Safety evaluation of aqueous extracts of Sanghuangporus vaninii fruiting body in Sprague-Dawley rats

Sanghuangporus vaninii extract ameliorates hyperlipidemia in rats by mechanisms identified with transcriptome analysis

The increasing incidence of hyperlipidemia is a serious threat to public health. The development of effective and safe lipid-lowering drugs with few side effects is necessary. The purpose of this study was to assess the lipid-lowering activity of Sanghuangporus vaninii extract (SVE) in rat experiments and reveal the molecular mechanism by transcriptome analysis. Hyperlipidemia was induced in the animals using a high-fat diet for 4 weeks. At the end of the 4th week, hyperlipidemic rats were assigned into two control groups (model and positive simvastatin control) and three treatment groups that received SVE at 200, 400, or 800 mg kg-1 day-1 for another 4 weeks. A last control group comprised normal chow-fed rats. At the end of the 8th week, rats were sacrificed and lipid serum levels, histopathology, and liver transcriptome profiles were determined. SVE was demonstrated to relieve the lipid disorder and improve histopathological liver changes in a dose-dependent manner. The transcriptomic analysis identified changes in hepatocyte gene activity for major pathways including steroid biosynthesis, bile secretion, cholesterol metabolism, AMPK signaling, thyroid hormone signaling, and glucagon signaling. The changed expression of crucial genes in the different groups was confirmed by qPCR. Collectively, this study revealed that SVE could relieve hyperlipidemia in rats, the molecular mechanism might be to promote the metabolism of lipids and the excretion of cholesterol, inhibit the biosynthesis of cholesterol by activating the AMPK signaling pathway, the thyroid hormone signaling pathway, and the glucagon signaling pathway.

Assessment of cytotoxicity, acute, subacute toxicities and antioxidant activities (in vitro) of Sanghuangporus vaninii crude polysaccharide

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY RELEVANCE

Sanghuangporus vaninii (S. vaninii), as a traditional large medicinal fungus, has a history of more than 2000 years in Chinese history and has been widely used to treat female diseases such as vaginal discharge, amenorrhea, and uterine bleeding, and recent pharmacological studies have also found that it has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor physiological activity, which has received more and more attention.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The objective was to evaluate cytotoxicity and the acute, subacute toxicity, and in vitro antioxidant activity of S. vaninii crude polysaccharide (SVP).

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The monosaccharide composition of SVP was determined by HPLC (high-performance liquid chromatography). The cytotoxicity of different concentrations of SVP on three types of cells (HT-22, Kupffer macrophages, HEK293) was assessed using CCk-8. The acute toxicity in vivo was evaluated for 14 days after the administration of SVP (2500,5000, or 10,000 mg/mL). For the evaluation of subacute toxicity, mice were daily treated for 28 days with SVP (2500,5000, or 10,000 mg/mL). In addition, DPPH, hydroxyl radical, and superoxide anion radical were used to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant activity of SVP.

RESULTS

SVP was not toxic in all three cell lines tested. In vitro antioxidant tests on the extracts showed that SVP possessed a strong antioxidant capacity in vitro. In the acute study, the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) in male and female rats was 10，000 mg/kg body weight. There were also no deaths or severe toxicity associated with SVP in subacute studies. However, SVP treatment had a decreasing effect on body weight in mice of both sexes (2500, 5000, and 10000 mg/kg). At doses (5000 and 10,000 mg/kg), SVP had a reduced effect on food intake in both male and female mice. In addition, there were significant effects on organ coefficients of the liver, lung, and kidney. Hematological analysis showed significantly lower LYM (%) values in mice of both sexes, with significantly lower MCH (pg) values obtained in males (5000 mg/kg and 10000 mg/kg) and higher GRAN (%) values in females. In addition, the RDW-SD (fL) values were significantly lower in the male mice given the highest dose. Biochemical tests showed that there were no significant changes in ALT, AST, TP, and Cr levels after SVP treatment. In histopathological analysis, mild liver toxicity was observed in both female mice treated with 10,000 mg/kg SVP.

CONCLUSION

The extract of SVP showed a predominance of polysaccharide compounds, with non-toxic action in vivo. Our approach revealed SVP on the chemical composition and suggests a high margin of safety in the popular use of medicinal fungi. In conclusion, our results suggest that SVP is safe, and can be used as health care products and food.

Extraction, Purification, and Structural Characterization of Polysaccharides from Sanghuangporus vaninii with Anti-Inflammatory Activity

In order to obtain homogeneous Sanghuangporus vaninii polysaccharides with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, a response surface method (RSM) was used to compare the polysaccharide extraction rate of hot water extraction and ultrasonic-assisted extraction from Sanghuangporus vaninii. The optimal conditions for ultrasonic-assisted extraction were determined as follows: an extraction temperature of 60 °C, an extraction time of 60 min, a solid-liquid ratio of 40 g/mL, and an ultrasonic power of 70 W. An SVP (Sanghuangporus vaninii polysaccharides) extraction rate of 1.41% was achieved. Five homogeneous monosaccharides were obtained by gradient ethanol precipitation with diethylaminoethyl-cellulose (DEAE) and SephadexG-100 separation and purification. The five polysaccharides were characterized by high performance liquid chromatography, the ultraviolet spectrum, the Fourier transform infrared spectrum, TG (thermogravimetric analysis), the Zeta potential, and SEM (scanning electron microscopy). The five polysaccharides had certain levels of antioxidant activity in vitro. In addition, we the investigated the anti-inflammatory effects of polysaccharides derived from Sanghuangporus vaninii on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cells and Kupffer cells. Further, we found that SVP-60 significantly inhibited the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cells and promoted the level of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced RAW 264.7 cells. Our study provides theoretical support for the potential application of Sanghuangporus vaninii in the field of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities in vitro.

Sanghuangporus sanghuang extract extended the lifespan and healthspan of Caenorhabditis elegans via DAF-16/SIR-2.1

Sanghuangporus Sanghuang is a fungus species. As a traditional Chinese medicine, it is known for antitumor, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. However, the antiaging effect of S. Sanghuang has not been deeply studied. In this study, the effects of S. Sanghuang extract (SSE) supernatants on the changes of nematode indicators were investigated. The results showed that different concentrations of SSE prolonged the lifespans of nematodes and substantially increased these by 26.41%. In addition, accumulations of lipofuscin were also visibly reduced. The treatment using SSE also played a role in increasing stress resistance, decreasing ROS accumulations and obesity, and enhancing the physique. RT-PCR analysis showed that the SSE treatment upregulated the transcription of daf-16, sir-2.1, daf-2, sod-3 and hsp-16.2, increased the expression of these genes in the insulin/IGF-1 signalling pathway and prolonged the lifespans of nematodes. This study reveals the new role of S. Sanghuang in promoting longevity and inhibiting stress and provides a theoretical basis for the application of S. Sanghuang in anti-ageing treatments.

Current advances and potential trends of the polysaccharides derived from medicinal mushrooms sanghuang

For thousands of years, sanghuang is distinctive as a general designation for a group of precious and rare Chinese medicinal mushrooms. Numerous investigations have revealed that polysaccharide is one of the important biological active ingredients of sanghuang with various excellent biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-aging, anti-tumor, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, anti-diabetic, hepatoprotective, and anti-microbial functionalities. For the past two decades, preparation, structural characterization, and reliable bioactivities of the polysaccharides from fruiting bodies, cultured mycelia, and fermentation broth of sanghuang have been arousing extensive interest, and particularly, different strains, sources, and isolation protocols might result in obvious discrepancies in structural features and bioactivities. Therefore, this review summarizes the recent reports on preparation strategies, structural features, bioactivities, and structure-activity relationships of sanghuang polysaccharides, which will enrich the knowledge on the values of natural sanghuang polysaccharides and support their further development and utilization as therapeutic agents, vaccines, and functional foods in tonic and clinical treatment.

Aqueous extracts of Sanghuangporus vaninii induce S-phase arrest and apoptosis in human melanoma A375 cells

Sanghuangporus vaninii, also called 'Sanghuang' mushroom in Chinese, has various medicinal uses, but its effects on human melanoma cells have not been reported. The present study investigated the inhibitory ability and potential anticancer mechanism of the aqueous extracts of S. vaninii (SH). The results revealed that SH inhibited the proliferation of A375 human melanoma cells in a dose-dependent manner, and flow cytometry analysis suggested that SH induced A375 cell cycle arrest at S phase and apoptosis. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR, western blotting and immunofluorescence analyses indicated that SH induced S-phase arrest by upregulating p21 expression, and p21 inhibited the expression of cyclin-cyclin-dependent kinases complexes at both the RNA and protein levels. In addition, SH induced apoptosis of A375 cells by inhibiting the expression levels of the anti-apoptosis gene Bcl-2. Therefore, the results suggested that SH may be a potential candidate for the treatment of human melanoma, thus providing new ideas for developing drugs that target melanoma.