Extraction of Ergothioneine from Pleurotus eryngii and P. citrinopileatus (Agaricomycetes) and Preparation of Its Product.

Ergothioneine is an effective antioxidant and is abundant in species of genus Pleurotus. This research focused on developing an ergothioneine extract from P. eryngii and P. citrinopileatus under optimal extraction conditions. The hot-water and 70% ethanol extractions yielded more ergothioneine than microwave, ultrasonic, and autoclaving extractions. Hot-water extraction with optimal conditions-125 rpm at 75°C for 5 minutes-produced P. eryngii and P. citrinopileatus extracts with 0.86 and 3.73 mg ergothioneine/g dry weight, respectively. In addition to 50% of added maltodextrin, spray-dried products from mushrooms contained 23.07-16.58% carbohydrates and 18.32-21.40% protein. The microstructure of spray-dried products showed shrunken spheres with mean particle diameters of 15.82-19.94 µm. After in vitro simulated gastric and intestinal digestion, the spray-dried P. eryngii and P. citrinopileatus products contained 88% and 91% residual ergothioneine, respectively. Overall, the spray-dried products could be used as antioxidative supplements.

Antimicrobial and antitumor activities of chitosan from shiitake stipes, compared to commercial chitosan from crab shells.

Chitosan was prepared by alkaline N-deacetylation of chitin obtained from shiitake stipes and crab shells and its antimicrobial and antitumor activities were studied. Chitosan from shiitake stipes and crab shells exhibited excellent antimicrobial activities against eight species of Gram positive and negative pathogenic bacteria with inhibition zones of 11.4-26.8mm at 0.5mg/ml. Among chitosan samples, shiitake chitosan C120 was the most effective with inhibition zones of 16.4-26.8mm at 0.5mg/ml. In addition, shiitake and crab chitosan showed a moderate anti-proliferative effect on IMR 32 and Hep G2 cells. At 5mg/ml, the viability of IMR 32 cells incubated with chitosan was 68.8-85.0% whereas that of Hep G2 cells with chitosan was 60.4-82.9%. Overall, shiitake chitosan showed slightly better antimicrobial and antitumor activities than crab chitosan. Based on the results obtained, shiitake and crab chitosan were strong antimicrobial agents and moderate antitumor agents.

Chemical characteristics and anti-proliferation activities of Ganoderma tsugae polysaccharides.

Polysaccharides were extracted by hot-water and hot-alkali from four forms of Ganoderma tsugae including mature and baby Ling chih, mycelium and filtrate. Different profiles of proximate composition and monosaccharide constituents, and element contents were found in the extracted polysaccharides from different extractions and different forms. The molecular weight distributions of polysaccharides were 2.8×10(4)-6.5×10(5)Da and their infrared spectra were comparable. The hot-alkali extracted polysaccharides exhibited better anti-proliferation on IMR32 cells than the hot-water extracted polysaccharides, which were in turn more effective than the hot-water extracts. Besides, most hot-water extracts and both extracted polysaccharides exhibited an anti-proliferation effect on Hep G2 cells. However, the hot-water extracts showed less effective in anti-proliferation of IMR32 and Hep G2 cells. Based on the anti-tumor effects, both polysaccharides could be prepared for use in the formulation of nutraceuticals and functional foods.

Inhibitory effect of aqueous extracts from Miracle Fruit leaves on mutation and oxidative damage.

This study investigated the inhibitory effects of aqueous extracts from Miracle Fruit leaves (AML) on mutation and oxidative damage. The results showed that AML in the range of 1-5mg/plate inhibited the mutagenicity of 2-aminoanthracene (2-AA), an indirect mutagen, and 4-nitroquinoline-N-oxide (4-NQO), a direct mutagen toward Salmonella typhimurium TA 98 and TA 100. On the other hand, AML in the range of 0.05-0.2mg/ml showed radical scavenging, reducing activities, liposome protection as well as decreased tert-butyl hydroperoxide (t-BHP) induced oxidative cytotoxicity in HepG2 cells. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis suggested that the active phenolic constituents in AML are p-hydroxybenzoic acid, vanillic acid, syringic acid, trans-p-coumaric acid and veratric acid. These active phenolic components may contribute to the biological protection effects of AML in different models. The data suggest that AML exhibiting biological activities can be applied to antimutation as well as anti-oxidative damage.

Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Properties of Longan (Dimocarpus longan Lour.) Pericarp.

This study examined the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the water extract of longan pericarp (WLP). The results showed that WLP exhibited radical scavenging, reducing activity and liposome protection activity. In addition, WLP also inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production in macrophages. Further, administration of WLP, in the range of 100-400 mg/kg, showed a concentration-dependent inhibition on paw edema development following carrageenan (Carr) treatment in mice. The anti-inflammatory effects of WLP may be related to NO and tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) suppression and associated with the increase in the activities of antioxidant enzymes, including catalase, superoxide dismutase, and glutathione peroxidase. Overall, the results showed that WLP might serve as a natural antioxidant and inflammatory inhibitor.

To accomplish preliminary Qigong simulation state by acupuncture.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the study was to find out how to enter the preliminary Qigong simulation state in a short period of time. METHODS: This is a non-randomized, human experiment with healthy participants. A multi-channel digital physiological data recorder was used to detect whether the participants had entered the Qigong state. Participants were assisted to enter the Qigong state (relaxation, tranquility and naturalness) by being given the sore (sour) feeling produced by acupuncturing Hegu (LI4), and suggestions (repeating words "relax" and "heat" from the hypogastrium). RESULTS: About 72.2% of the participants who had no Qigong experience were found entering the preliminary Qigong simulation state. Most of the physiological parameters measured after the participants entering the Qigong state showed significant changes compared with the baseline data. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that acupuncture-made sore feeling is able to induce the participants to quickly enter the preliminary Qigong simulation state; hence this can be seen as no longer a limited phenomenon, but can be commonly applied to everybody.