Withania somnifera is an Ayurvedic Indian medicinal plant whose immunomodulatory activities have been widely used as a home remedy for several ailments. We recently observed immunostimulatory properties in the root extracts of chemotypes NMITLI-101, NMITLI-118, NMITLI-128 and pure withanolide, Withaferin A. In the present study, we evaluated the potential immunoprophylactic efficacies of these extracts against an infective pathogen. Our results show that administration of aqueous ethanol extracts (10 mg/kg) and Withaferin A (0.3 mg/kg), 7 days before and after challenge with human filarial parasite Brugia malayi offer differential protection in Mastomys coucha with chemotype 101R offering best protection (53.57%) as compared to other chemotypes. Our findings also demonstrate that establishment of B .malayi larvae was adversely affected by pre-treatment with Withaferin A as evidenced by 63.6% reduction in adult worm establishment. Moreover, a large percentage of the established female worms (66.2%) also showed defective embryogenesis. While the filaria-specific immunological response induced by Withaferin A and NMITLI-101 showed a mixed Th1/Th2 phenotype, 118R stimulated production of IFN-γ, and 128R increased levels of IL-4. Taken together, our findings reveal potential immunoprophylactic properties of Withania somnifera and further studies are needed to ascertain the benefits of this plant against other pathogens as well.

中文翻译：

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Withania somnifera 化学型 NMITLI 101R、NMITLI 118R、NMITLI 128R 和 Withaferin A 保护 Mastomys coucha 免受马来布鲁氏菌感染

Withania somnifera是一种阿育吠陀印度药用植物，其免疫调节活性已被广泛用作治疗多种疾病的家庭疗法。我们最近观察到化学型 NMITLI-101、NMITLI-118、NMITLI-128 和纯的 withanolide、Withaferin A 的根提取物的免疫刺激特性。在本研究中，我们评估了这些提取物对感染性病原体的潜在免疫预防功效。我们的结果表明，在人类丝虫寄生虫攻击前后 7 天，给予水性乙醇提取物 (10 mg/kg) 和 Withaferin A (0.3 mg/kg)，对Mastomys coucha提供不同的保护与其他化学型相比，化学型 101R 提供最佳保护 (53.57%)。我们的研究结果还表明，B.malayi幼虫的建立受到 Withaferin A 预处理的不利影响，成虫建立减少 63.6% 证明了这一点。此外，大部分已建立的雌性蠕虫（66.2%）也表现出胚胎发育缺陷。虽然由 Withaferin A 和 NMITLI-101 诱导的丝虫特异性免疫反应显示出混合的 Th1/Th2 表型，但 118R 刺激了 IFN-γ 的产生，而 128R 增加了 IL-4 的水平。总之，我们的研究结果揭示了睡茄潜在的免疫预防特性，需要进一步的研究来确定这种植物对其他病原体的益处。