[#1997-02] Maitake D-Fraction: Healing a...

Maitake D-Fraction: Healing and Preventive Potential for Cancer Nanba, H Kobe Pharmaceutical University, Japan Author has been studying medicinal mushrooms for the last 15 years and has reported that of all mushrooms studied, Maitake Mushroom (Grifola frondosa) has the strongest activity in tumor growth inhibition both in administered orally and intraperitoneally. In this report, Maitake extract D-fraction was investigated to determine its effectiveness not only on the inhibition against tumors already growing, but also on the inhibition of formation of the secondary focus...

[#1997-01] Leukocyte activation by (1-3)...

Leukocyte activation by (1-3)-β-D­ glucans Yoshiyuki AdachiCA, Mitsuhiro Okazaki, Naohito Ohno and Toshiro Yadomae   We studied the activities of several kinds of β-glucans, including sonifilan, grifolan, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum glucan, laminarin and zymosan, on macrophages. Pre-culture of macrophages with inactive β-glucans rendered the cells unresponsive to subsequent stimulation with grifolan, suggesting a specific pathway in the β -glucan structure. The importance of protein C and phosphory­lation of mitogen-activated protein kinase was demon­strated...

[#1996-05] Anti Diabetic Mechanism of Ma...

Anti Diabetic Mechanism of Maitake (Grifola frondosa) Kubo, K, Nanba, H Department of Microbial Chemistry, Kobe Pharmaceutical University Glucose Tolerance Tests were conducted on KK-A mice, model animals of NIDDM (non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus). The elevated blood glucose levels after 15 minutes and 30 minutes of Maitake-fed group were 0.64 times and 0.76 times those of the control group respectively, indicating inhibition of a significant blood glucose increase. Insulin receptor capability of liver cells then was examined using the liver perfusion method....

[#1996-04] The effect of maitake mushroo...

The effect of maitake mushrooms on liver and serum lipids Kubo K, Nanba H. Department of Microbial Chemistry, Kobe Pharmaceutical University OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of maitake mushrooms in inhibiting the elevation of liver and serum lipids in rats.  DESIGN: Sprague-Dawley rats with hyperlipidemia were used to measure and compare the values of cholesterol, phospholipids, and triglycerides between cholesterol-fed rats and rats whose diets were fortified with 20% maitake mushroom dried powder.  RESULTS: The values in maitake-fed rats were consistently less than...

[#1996-02] Effect of beta-glucans on the...

Effect of beta-glucans on the nitric oxide synthesis by peritoneal macrophage in mice Ohno N, Egawa Y, Hashimoto T, Adachi Y, Yadomae T. School of Pharmacy, Tokyo University Pharmacy and Life Science, Japan. Nitric oxide (NO) is an important effector molecule on antimicrobial and antitumor effects of macrophages. (1 -> 3)-β-D-Glucan (β-glucan) is well known to show various immunopharmacological effects such as antimicrobial effect and antitumor effect by activating various points of host defense mechanisms. This paper deals with NO synthetic activity of peritoneal...

[#1996-01] Blood clearance of (1->3)-β-D...

Blood clearance of (1->3)-β-D-glucan in MRL lpr/lpr mice Miura NN, Ohno N, Aketagawa J, Tamura H, Tanaka S, Yadomae T. Laboratory for Immunopharmacology of Microbial Products, Tokyo University of Pharmacy and Life Science (1->3)-β-D-Glucans have a variety of biological and immunopharmacological properties, and they are used clinically as biological response modifiers (BRMs). Clinically, these glucans have often been used for long periods by multiple dosing. During studies on the clearance and metabolism of the glucans in mice, we have found that, in the case of a...