Natural immunity boosters: Clinical trial reports

Background ^1,2

Neurocognitive diseases is mostly characterised by a decrease in intellectual function due to different disease of the brain caused by cerebrovascular disease, Alzheimers disease, infections, adverse drug reactions and trauma. In human metabolism, oxygen plays a very critical role for cell functioning and energy production via oxidative phosphorylation pathways. But during metabolism of oxygen ROS are generated, which in large amounts may cause detrimental effects on the body. ROS may include superoxide anion (O₂⁻), hydroxyl radical (OH⁻), hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), and hypochlorous acid which are formed by the mitochondrial electron transport chain, and during intracellular metabolism. Uncontrolled ROS production can lead to oxidative stress, causing damage to the surrounding cells leading neurocognitive and cardiovascular diseases and also damage different organs such as liver, lugs etc.During this COVID-19 situation it becomes utmost important to keep the body healthy and enhance the plasma antioxidant potential and decrease oxidative stress, which can help promote oxidative homeostasis. Studies have shown that Maginiferin shows antioxidant properties by protecting against oxidative stress and by significantly increasing levels of SOD, GSH, CAT, GST, and by quenching free radicals. It also has anti-inflammatory properties, reduces mortality and acute lung injury (ALI).  Curcumin is a potent antioxidant and acts by neutralizing free radicals and enhancing the production of antioxidant enzymes. Vitamin C acts as an active antioxidant, decreases reactive oxygen species, prevents lipid peroxidation and protein alkylation, providing a protection to the cells against oxidative stress and preventing cellular damage. This is to a great extent provided by the health drinks containing extracts of different plant and herbs such as containing extracts of Mango, Centella asiatica and turmeric, Amla etc which exhibit strong antioxidant property and provide relief and boost the immunity. Hence, in-vitro clinical trials were carried out to prove the efficacy of the health drink ².

Study design ²

The study was designed to determine the effectiveness of Mulmina® Mango as preventive care for chemo brain. Mulmina was administered orally from day 0 to day 21 in the selected doses.

The study was done using male swiss albino mice weighing 20-30g were treated with food and water ad libitum for 21 days .Three chemotherapeutic agents namely cyclophosphamide, methotrexate and 5-fluorouracil (CMF)were used to induce  cognitive impairment in the mice

Method ²:

The below parameters were studied

• Behavioral parameters which included Open field test (OFT) for locomotor activity; Morris Water Maze (MWM) for learning and memory.
• Antioxidant parameters in the rain homogenate like catlase, lipid peroxidation, Hemtological parameters such as total and differential WBC, RBC, platelet count and hemoglobin content were lso estimate. Further, parameters like Brain-IL-6, Brain TNF-α, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) were also considered.

Results ²

The study showed that in the OFT, all the animals were having equal cognitive abilities. The Morris Water Maze test concluded that when the mice treated the lower and higher doses of Mulmina ® showed much improvement in the spatial memory of the mice, thus proving that Mulmina® exhibited hippocampus protecting activity from any damage caused by inflammation.

A lower dose of 40 mL/kg/day (24±4.0) Mulmina® and a higher dose 80 mL/kg/day (16±3.7) and donepezil (16±6.3) showed significant escape latency (ELT) at (p<0.05),as compared to the standard drugs. Also both a lower and a higher dose of Mulmina® (2.9±0.46) and donepezil (5.9±1.2)), reduced the latency to first line crossing (FLC) significantly (p<0.05) as compared to standard drugs (17±2.3)

Higher doses of Mulmina® showed much different retention time as compared to be the standard drugs. Higher dose of Mulmina® showed considerable increase in granulocyte count (0.78±0.16; control (p<0.05), elevation in the monocyte count (1.40±0.81) when compared to normal control (0.52±0.12; lowering in platelet count compared to normal control (p<0.05), restored the pro-inflammatory cytokines levels 35±4.4; p<0.001), while lower doses of Mulmina® (26±1.6) and donepezil (26±2.4) lowered the BDNF levels significantly (p<0.05).

Further it was observed that lipid peroxidation was restored in Mulmina® treated groups compared to groups treated with standard drugs.

Discussion ^2,3

Due to oxidative stress, apoptosis, chemotherapy-induced inhibition of neuronal proliferation and differentiation, activation of microglia, etc. chemo brain occurs in chemotherapies, which greatly affects the memory, learning ability, ability to process information. The chromatin remodelling is affected and causes aberrant expression of neurotrophic proteins in the brain. Natural herbs having strong antioxidant activity may be helpful in relieving this distress. Mostly natural plant extracts such as Magniferin from mango, Curcumin from turmeric, Vitamin C and quercetin in Amla, shown excellent antioxidant property which may help to reduce the oxidative stress. The current study showed the Mulmina® improved cognition, learning as well as memory, reduced pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-6 and BDNF which are elevated in neuroinflammatory conditions.  Mulmina® also reduced the levels of Lipid peroxidation  (LPO) which provide evidence that it has  endogenous antioxidant potential.

Further the safety of Mulmina® use was proved as no adverse effects on locomotors activity and hematological parameters were observed.

Conclusion

The above studies show that Mulmina® improved cognition, learning and also showed antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties which can help to reduce the Neurocognitive diseases affecting people due to the pandemic related trauma, anxiety and fear.

References:

1. Sarah Buckley SB, Catherine Cochrane, Michael Roche, Jacob D. Estes, Stavros Selemidis, Thomas A. Angelovich, Melissa J. Churchill,. The role of oxidative stress in HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. Brain, Behavior, & Immunity - Health,. 2021;13, 100235:1-11.
2. Mulmina, Scientific updates,Update-1, 1-64.
3. Sarah Larrigan SS, Alex Fernandes,and Pierre Mattar. Chromatin Remodeling in the Brain-a NuRDevelopmental Odyssey. Int J Mol Sci. 2021;22(9): (4768.):1-19.