Publication de 12 numéros par an
ISSN Imprimer: 1521-9437
ISSN En ligne: 1940-4344
Indexed in
Antitumor Polysaccharides from Edible and Medicinal Mushrooms and Immunomodulating Action Against Murine Macrophages
RÉSUMÉ
The immunomodulating action of an antitumor polysaccharide, lentinan, from Lentinus edodes was investigated in peritoneal maerophages of female BALB/c mice. First, the relationship between lentinan content, as measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). and the effects on the production of tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) during storage was examined. When the mushrooms were stored at low temperature, the contents of their ami tumor polysaccharides and the production levels of TNF-α and NO showed hardly any changes. However, polysaccharide content and cytokine production decreased markedly at higher temperature (20°C). These results suggest that low-temperature storage is more effective in maintaining levels of antitumor polysaccharides and the quality of the mushrooms as the health-beneficient food. Next, the mechanism of cytokine production in murine macrophages stimulated with purified lentinan was examined. The results of time course experiments on the production of TNF-α and NO indicated that TNF-α was produced 12 h earlier than NO. An anti-TNF-α antibody inhibited completely NO production when added simultaneously with purified lentinan to macrophages. NOC-18 (NO donor) itself did not increase levels of TNF-α production. Moreover, simultaneous treatment with L-N-monomethylarginine (NO synthase inhibitor) and lentinan did not affect lentinan-induced production of TNF-α. The NO from macrophages was produced by an autocrine pathway through production of TNF-α.