Immunomodulatory activity of macromolecular polysaccharide isolated from Grifola frondosa

The present study was designed to evaluate the immune-modulating effects of the polysaccharide from Grifola frondosa (GFP) by using mouse peritoneal macrophage and cytoxan (CTX) induced immunosuppression models. Our results from the phagocytotic and mononuclear phagocytic system function assays showed that GFP-A (one component from GFP) stimulated the phagocytosis of the phagocytes. The splenocyte proliferation assay showed that GFP-A acted the effect combing ConA or LPS in splenocyte proliferation. The results showed that GFP-A increased indices of thymus and spleen, the levels of LDH and ACP in the spleen, the mRNA levels of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-6 and IFN-γ in splenocyte. And GFP-A also significantly increased the expression of CD4+ and CD8+ splenic T lymphocytes, which were suppressed by the CTX in peripheral blood. In conclusion, our results indicate that the GFP-A is involved in immunomodulatory effects leading to its modulatory effects on immunosuppression.