Managing murine food allergy with Cissampelos sympodialis Eichl (Menispermaceae) and its alkaloids

Food allergy is a severe human disease with imminent risk of life. Cissampelos sympodialis (Menispermaceae) is a native Brazilian plant used in Brazilian folk medicine for the treatment of respiratory allergies. In this study the experimental model of food allergy induced by ovalbumin (OVA) was used to determine whether the alcoholic extract of the plant (AFL) and its alkaloids match a therapeutic approach for this disease. Animal weight, diarrhea, OVA-specific IgE levels, inflammatory cell and cytokine profiles, mucus production and proportion of T cells on the mesenteric lymph node (MLN) were evaluated. Warifteine (W) or methyl-warifteine (MW) alkaloids slightly improve diarrhea score independently of AFL and all treatments decreased the OVA-specific IgE levels. Stimulated mesenteric lymph node (MLN) cells in the presence of the alkaloids diminished the IL-12p70 levels independently of IFN-γ or IL-13 secretion. The alkaloids increased the number of Treg cells on MLN and reduced the number of eosinophils and mast cells as well as mucus production in the gut. Therefore, the alkaloids modulate the immune response in food allergy by increasing regulatory T cells in MLN independently of Th1 or Th2 profiles.