IMMUNOSUPPRESSIVE POTENTIAL OF CRUDE SAPONINS FROM Adhatoda vasica AND Ficus religiosa ON HUMAN RICKETTSIAL DISEASE

Rickettsial diseases are one of the severe diseases which are reported in Baramati region. Despite the availability of low cost and effective antibiotic therapy which may be used in suspected cases but rickettsial diseases continue to cause severe illness and death in healthy adults and children. In this regard, our group focused only on those secondary metabolites e.g. saponin extracted from medicinal plants in order to control the burden of rickettsial diseases. As per the literature, number of saponins extracted from medicinal plants is reported and showed anti-viral (HCV, Influenza A virus, vesicular stomatitis virus etc) activity. In this study, our objective is to examine its immunosuppressive activity of crude saponin extracted from Adhatoda vasica and Ficus religiosa using variable doses (6.25 – 100 mg) on infected human whole blood sample (rickettsial disease; diagnosed in Mangal lab) determined through flow cytometry. In this study, human whole blood samples were stained with or without CD14 monocyte surface marker and analyzed blood counts (lymphocytes, monocytes and granulocytes count) in presence of variable doses of crude saponin. The results showed that crude saponin from both the medicinal plants at higher doses showed decline in monocytes and granulocytes count including CD14 monocyte surface marker as compared to rickettsial control. Overall, the studies reveal that crude saponin from Adhatoda vasica and Ficus religiosa showed immunosuppressive activity in infected human whole blood samples.