Immunomodulating Activity of the Exopolymer from Submerged Mycelial Culture of Phellinus pini

Abstract

The immunomodulating activities and chemical characteristics df a water-soluble exopolymer from submerged mycelial culture of Phellinus pini were studied. Anticomplementary activity of this polymer was found to be 73.2%, and its activation system occurred through both classical and alternative pathways, where the classical pathway was detected to be the major one by crossed immunoelectrophoresis. Nitric oxide (NO) release ability and acid phosphatase activity of macrophage were increased by 1.6-fold (100 μg/ml) and 3.4-fold (500 μg/ml), respectively, and splenocyte proliferation in mixed lymphocyte reaction (MLR) was also increased by 2.6-fold (200 μg/ml), compared to the control. The molecular weight of this polymer, determined by HPLC, was under 5 kDa. Total sugar and protein contents were 89.7 and 10.3%, respectively. Both sugar and amino acid compositions of the exopolymer were also analyzed.