Moringa Oleifera Tea Alters Neutrophil But not Lymphocyte Levels in the Blood of Acutely Stressed Mice

Stress influences health and wellbeing, altering many physiological systemsincluding the immune system. Herbal concoctions including teas impactimmunity and mitigate the negative effects of stress. Moringa oleifera is a treethat is exceptionally rich in medicinally relevant and immune modulatingnutrients and phytochemicals. The goal of this experiment was to determinewhether tea prepared from dried Moringa oleifera leaves influenced acute stressinduced changes to the levels of circulating lymphocyte and neutrophils. Balb/cmice were offered either water or Moringa tea ad libitum for four days and thenrandomly selected for either restraint for 1h or 12 h to induce stress or left alone(unstressed). Post stress the levels of circulating neutrophils and lymphocytesinthe blood were determined by differential cell staining. While, mice thatconsumed water had significant (p<0.05) increases in circulating bloodneutrophils after 1h of restraint, the level of neutrophils in the mice dosed withtea remained unchanged. Post 12h of restraint stress significant (p<0.05)increases in neutrophil levels were observed in mice that consumed tea but notin mice that consumed water. In the case of lymphocytes, consumption ofMoringa tea had no effect. Compared to unstressed mice, 1 h or 12 h of restraintstress resulted insignificant (p<0.05) decreases in circulating lymphocytes ofsimilar magnitude in both the water and Moringa tea groups. Flow cytometricanalysis showed no significant differences in CD3+ T cells or CD19+ B cellslevels. These data suggest that consumption of the Moringa tea can influencestress induced variations to circulating neutrophils but not lymphocytes.