Misato Ota1, Kan'ichiro Ishiuchi2, Xin Xu2, Masaaki Minami3, Yasutaka Nagachi2, Maho Yagi-Utsumi4, Yoshiaki Tabuchi5, Shao-Qing Cai6, Toshiaki Makino7. 1. Department of Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, 3-1 Tanabe-Dori, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan; State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, 38 Xue Yuan Road, Beijing 100191, China. 2. Department of Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, 3-1 Tanabe-Dori, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan. 3. Department of Bacteriology, Graduate School of Medical Sciences, Nagoya City University,1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467-8601, Japan. 4. Exploratory Research Center on Life and Living Systems (ExCELLS) and Institue for Molecular Science, National Institutes of Natural Sciences, 5-1 Higashiyama, Myodaiji, Okazaki 444-8787, Japan. 5. Division of Molecular Genetics Research, Life Science Research Center, Toyama University, 2630, Sugitani, Toyama 930-0194, Japan. 6. State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University Health Science Center, 38 Xue Yuan Road, Beijing 100191, China. 7. Department of Pharmacognosy, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Nagoya City University, 3-1 Tanabe-Dori, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya 467-8603, Japan. Electronic address: makino@phar.nagoya-cu.ac.jp.
Abstract
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), honey has been used as an additive in the heat-processing of herbal medicines to enhance their immunostimulatory activities. AIM OF THE STUDY: We investigated the immunostimulatory activity of heated honey in vitro and in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the in vitro study, we compared the differences among the inducible effects of honey subjected to various heating conditions on granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) secretion from the cultured enterocytes and investigated the active ingredient. For the in vivo study, we conducted a survival test of mice infected by Streptococcus pyogenes with and without oral administration of heated honey. RESULTS: We found that heating the honey induced the appearance of G-CSF secretions from the cultured enterocytes, and that this appearance depended on the heating temperature and time. No G-CSF secretions appeared when honey was not heated. Mice infected with Streptococcus pyogenes that were fed heated honey revealed prolonged survival. The active ingredient in heated honey was a high-molecular compound with about 730 kDa. When this compound was hydrolyzed, galactose, glucose, rhamnose, α-ribofuranose β-ribofuranose 1,5':1',5-dianhydride, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural were generated. CONCLUSIONS: Heated honey reveals immunostimulatory activity both in vitro and in vivo. These results support the scientific evidences of the TCM theory.
ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), honey has been used as an additive in the heat-processing of herbal medicines to enhance their immunostimulatory activities. AIM OF THE STUDY: We investigated the immunostimulatory activity of heated honey in vitro and in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: For the in vitro study, we compared the differences among the inducible effects of honey subjected to various heating conditions on granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) secretion from the cultured enterocytes and investigated the active ingredient. For the in vivo study, we conducted a survival test of mice infected by Streptococcus pyogenes with and without oral administration of heated honey. RESULTS: We found that heating the honey induced the appearance of G-CSF secretions from the cultured enterocytes, and that this appearance depended on the heating temperature and time. No G-CSF secretions appeared when honey was not heated. Mice infected with Streptococcus pyogenes that were fed heated honey revealed prolonged survival. The active ingredient in heated honey was a high-molecular compound with about 730 kDa. When this compound was hydrolyzed, galactose, glucose, rhamnose, α-ribofuranose β-ribofuranose 1,5':1',5-dianhydride, and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural were generated. CONCLUSIONS: Heated honey reveals immunostimulatory activity both in vitro and in vivo. These results support the scientific evidences of the TCM theory.