Immunomodulatory and Antioxidant Effects of Polysaccharides from Pleurotus ostreatus on Immunosuppressed Mice

Abstract

The presented study investigates the immunity activities of Pleurotus ostreatus polysaccharides (POP) in the cyclophosphamide (CTX)-immunosuppressed mice. The CTX-induced mice were orally administrated with POP at the dosage of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg·BW respectively, for 28 days. Experimental results showed that POP improved the immune functions of the immunosuppressed mice, retarded the decrease in body weight and enhanced the immune organ index, and simultaneously increased the T-lymphocyte proliferation rate. In POP group, the level of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH), the activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), acid phosphatase (ACP), immunoprotein (Ig-A, Ig-G, Ig-M), cytokines (TNF-α, IL-2, INF-γ), blood parameters (red blood cells, hemoglobin, white blood cells, platelets) were also remarkably improved compared to the CTX group. From this study, we can find that POP exhibits significant antioxidant activity by enhancing catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-PX), total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC), and total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), and inversely decreasing the malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. In conclusion, it can be proved that the preventive intervention of POP could enhance the immune function and antioxidant activity in the immunosuppressed mice. These findings may provide a valuable reference for the application of POP in chemotherapy-induced immunosuppression therapy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved