal macrophages
		24,25S-dihydromasticadienonic acid	Triterpenoid	0.001–10	NO production (1.3-fold) [72 h] at 0.01 µM in murine primary peritoneal macrophages
		Masticadienolic acid	Triterpenoid	0.001–10	NO production (1.6-fold) [72 h] at 0.1 µM in murine primary peritoneal macrophages
Asteraceae	Bidens pilosa L.	Centaurein; Centaureidin	Flavonoid; Flavonoid	EC50 = 0.14 µM; EC50 = 2.5 µM	Increase on IFN-γ promoter in Jurkat T cells [72 h]	[44]
	Psacalium peltatum (Kunth) Cass.	Maturin acetate	Sesquiterpene	1–25	Increase of NK cell activity (7-fold) at 25 µM using murine primary splenocytes cocultured with K562 cells [48 h]; Induction of lysosomal enzyme activity (0.2-fold) at 25 µM using RAW 264.7 macrophages [48 h]; Proliferation of RAW 264.7 macrophages and murine primary splenocytes (0.2-fold, each) at 25 µM [48 h]	[56]
Fabaceae	Hymenaea courbaril L.	Xyloglucan	Polysaccharide	0.1–50	NO production (2.1-fold) at 0.25 µM with murine primary peritoneal macrophages [48 h]	[57]
	Mucuna urens (L.) Medik.	Xyloglucan	Polysaccharide	0.06–3.2	NO production (1.4-fold) at 0.16 µM with murine primary peritoneal macrophages [48 h]
	Phaseolus vulgaris	Pectic polysaccharide	Polysaccharide	0.07–1.12	Murine primary splenocytes proliferation (2.5-fold) at 1.12 µM [72 h]; Murine primary thymocyte proliferation (2.1-fold) at 0.14 µM [72 h]	[58]