Effect of the extract made from Rhizoma Atractylodis Macrocephalae (RAM) on the immune responses of mice to a commercial foot-and-mouth disease vaccine

Objectives: Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is an economically important animal disease because of the speed of its transmission. Routine vaccination may not be effective; RAM can be considered as a potential facilitator for this. Present study was designed to evaluate the effects of feeding different treatment of the RAM in different days on the immune responses in mice immunised with FMDV type O vaccine. Material and methods: In experiment 1, 50 ICR mice were randomly divided into five groups with 10 animals in each group, and the basic diet containing 1% Crush of RAM for 1-week ad libitum feeding period, 1% Crush of RAM for 6-week ad libitum feeding period, 1% Decoction of RAM for a 1-week ad libitum feeding period, 1% Decoction of RAM for a 6-week ad libitum feeding period, respectively. Blood samples were collected 2 weeks after boosting for measurement of FMDV-specific IgG level and the IgG subclasses, lymphocyte proliferation as well as production IL-5 and IFN-gamma. In experiment 2, four groups mice were fed basic diet and basic diet containing 5% Decoction of RAM for 2-, 4- and 6-day ad libitum feeding periods, respectively. Then we collected blood samples for detecting IgG and IgG subclasses, splenocytes for lymphocyte proliferation as well as production IL-5 and IFN-gamma, and tissue samples of small intestine for sIgA. Results: The results indicated that 1% Decoction of RAM for a 1-week ad libitum feeding period group and 5% Decoction of RAM for 2-, 4- and 6-day ad libitum feeding period group enhance the FMDV-specific immune responses significantly. Conclusions: Taken together, the results demonstrate that doses and feeding time of RAM are important to affect the immune responses.