Structure and Immuno-Stimulating Activities of a New Heteropolysaccharide from Lentinula edodes

• Published in: Journal of agricultural and food chemistry Vol. 60; no. 46; pp. 11560 - 11566
• Main Authors: Xu, Xiaofei, Yan, Huidan, Zhang, Xuewu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 21-11-2012
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cell Line; Food industries; Fruit and vegetable industries; Fruiting Bodies, Fungal - chemistry; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Immunologic Factors - chemistry; Immunologic Factors - immunology; Immunologic Factors - isolation & purification; Immunologic Factors - pharmacology; Interleukin-6 - immunology; Macrophages - drug effects; Macrophages - immunology; Mice; Molecular Weight; Polysaccharides - chemistry; Polysaccharides - immunology; Polysaccharides - isolation & purification; Polysaccharides - pharmacology; Shiitake Mushrooms - chemistry; Toll-Like Receptor 2 - immunology; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha - immunology; heteropolysaccharide; toll-like receptor; mushroom; immuno-stimulating activity; structure; Lentinula edodes; Fungi; Immunostimulation; Structure; Edible fungi
• ISSN: 0021-8561; 1520-5118
• DOI: 10.1021/jf304364c

In this study, a new heteropolysaccharide, here called L2, was separated from the fruit body of Lentinula edodes. Chemical and physical analyses indicated that L2 has a molecular weight of 26 KDa and consists of glucose (87.5%), galactose (9.6%), and arabinose (2.8%), but it does not possess a triple-helical conformation. Stimulation of the production of nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), and interleukin 6 (IL-6) in RAW 264.7 cells showed that L2 has significant immune activities involving toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2). Further studies demonstrated that the activities of L2 exhibited high stability in wide range of pH from 4.0 to 10.0, when the thermal processing temperature was below 121 °C. Our findings revealed that a new heteropolysaccharide without triple-helical conformation from Lentinula edodes shows immuno-stimulating activities involving TLR2 at modest pH and thermal processing conditions, which enable it to act as an active component in foods.