Antioxidant and immunomodulatory effects of a α-glucan from fruit body of maitake (Grifola frondosa)

The antioxidant and immunomodulatory effect of an alpha-glucan (designated here as MT-alpha-glucan) from fruit body of Maitake mushroom (Grifola frondosa) on D-galactose (D-gal)-induced senescent mice model was evaluated. Results showed that MT-alpha-glucan could ameliorate age-related alternations in both motor and memory activities of senescent mice. Treatment with MT-alpha-glucan (450 or 150 mg kg(-1)) significantly increased the body weight, hepatic superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase activity, reduced glutathione content, the proliferative response and interleukine-2 (IL-2) production of splenocytes induced by ConA. Treatment with MT-alpha-glucan significantly decreased hepatic malondialdehyde content, the levels of macrophage proliferative response and IL-1 and NO production. These data suggest that MT-alpha-glucan has antioxidative and immunomodulatory effects on D-gal-induced senescent mice.