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Gamibojungikki-tang decreases immobility time on the forced swimming test and increases interferon-gamma production from MOLT-4 cells.

Shin HY, Park SJ, Seo SW, Hong SH, Um JY, Lee SH, Lee SH, Shin JY, Shin TY, Park YS, Yang DC, Kim HM

College of Oriental Medicine, Institute of Oriental Medicine, Kyung Hee University, 1 Hoegi-Dong, Dongdaemun-Gu, Seoul 130-701, South Korea.

Gamibojungikki-tang (GBIT) has been used for the purpose of development of physical strength in Korea. We investigated the anti-immobility effect of GBIT on the forced swimming test (FST) and then measured the blood biochemical parameters related to fatigue, glucose (Glc); blood urea nitrogen (BUN); lactic dehydrogenase (LDH); creatine kinase (CK) and total protein (TP). GBIT (0.01, 0.1, 1 g/kg) was orally administered to mice for 7 days. After 7 days, the immobility time was significantly decreased in the GBIT-administration group (105.0+/-12.1 s for 1 g/kg) in comparison with the control group (152.3+/-16.2 s). The contents of Glc and TP in the blood serum were significantly increased in GBIT-administration group (1g/kg) compared with control group, while LDH was significantly decreased. Surface phenotyping of spleen cells by FACS analysis revealed an increasing tendency of CD4+ and CD8+ number, without statistical significance. In addition, GBIT (0.01-1 mg/ml) increased the interferon-gamma and interlukin-2 levels in MOLT-4 T-cells. These results suggest that GBIT may be useful in the immune function improvement.

Published 28 September 2005 in J Ethnopharmacol, 102(1): 113-9.
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