title: Effects of Ganoderma lucidum and krestin on cellular immunocompetence in gamma-ray-irradiated mice.
abstract: The effects of Ganoderma lucidum (Gl) and Krestin (PSK) extracts on cellular immunocompetence, leukocyte counts and differential count in gamma-irradiated mice were investigated in this study. ICR strain male mice were used and randomly divided into five groups. Group A is normal control. Group B, the experimental control, was treated with Gl. Group C, the radiation treatment control, was treated with whole body exposure to 4 Gy gamma-irradiation (RT). Group D was treated with RT and Gl. Group E was treated with RT and PSK. The dosage of Gl was 400 mg/day/kg body weight and PSK was 500 mg/day/kg body weight. After irradiation, six mice from each group were sacrificed on day 7 and the other six on day 28. Cellular immunocompetence was measured by means of 3H-thymidine incorporation with splenic cells stimulated through mitogens such as PHA, Con A and LPS. The results revealed that relative splenic weight in Groups D and E were higher than group C on day 28 after gamma-irradiation, Group D was the highest in all the experimental groups. Leukocyte counts were decreased significantly in Groups D and E on day 7, the former was a little higher than the latter. Gl administration showed an increase in the leukocyte count in Group D on day 28. The blastogenic response of splenocytes to PHA and Con A in groups D and E were higher than in Group C on days 7 and 28. We suggested that Gl and PSK were effective in enhancing the recovery of cellular immunocompetence from gamma-ray irradiation.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Radiation Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan.
authors.forename: W C
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Hau
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000737:chemistry; D001835:Body Weight / Q000187:drug effects; D002452:Cell Count; D007121:Immunocompetence / Q000187:drug effects*; D007155:Immunologic Factors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008516:Medicine, Chinese Traditional; D051379:Mice; D009000:Monocytes / Q000187:drug effects; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000494:pharmacology*; D011827:Radiation; D013154:Spleen / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D007155:Immunologic Factors; D011509:Proteoglycans; C010770:polysaccharide-K