Abstract: Objective: To explore the effect of chickpea peptide on the immune function in immunocompromised mice. Methods: Sixty male ICR mice were randomly divided into control, cyclophosphamide model and low-, medium- and high-dose chickpea peptide groups with 12 mice in each group. In the first three days of the experiment, the mice in all groups except the control group were intraperitoneally injected with cyclophosphamide at a daily dose of 80 mg/kg mb to establish an immunocompromised mouse model. Subsequently, the mice in the low-, medium- and high-dose groups were administered with chickpea peptide at doses of 0.4, 0.8 and 1.6 g/kg mb and those in the control and cyclophosphamide model groups with casein at 1.6 g/kg mb. After continuous gavage for 15 consecutive days, body mass, the mass and morphology of spleen and thymus, white blood cell count, immunoglobulin contents, peripheral blood T lymphocyte subsets, cytokine levels, bone marrow nucleated cell count and deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) content were measured. Results: After modeling, the morphological structure of the spleen and thymus tissues in mice was disordered; white blood cell count, CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+ lymphocyte percentages, immunoglobulin contents, and the number of nucleated cells and DNA content in bone marrow were significantly reduced (P < 0.05); cytokine levels were significantly increased (P < 0.05). Compared with the model group, the above indicators in the chickpea peptide intervention groups were improved in different degrees, with the most significant effect being observed at the middle and high doses (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Chickpea peptide can enhance the immune function of immunocompromised mice induced by cyclophosphamide.

Key words: chickpea peptide; bioactive peptide; cyclophosphamide; immunocompromised; immune regulation