[#1988-01] Blood Pressure-Lowering Activity Present in the Fruit Body of Grifola frondosa (Maitake), K. Adachi et al.

Blood Pressure-Lowering Activity Present in the Fruit Body of Grifola frondosa (Maitake)

Adachi, K, Nanba, H, Otsuka, M, Kuroda, H

Department of Microbiology, Kobe Women’s College of Pharmacy

The fruit body of Grifola frondosa (maitake), Basidiomycetes, was confirmed to contain a substance with blood pressure-lowering activity. When powdered fruit body of maitake was given orally to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), blood pressure reduction was observed, in contrast to the control group in which the blood pressure increased with aging. Ether-soluble (ES) and hot water-soluble (WS) fractions were prepared from the fruit body and their hypertensive action was examined. Blood pressure-lowering activity was found when the dried ES fraction was administered orally at 30 mg/kg, but the WS fraction was inactive. Thus, the ether-soluble fraction was further separated into acetone-soluble (ES-AS) and insoluble (ES-AP) fractions. Administration of 20 mg/kg dried material caused a blood pressure reduction of about 45 mmHg in the former case and 65 mmHg in the latter as compared with the control (about 220 mg Hg). When the ES-AP fraction was separated to 5 subfractions by thin layer chromatographic analysis, the most potent activity was observed in the subfraction which was detected on the spot of Rf=55.3. When authentic antihypertensive agents were examined in combination with maitake, a hypotensive affect was observed on administration of reserpine. This suggests that the blood pressure-lowering effect of maitake was brought about by a mechanism other than sympatholytic action.