Polysaccharopeptide from the mushroom Coriolus versicolor possesses analgesic activity but does not produce adverse effects on female reproductive or embryonic development in mice.
1. Coriolus versicolor polysaccharopeptide has been reported to exert immunomodulatory and antitumor actions. The present study showed that it exhibits analgesic activity in the hot-plate test upon intraperitoneal administration to ICR mice. 2. It did not affect ovarian steroidogenesis, ovulation and midterm gestation in mice. It did not exert an adverse effect on mouse embryonic development either, as evidenced by the lack of an effect on somite number, axial length and the incidence of abnormalities in heartbeat, yolk sac circulation, optic vesicle, otic vesicle, shape of body axis, forelimb buds, branchial apparatus, cranial neural tube and head size. 3. Its analgesic activity would add to its attribute as an immunomodulatory and antitumor drug.
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Departments of Biochemistry and Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong.
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D000700:Analgesics / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000737:chemistry*; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005314:Embryonic and Fetal Development / Q000187:drug effects*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D011247:Pregnancy; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000494:pharmacology*; D012098:Reproduction / Q000187:drug effects*
D000700:Analgesics; D011509:Proteoglycans; C093216:polysaccharide peptide