Polyscias filicifolia belonging to the Araliaceae family is a plant of adaptogenic and immunomodulating properties. This species is native to Southeast Asia and in our climate zone it is known only as an ornamental pot plant. Since P. filicifolia is rare in the wild and it is difficult to obtain its seeds, in the Department of Biology and Pharmaceutical Botany of the Medical University of Warsaw a method of in vitro propagation was elaborated. In Russia extracts of cell biomass from P. filicifolia suspension cultures grown in bioreactors are used as an adptogenic and immunostimmulating preparation.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the activity of Polyscias filicifolia extracts from dried shoots, leaves, cell biomass and the fraction of triterpene saponines from dry shoots by testing theirs effect on the survival rate of mouse thymocytes cultured with hydrocortisone in cytotoxicity test; the increase of the ability of splenocytes to attach to sheep erythrocytes in E-rosette test; increase of IgM + IgG and IgG antibodies level in mouse serum in hemagglutination test. The obtained results indicate that tested extracts of P. filicifolia and the saponin fraction show immunomodulating activity. However the obtained results may suggest diversification concerning the quantity and quality of biologically active substances present in tested Polyscias filicifolia extracts. We can suppose that the triterpene saponines fraction is not the main factor determining the immunomodulating activity of the extracts. Confirmation of the immunomodulating activity of tested Polyscias filicifolia extracts suggests that they may be further used in medical practice.