Immune enhancing effect by orally-administered mixture of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and fermented rice bran

The mixture (PM) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and fermented rice bran on the activation of macrophage and bone marrow cell proliferation was studied in mice. PM stimulated not only the activation of macrophage (1.8-fold of saline) but also IL-6 production from macrophage (1.5-fold) at 2.0 g/kg/day during 7 days of oral administration. By the culture supernatant of Peyer's patch cells from C3H/HeJ mice fed PM at 2.0 g/kg/day for 7 days, the bone marrow cells significantly proliferated compared with that of mice receiving only saline (1.7-fold). In addition, the contents of GM-CSF and IL-6 in the culture supernatant of Peyer's patch cells from mice fed PM at 2.0 g/kg/day were increased in comparison with those from the control (1.8 and 1.4-fold, respectively). These results revealed that oral administration of PM may modulate IL-6 production to induce the activation of macrophage, and also enhance secretion of hematopoietic growth factors such as GM-CSF and IL-6 from Peyer's patch cells.