Immunopharmacol Immunotoxicol. 2001 Aug; 23(3): 367-82.

Evaluation of Caesalpinia ferrea extract on bone marrow hematopoiesis in the murine models of listeriosis and Ehrlich ascites tumor.

Queiroz ML, Justo GZ, Valadares MC, Pereira-da-silva FR.

Department of Pharmacology and Hemocentre, Faculdade de CiÃªncias MÃ©dicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP, Brazil. msq44@uol.com.br

The capacity of hematopoietic tissues to produce and mobilize phagocytes to the site of infection and tumor growth is of central importance to mediate the early immunological response. In this perspective, studies from our laboratory have defined Listeria monocytogenes infection and the Ehrlich ascites tumor (EAT) as useful models to investigate the effects of natural compounds on the growth and differentiation of granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (CFU-GM). As expected, a significant reduction in the number of bone marrow CFU-GM was observed in the initial stages of infection with a sublethal dose of Listeria. Similarly, the bone marrow CFU-GM decreased sharply 4 days after the EAT transplantation. Treatment of infected and tumor-bearing mice with 500 and 1,000 mg/kg of Caesalpinia ferrea aqueous extract, given 3 times orally, significantly stimulated myelopoiesis, whereas no effects were observed with the 250 mg/kg dose. Similar results were obtained in normal mice. The administration of the two higher doses of the extract also protected 15-20% of mice from a lethal dose of Listeria and significantly prolonged survival of EAT-bearing mice. In summary, these results demonstrate that C. ferrea extract acts as a positive regulator of myelopoiesis, and suggest that the therapeutic effect of C. ferrea may be partially mediated by this action.