It is noted that Dioscorea quinqueloba is a medicinal herb that is widely used to treat cardiovascular disease and is assessed as useful to treat other various medical conditions. The immunopotentiating effects of the protein extract (DQP-1) from Dioscorea quinqueloba were thus formally investigated in vivo under incident of cold stress. In this case study, the spleen and thymus weight in mice was shown to have decreased after a measured exposure to cold stress, while the adrenal gland weight in the mice was shown to have increased. The systematic oral administration of DQP-1 significantly recovered the weight loss of the spleen and suppressed the adrenal gland hypertrophy during the association with cold stress. Additionally, the DQP-1 also restored the ascorbic acid level in the adrenal gland reduced after cold stress. The cold stress exposure lowered the percentage of CD4+ and CD8+ cells in the mouse thymus as determined by the flow cytometric analysis, as well as the levels of some serum immunological cytokines(interleukin-2, interleukin-12, and interferon-γ) in the studied mice. The resulting identified weakened immunity caused by cold stress was also recovered by a treatment with DQP-1. The DQP-1 significantly suppressed the formation of serum enzymes of alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, and lactate dehydrogenase, which were systematically elevated during the cold stress episode. These results indicate that DQP-1 can improve immunity in mice that are characteristically weakened under stress.

본 연구는 키토산올리고당의 음수 내 급여가 따른 육계의 혈액성상, 면역력 및 항산화효소계에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위해 1일령 Arbor Acre종 약 2만 8천수를 대조구와 키토산 음수 급여구로 나누어 5주 동안 실시하였다. 육계의 혈액 성상에서 Glucose의 농도는 대조구보다 키토산올리고당 음수 급여구가 유의적으로 감소하였으나, Triglyceride, Total cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol 및 LDL-cholesterol 농도에는 대조구와키토산올리고당 음수 급여구간에 차이를 보이지 않았고 간 손상에 대한 인자인 GOT농도는 시험구간에 차이가 없었지만 GPT농도는 대조구보다 키토산올리고당 음수 급여구가 유의적으로 감소하였다(P<0.05). 혈액 내 면역글로블린 농도 중, IgG 농도는 대조구와 키토산올리고당 음수 급여구간에 차이가 없었으나, IgM 농도는 대조구보다 키토산올리고당 음수 급여구가 유의적으로 증가하였다(P<0.05). 항산화력과 SOD의 농도는 시험구간에 차이가 없었으며, Catalase와 Glutathione peroxidase의 농도는 대조구보다 키토산올리고당 음수 급여구가 유의적으로 증가하였다(P<0.05). 따라서, 키토올리고당의 음수 급여로 인해 육계의 당대사, 면역기능 및 1차 항산화 효소계의 활성을 증가시켜 육계의 강건성에 영향을 미칠 수 있음을 보여주었다.

The Codonopsis pilosula is traditional oriental herb associated with immune-modulatory functions and has anti-inflammatory properties and antioxidative activity. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of Codonopsis pilosula extract powder (CEP) on the immunity and productivity in sows and piglets. A total of 20 pregnant sows were randomly assigned to two dietary treatments, which was given a corn-soybean meal diet with 0% and 0.5% CEP from 40 days prepartum to weaning (25 days postpartum). The immune system of piglets was expected to build up, because the feeding of CEP might increase the colostrum contents in sows. We also predicted that the growth performance of piglets also could be increased by some compensation effects due to the increased immunity of piglets. In results, immunities of sows and piglets as well as growth performance of piglets were not affected by the supplementation of CEP. The correlation between the colostrum and the serum on the IgG contents tended to have a positive correlation, although there was no significant (coefficient, 0.435; P=0.102). This result suggests that the supplementation of CEP may increase IgG contents in sows and piglets and contribute to improve immunity of piglets. In conclusion, it is thought that the physiologically active substances of CEP did not influence to the immune synergic effects in vivo of sows. Thus, the metabolic and action mechanism of the physiologically active substances of CEP should be explored to evaluate the availability of CEP as a feed additive for the immunomodulator.

This study was conducted to determine the effects of supplementing herbaceous peat preparation and vitamin C in order to find out its effects on immunity and growth performance in Holstein calves. Twenty Holstein calves (39.3±4.21kg average initial body weight) were allocated into four treatments by completely randomized design. Dietary treatments included: 1) control (Basal diet), 2) treatment 1 (control +5% herbaceous peat), 3) treatment 2 (control+10g vitamin C) and 4) treatment 3 (control+10g herbaceous peat+10g vitamin C). The duration of the experiment was 38 days in this experiment, and blood metabolism, dry matter intake, body weight and diarrhea frequency were investigated. For blood metabolism, white blood cells (WBC), neutrophils (NE), lymphocytes (LY), and red blood cells (RBC) did not show any significant differences among treatments. Average daily gain and feed conversion were highest in T1 group feeding with the herbaceous peat preparation compared to the control groups and diarrhea frequency showed lowest in T3 group. Overall results of the present experiment indicated that dietary supplementation with herbaceous peat influenced positively on growth performances in Holstein calves.