Comparative studies on the influence of higher basidiomycetes polysaccharide fractions on reactive oxidizing species production

Mushrooms are greatly prized in oriental cultures because they are known to have more than one active role in traditional medicine. Current practice is to use whole mushroom preparations or simple water extracts. It is assumed that the active polysaccharide fractions are β-(1 →3)-glucans. In this work, we have extracted polysaccharides using different solvent systems from dry mycelia of Ganoderma lucidum, G.adspersum, Schizophyllum commune, and Trametes versicolor. The influence of these polysaccharide fractions on reactive oxidizing species production by white blood cells and neutrophils was compared. A novel fluorescent method was used to detect the changes in generation of reactive oxidizing species. The fractions have different and, in some cases, opposing activities on reactive oxidizing species production. Reduction in activity when polysaccharide extracts are used together with N-formyl-methionyl-phenylalanine (FMP), an immune system activator, suggests the active site for these polysaccharides could be the same as that of FMP. This is the first report that polysaccharide fractions from G. adspersum show immunomodulatory properties