Polysaccharide of Hohenbuehelia serotina as a defense against damage by whole-body gamma irradiation of mice

This study was designed to investigate the antioxidant, immunomodulation and radioprotective activities of the polysaccharides from Hohenbuehelia serotina (HSP) against the damages induced by 60Co-radiation in vivo. Antioxidant results showed that the mice treated with HSP could effectively increase the superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activities, and reduce the malondialdehyde (MDA) level after 6 Gy irradiation compared to irradiated, non-treated controls. Administration with HSP (200 mg/kg BW) significantly promote the proliferation of splenocytes (p < 0.01), and prevent the number of the blood WBC decrease and the function of hematopoietic decline which caused by irradiation in whole blood. HSP displayed strong immunomodulation activity in vivo, and the effect was further verified by the assay of monocyte phagocytosis. In addition, HSP significantly inhibit irradiation-induced spleen cells arrest into G0/G1 phase. These results suggested that HSP exerts an effective protection against radiation-induced injury by improving the antioxidant and immunomodulation activities.