effects of lavandula angustifolia essential oil on interleukin 23 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of multiple sclerosis patients

Background: we aimed to determine the effect of lavandula angustifolia essential oil (leo) on il-23 and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (bdnf) gene expressions in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (pbmcs) of relapse-remitting ms (rrms) patients. materials and methods: leo was prepared using the hydrodistilation method on the plants aerial parts. 8 female rrms patients and 8 healthy sex and age matched controls were entered into this study. pbmc cells were separated using ficoll method and were treated with a concentration of 225 μg/ml leo which and then the mrnas were used for determining the effects of leo on il-23 and bdnf gene expressions using quantitative real time pcr technique. moreover in order to determine the anti-inflammatory effects of leo, we measured the gene expression of il-6 and il-23 in stimulated healthy pbmc cells treated with leo. results: results showed that there is no significant difference between pbmc of patients compared to healthy controls in case of il-23 gene expression. moreover, leo has no significant effect on gene expression of il-23 in pbmc of neither patients nor control. also the results showed that bdnf gene expression is reduced to 41% compared to healthy controls and leo can increase the bdnf gene expression by 81% in patients pbmcs. moreover we observed that leo can significantly reduce the lps stimulated il-6 gene expression in healthy pbmcs but had no significant effect on il-23 gene expression. conclusion: the present study demonstrated that l.angustifolia essential oil may have a protective effect against neuron damage via increasing the gene expression of bdnf in pbmcs from rrms patients. however, further studies are necessary to confirm our results.