In vitro immunopharmacological profile of the plant flavonoid baohuoside-1

A novel flavonoid compound baohuoside-1 (3,5,7-trihydroxy-4'-methoxyl-8-prenylflavone-3-O-alpha-L-rhamnopy ranoside) was investigated for immunopharmacological properties in vitro. The results show that baohuoside-1 has significant suppressive effects on neutrophil chemotaxis, mitogen-induced lymphocyte transformation, mixed-lymphocyte culture, NK-cell cytotoxicity and IL-2 production. These dose-dependent inhibitory effects were found to be significant at concentrations of less than 1 microgram/ml, compared with greater than 94% cell viability at concentrations of 10 micrograms/ml. These results suggest that baohuoside-1 may have potential as an anti-inflammatory/immunosuppressive agent.