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<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The extracts of <it>Plumbago zeylanica </it>have been used in China and other Asian countries as folk medicine for the treatment of cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and dysmenorrhoea. Effect of Plumbagin (5-hydroxy-2-methyl-1,4-naphthoquinone) purified from <it>Plumbago zeylanica </it>on Con A induced T cell proliferation was studied in spleen cells from collagen induced arthritic DBA/1 mice.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The DBA/1 mice (five per each group) were immunized with 0.1 mL of collagen (emulsified in CFA) by intradermal injection at the base of the tail. On day 20, mice were given a booster dose of collagen (emulsified in IFA) through the same route. Plumbagin was given at different concentrations (3.3, 6.6, 13.3 mg/kg body weight) intraperitoneally. Control mice received olive oil alone. The Con A induced T cell proliferative responses of arthritic and Plumbagin treated mice were studied by cell culture experiments using tritiated Thymidine. In addition the cytokine levels were estimated from the <it>in vitro </it>spleen culture supernatants of arthritic mice primed with different concentrations of Plumbagin by ELISA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Plumbagin enhanced the decreased Con A induced T cell proliferation and Interleukin-2 production in arthritic mice. Moreover elevated levels of IFN- γ were found to be decreased in Plumbagin treated spleen cell culture supernatants. Subclasses of IgG were found to be decreased by Plumbagin treatment, IgG2a reduction seems to be more prominent.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results obtained in the current study indicate that Plumbagin is very effective in the mechanism based treatment of Rheumatoid arthritis.</p>