A 56-year-old man who had suffered from seasonal rhinitis in spring and autumn experienced recurrent generalized urticaria and an oral burning sensation after eating several cooked herbs for 3 months. A skin-prick test showed positive responses to various pollens, celery, Chinese bellflower, and arrowroot. The Chinese bellflower-specific IgE ELISA OD value was 1.547. Oral challenge with unprocessed raw Chinese bellflower root provoked oral burning sensation, eyelid swelling, generalized urticaria, and hypotension. In an ELISA inhibition test, IgE binding to Chinese bellflower was significantly inhibited by Chinese bellflower, mugwort, and birch pollen extract. SDS-PAGE and immunoblot assay revealed nine IgE-binding components, and common protein bands were detected in the range of 40~55 kDa (Chinese bellflower-mugwort-birch) and 14 kDa (Chinese bellflower-birch). Chinese bellflower root can cause anaphylaxis and may have cross-reactivity with mugwort and birch.
Anaphylaxis/*etiology ; Artemisia/*immunology ; Betula/*immunology ; Cross Reactions ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin E/*immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Platycodon/*immunology

OBJECTIVETo study the effects and mechanism of Huchang Qingfei pellets on immune function in rats infected with mycoplasma pneumoniae.

METHODA rat model of mycoplasmal pneumonia (MP) was developed in repeated intranasal infectious routes and then the humoral and cellular immunocompetences were detected by radioimmunoassay, immune-turbidimetry and flow cytometry.

RESULTThe levels of serum IgG,IgM and IL-2, IL-6 were enhinced obviously, the complement C3 and TNF-alpha were decreased and the ratio of CD4+ /CD8+ was improved significantly in the Huchang groups as compared with MP model group.

CONCLUSIONHuchang Qingfei pellets can reinforce immune function via preventing both cellular and humoral immunity from depression in the rats with MP.

Animals ; CD4-CD8 Ratio ; Complement C3 ; metabolism ; Drug Combinations ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; isolation & purification ; pharmacology ; Female ; Immunoglobulin G ; blood ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; Interleukin-2 ; blood ; Interleukin-6 ; blood ; Male ; Plants, Medicinal ; chemistry ; Platycodon ; chemistry ; Pneumonia, Mycoplasma ; blood ; immunology ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar ; Scutellaria baicalensis ; chemistry ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; metabolism