In vitro Evaluation of Immunomodulatory Effects of the Test Formulation by the Estimation of Natural Killer Cells and Phagocytosis Activities

Abstract

Although the immunomodulatory effects of vitamins, minerals, and many herbs per se have been extensively studied,
while research related to possible immunomodulatory effects of a combined formulation is relatively scarce. Here, the
potential immunomodulatory effects of the combination of eight components viz. zinc chloride, ferrous sulfate, sodium
selenate, nanocurcumin, copper chloride, magnesium gluconate, vitamin C, and vitamin D3 were investigated. These
components are widely used in therapeutic, cosmetics and dietary supplements. The current study investigated the in
vitro immunomodulatory effect of a Consciousness Energy Healing (The Trivedi Effect®) Treated nanocurcumin-based
test formulation in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced natural killer (NK) cells activity in splenocytes cell-line coincubated with mouse lymphoma cell line (Yac-1). The formulation was divided into two parts, in which one part of the
formulation was received the Biofield Treatment by a renowned Biofield Energy Healer, Mr. Mahendra Kumar Trivedi and
was defined as the Biofield Energy Treated sample, while the other part was denoted as the untreated test sample. Cell
viability using MTT assay in mouse splenocytes showed more than 98% cells were viable upto 10.4 µg/mL of the tested
concentrations, indicating that the test formulation was safe and nontoxic. The NK cells activity was measured in cell
supernatants using ELISA. The NK cells activity was significantly altered by 26.73%, 11.82%, 7.64%, 0.36% and 36.36% in the untreated formulation group at 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5.2, and 10.4 µg/mL, respectively compared to the vehicle control (VC) group. Further, Biofield Energy Treated test formulation exhibited 39.64%, 8.18%, 17.27%, 51.93% and 42.55% alteration of the NK cells activity at the concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5.2, and 10.4 µg/mL, respectively compared to the VC group. Moreover, the cell viability of the test formulation was assessed in RAW 264.7 (Mouse Macrophage Cell Line) for phagocytosis activity was safe upto 13.3 µg/mL with >90% on cell viability. The phagocytosis assay data showed that at two concentrations (1.3 and 7.6 µg/mL) the Biofield Energy Treated test formulation improved extent of phagocytosis by 6.31% and 5.91%, respectively compared to the untreated test formulation group. In summary, the Biofield Energy  Treated test formulation may have indeed immunomodulatory effect by enhanced NK cells activity and extent of phagocytosis responses. These observations indicated that the Biofield Energy Treated test formulation has the potential effects through modulating the expression of NK cells function and phagocytosis and might be developed as a useful antiinflammatory product for various inflammatory disorders.