Chinese skullcap contains a compound, Baicalin, which may favorably alter the TH1/TH2 balance in asthma. - GreenMedInfo Summary
[Primary study on mechanism of baicalin on the Th1/Th2 response in murine model of asthma].
Zhong Yao Cai. 2009 Sep;32(9):1407-10. PMID: 20034219
OBJECTIVE: To study the mechanism of baicalin on the cytokines of Th1/Th2 in murine model of asthma. METHODS: The murine model of asthma was induced by OVA. Different doses of baicalin were orally administered to the mice respectively. The spleen cells were cultured 3 days for the measurement of IFN-gamma, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-10 by ELISA. After 2 days of culture, the spleen cells were treated with Trizol for extraction of total RNA. The gene expressions of T-bet, GATA-3 and STAT-6 were analyzed by RT-PCR. RESULTS: The treatment with baicalin obviously decreased the production of IL-4 and IL-5 and the gene expression of GATA-3, STAT-6, but increased the production of IL-10. CONCLUSION: Baicalin may modulate the Th1/Th2 balance mainly by alterating the gene expressions of GATA-3 and STAT-6 in vivo and increasing the production of IL-10.