Essential oil of niaouli preferentially potentiates antigen-specific cellular immunity and cytokine production by macrophages.

In vivo immunomodulatory effect of essential oil of niaouli (EON) was investigated using a mouse model, in which mice were immunized with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) and intraperitoneally given EON (less than 500 microl kg(-1) body weight). In vivo efficacy of EON for immune potentiation was convinced by significantly higher expression of an activation marker, CD25, on freshly isolated draining lymph node (LN) T cells, but not B cells. However, immunofluoresence analysis failed to show any proportional change in T/B and CD4(+)/CD8(+) T cell ratios.