Antioxidative and immunological activities of ophiopogon polysaccharide liposome from the root of Ophiopogon japonicus.

The antioxidative and immunoregulatory activities of ophiopogon polysaccharide liposome (OPL) were investigated. The results demonstrated that the radical-scavenging activity increased along with the increasing of OPL concentrations, and the scavenging capability of OPL was slightly stronger than ophiopogon polysaccharide (OP) in vitro. In vivo, OPL at high and medium doses could significantly improve the levels of SOD and GSH-Px, and decrease the levels of MPO, XOD and MDA compared with OP. In addition, OPL could not only significantly enhance the splenocyte proliferation and the proportion of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, but also improve the levels of cytokines, antigen-specific antibody titers and immune organ index in the mice immunized with OVA compared with OP. These results indicated that the antioxidative and immunoregulatory activities of OP were significantly enhanced after encapsulated with liposome. Therefore, OPL would be expected to exploit into a new-type of functional food as both medicine and food.