Cistanche salsa extract enhanced IgM production in the human B cell line BALL-1

Cistanche salsa (C.A. Meyer) is a parasitic plant that is used as an oriental medicinal tonic in Japan. In this study we show that the C. salsa extract dialysate (CSD), which was prepared by removing the low-molecular-weight constituents from the extract using a 3,500 Da molecular-weight-cut-off dialysis membrane, enhanced IgM production in the human B cell line BALL-1. At 100 µg/ml, CSD was shown to be able to increase IgM production 1.8-fold with the added effect of slightly inducing cell proliferation. Intracellular IgM production was also increased upon treatment with CSD. These results suggest that the high-molecular-weight constituents in C. salsa is able to activate BALL-1 extracellularly and enhance IgM production.