This study was performed to elucidate the effects of Epimedii Herba on the antibody responses in mice immunized by Ovalbumin (OVA). Antibodies in serum were detected in male ICR mice treated with the aqueous extract of Epimedii Herba at a dosage of 40, 120, and 360 mg/kg orally for 2 weeks. Effects of AEEH on antibody forming responses were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of immunoglobulin (Ig) levels in serum collected 7 days after priming with OVA in complete Freund,s adjuvant (CFA). The results were as follows; 1. Epimedii Herba slightly decreased body weight gain. 2. Epimedii Herba significantly increased the relative spleen weight. 3. Epimedii Herba significantly increased total serum IgG levels. 4. Epimedii Herba significantly enhanced total serum IgG1 levels. 5. Epimedii Herba significantly increased total serum IgG2a levels. 6. Epimedii Herba markedly increased total serum IgM levels. These findings demonstrate that Epimedii Herba significantly enhances serum antibody production after priming with OVA in CFA, and suggest that Epimedii Herba may prevent the host from microbial infections.

Recently many efforts were focused to understand the mechanical insights of melanogenesis to develop the agents for hyper-pigmentation and hypo-pigmentation. In the melanin biosynthetic pathway, tyrosinase is the rate limiting enzyme, and α-melanocyte stimulating hormone(MSH) stimulate melanogenesis and enhance the melanin synthesis and the tyrosinase activity. This study the effects of Radix Trichosanthis on the basal melanogenic activities of B16/F10 mouse melanoma cells, and on the α-MSH induced melanogenesis. Radix Trichosanthis alone markedly suppressed melanin content and tyrosinase activity in a dose-dependent manner. Pretreatment of the cells with Radix Trichosanthis also suppressed the increase of α-MSH (10 nM) induced melanin content and tyrosinase activity. These results suggest that Radix Trichosanthis inhibits melanogenesis and abrogates α-MSH induced melanogenesis in B16 melanoma cells.