title: Antioxidant Effects of Medicinal Mushrooms Agaricus brasiliensis and Ganoderma lucidum (Higher Basidiomycetes): Evidence from Animal Studies.
abstract: With diabetes mellitus and increased glucose concentrations, the mitochondria electron transport chain is disrupted, superoxide anions are overproduced, and oxidative stress develops in cells. Thus, preventing oxidative stress can produce a decrease in the antioxidant system activity and an increase in apoptosis in immune cells. The application of medicinal mushrooms is a new possible approach to diabetes mellitus treatment. Therefore, the aim of this work was to investigate the influence of administration of the medicinal mushrooms Agaricus brasiliensis and Ganoderma lucidum on antioxidant enzyme activity in rat leukocytes. Wistar outbred white rats were used in the study. Streptozotocin was intraperitoneally injected once at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight. Mushroom preparations were orally administered at a dose of 1 g/kg/day for 2 weeks. This revealed that in diabetes mellitus, the level of antioxidant enzyme activity is significantly decreased compared with control values, whereas the levels of lipid peroxidation is increased; this manifested in an increase in the amount of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS). The medicinal mushrooms' administration is accompanied by an increase in antioxidant enzyme activity to control values and is even higher in the case of A. brasiliensis administration when compared with the diabetic group. As for the indicators of lipid peroxidation under mushroom administration of A. brasiliensis and G. lucidum, we observed a significant decrease of TBARS levels compared with the diabetic group. Increased activity of antioxidant enzymes and reduction of TBARS level indicate pronounced antioxidant properties of studied mushrooms.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, the University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Borys
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yurkiv
authors.affiliation: Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Natural Science, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel; Institute of Evolution, University of Haifa, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: Solomon P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Wasser
authors.affiliation: Institute of Evolution, and Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Science and Science Education, University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa, 31905 Israel.
authors.forename: Eviatar
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nevo
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv, Ukraine.
authors.forename: Nataliya O
authors.initials: NO
authors.lastname: Sybirna
mesh_terms: D000364:Agaricus; D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002374:Catalase / Q000378:metabolism; D003921:Diabetes Mellitus, Experimental / Q000628:therapy; D005980:Glutathione Reductase / Q000378:metabolism; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000201:enzymology; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D008297:Male; D018384:Oxidative Stress; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D020940:Reishi; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase / Q000378:metabolism; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D006023:Glycoproteins; D017392:Thiobarbituric Acid Reactive Substances; D002374:Catalase; D013482:Superoxide Dismutase; D005980:Glutathione Reductase