Hepatoprotection of enzymatic-extractable mycelia zinc polysaccharides by Pleurotus eryngii var. tuoliensis

The purpose of this work was designed to investigate the hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects of enzymatic-extractable mycelia zinc polysaccharides (En-MZPS) from Pleurotus eryngii var. tuoliensis on the hyperlipidemic mice induced by high-fat-high-cholesterol emulsion (HFHCM). The results showed that the supplementation of En-MZPS had potential anti-hyperlipidemia effects on reducing hepatic lipid levels by monitoring the serum enzyme activities (ALP, ALT and AST) and serum lipid levels (TC, TG, HDL-C, LDL-C and VLDL-C), enhancing the antioxidant enzymes (SOD, GSH-Px, CAT and T-AOC), and decreasing the lipid peroxidation (MDA and LPO). Furthermore, the in vitro scavenging results indicated that the inhibition effects of En-MZPS on hydroxyl radicals and 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals reached 59.98 ± 6.29% and 37.01 ± 2.15%, respectively. These conclusions demonstrated that the En-MZPS might be suitable for functional foods and natural drugs in preventing the HFHCM-induced hyperlipidemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver.