title: Effects of polysaccharide peptides from COV-1 strain of Coriolus versicolor on glutathione and glutathione-related enzymes in the mouse.
abstract: The effects of polysaccharide peptide (PSP), an immunomodulator isolated from Coriolus versicolor COV-1, on glutathione (GSH) and GSH-related enzymes was investigated in C57 mouse. Administration of PSP (1-4 micromole/kg, i.p.) produced a transient, dose-dependent depletion (10-37%) of hepatic GSH, with no effect on serum glutamic-pyruvic transaminase (SGPT) activity. Blood GSH was depleted (6-25%) at 3 h, followed by a rebound increase above the control GSH level (20%) at 18 h. The GSSG/GSH ratio, a measure of oxidative stress, was increased 3 h after PSP treatment but returned to normal levels at 24 h. Sub-chronic treatment of PSP (1-4 micromole/kg/day, i.p.) for seven days did not produce any significant changes in hepatic GSH levels and the GSSG/GSH ratio when measured 24 h after the final dose of PSP. PSP had little effect on glutathione transferase (GST), glutathione reductase (GSSG reductase) and glutathione peroxidase (GPX) activities in the liver. However, a dose-dependent increase in blood GPX activity (30-48%) was observed at 3h, which coincided with the increase in the GSSG/GSH ratio. The increase in blood GPX activity may be a responsive measure to deal with the transient oxidative stress induced by PSP treatment. The results showed that PSP only caused a transient perturbation on hepatic glutathione without affecting the GSH-related enzymes such as GST, GSSG reductase and GPX. The observed changes in blood GSH simply reflected the intra-organ translocation of glutathione, as the glutathione-related enzymes were not significantly affected by PSP treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T., Hong Kong SAR, China. johnyeung@cuhk.edu.hk
authors.forename: John H K
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Yeung
authors.forename: Penelope M Y
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Or
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001487:Basidiomycota / Q000378:metabolism*; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005978:Glutathione / Q000378:metabolism*; D019803:Glutathione Disulfide / Q000378:metabolism; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D005980:Glutathione Reductase / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D005982:Glutathione Transferase / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D008099:Liver / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D011509:Proteoglycans; C093216:polysaccharide peptide; D005979:Glutathione Peroxidase; D005980:Glutathione Reductase; D005982:Glutathione Transferase; D000410:Alanine Transaminase; D005978:Glutathione; D019803:Glutathione Disulfide