Chemical Composition and Immunomodulatory Activity of Mycelia of the Hairy Bracket Mushroom, Trametes hirsuta (Higher Basidiomycetes).

Trametes hirsuta is a medicinal mushroom that produces laccase. Its mycelium is a by-product when this species is used for laccase production. Aiming to develop its potential medicinal value, we investigated the chemical composition and immunomodulatory activity of T. hirsuta mycelia (THM). Dried THM contained 26.06% protein, 1.15% fat, 57.87% carbohydrates, and 5.47% ash. Sixteen free amino acids (2.63% total content) and 6 5'-nucleotides (adenosine 5'-monophosphate, cytidine 5'-monophosphate, guanosine 5'-monophosphate, uridine 5'-monophosphate, xanthosine 5'-monophosphate, and inosine 5'-monophosphate) constituting 0.275% were detected. Dominant sugars and polyols were fructose (2.47%), mannitol (2.03%), and glucose (1.8%); trehalose and arabinose contents were less than 0.10%. Evaluation of immunomodulatory activity in mice showed that THM could improve macrophage phagocytic function and serum hemolysin concentrations, but only the low-dose group significantly enhanced the natural killer cell activity and increased the spleen index, and only the middle-dose group remarkably increased the thymus index. Therefore, T. hirsuta mycelia could enhance immune function in mice and have immunomodulatory activity.

Enhanced mycelial biomass production of the hairy bracket mushroom, Trametes hirsuta (Higher Basidiomycetes), by optimizing medium component with Plackett-Burman design and response surface methodology.

Statistical analyses based on experimental designs were applied to optimize the medium components for mycelial biomass production by Trametes hirsuta in shake flask cultivation. First, the effects of different carbon resources (glucose, sucrose, lactose, maltose, fructose, soluble starch and potato), nitrogen resources (yeast extract, peptone, (NH4)2SO4, NH4NO3, NH4Cl, peanut powder, soybean powder) and mineral elements (CaCl2, ZnSO4·7H2O, FeSO4·7H2O, MnSO4·H2O, CuSO4·7H2O) on mycelial biomass production were investigated using a univariate design. Second, a Plackett-Burman design was applied to identify the significant variables that principally influenced the mycelial biomass production, and the path of steepest ascent was pursued to approach the regions of optimal value of the significant variables. Subsequently, these significant variables were optimized using the Box-Behnken design of response surface methodology. Ultimately, the optimized medium conditions were composed of sucrose 25.65 g·L-1, MgSO4·7H2O 1.24 g·L-1, and FeSO4·7H2O 3.36 g·L-1, and the yield of mycelial biomass reached 15.45 g·L-1, which represents an approximately 1.6-fold increase above the initial yield.