Research Article Orostachys japonicus A. Berger Extracts Induce Immunity-Enhancing Effects on Cyclophosphamide-Treated Immunosuppressed Rats Hak Yong Lee, 1 Young Mi Park, 1 Jeong Kim, 2 Hong Geun Oh, 3 Kang Sung Kim, 4 Hee Joo Kang, 5 Ri Rang Kim, 5 Min Jung Kim, 5 Sang Hee Kim, 5 Hye Jeong Yang, 5 and Jisun Oh 6 1 INVIVO Co. Ltd., Iksan, Jeollabuk-do 54538, Republic of Korea 2 Namwon Herb Agricultural Corp., Namwon, Jeollabuk-do 55770, Republic of Korea 3 Huvet Co. Ltd., Iksan, Jeollabuk-do 54630, Republic of Korea 4 Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Yong In University, Yongin, Gyeonggi-do 17092, Republic of Korea 5 Korea Food Research Institute, Wanju, Jeollabuk-do 55365, Republic of Korea 6 School of Food Science and Biotechnology (BK21 Plus), Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea Correspondence should be addressed to Jisun Oh; j.oh@knu.ac.kr Received 26 September 2018; Revised 21 November 2018; Accepted 29 November 2018; Published 6 January 2019 Guest Editor: Hengjia Ni Copyright © 2019 Hak Yong Lee et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. In this study, we evaluated the immunity-enhancing efects of Orostachys japonicus A. Berger (OJ). To examine the immune protective efect in vitro, primary mouse splenocytes were treated with water or ethanol extracts of OJ in the absence or presence of cyclophosphamide (CY), which is a cytotoxic, immunosuppressive agent. Te extracts increased the propagation of splenocytes and inhibited CY-induced cytotoxicity. Further, to examine the immunostimulatory efects in vivo, adult Wistar rats were orally administered OJ extracts with or without CY treatment. With the administration of OJ extracts, CY-treated immunosuppressed rats showed improved physical endurance, as assessed by the forced swim test. In addition, extract administration increased not only the number of immunity-related cells but also the levels of plasma cytokines. OJ extracts also recovered splenic histology in CY-treated rats. Tese fndings suggest that an OJ regimen can enhance immunity by increasing immune cell propagation and specifc plasma cytokine levels. 1. Introduction Cyclophosphamide (CY) is known to possess antitumor and immunomodulatory properties [1, 2]. CY is a cytotoxic agent that disrupts DNA replication and inhibits cell propagation [3, 4] and thus widely used as a chemotherapeutic drug for various types of cancer [2, 5]. In addition, CY can suppress an immune response by modulating lymphocytes [5–8]. Since CY-induced immunosuppression increases vulnerability to pathogen infections and incidence of morbidity and mortal- ity [9–11], adjuvant alternatives in alleviating immunotoxicity and enhancing host immunity are of great interest in can- cer therapy [12]. For this reason, the immune-modulating properties of natural plants and their components have been explored for the development of functional foods [9, 13, 14]. Orostachys japonicus A. Berger (OJ), known as rock pine (or “Wa-song” in Korean), is a perennial herb belonging to the family Crassulaceae [15] that contains various bioactive compounds such as favonoids, triterpenoid, and gallic acid [16–22]. OJ is used as a folk remedy, with antioxidant [22–25], anti-infammatory, and anticancer efects [26–31]. Recently, the immunostimulatory activity of OJ water extract has been studied in RAW264.7 murine macrophage cell line [20]. However, data to support its physiological function are still required. In this study, we evaluated the immunity-enhancing efect of OJ water and ethanol extracts in vitro and in vivo Hindawi BioMed Research International Volume 2019, Article ID 9461960, 9 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/9461960