A Comparative Study on the Potential Immunomodulating Property of Fruiting Body- and Mycelia-Derived Crude Extracts of Schizophyllum commune Fries on Human Neutrophils

Abstract

Schizophyllum commune Fries is used as a medicinal herb in some countries. Its most studied bioactive compound is Schizophyllan, a beta-glucan that has immunomodulating activity similar to Ganoderan and Lentinan. This study aimed to observe and measure the immunomodulating property of mycelia-derived and fruiting body crude extracts of S. commune by priming neutrophils. Two crude extracts were derived from mycelia of 5. commune. Mycelia crude extract (MCE) was derived from the mycelia growth of S. commune, while mycelia broth extract (MB) was produced from the mycelia culture broth. Fruiting body extract (FBE) was derived from the fruiting body of S. commune. The potential cytotoxicity of FBE was measured through MTT Assay, with Doxorubicin as the positive control. FBE did not register any inhibitory concentration (IC50) value on A549 cell line, suggesting that it is not cytotoxic to such human cell line, as well as to human neutrophils. Then, neutrophils were primed using the extracts at different concentrations, with Reishimax ® as the positive control. The extracts had similar neutrophil priming activity compared to Reishimax ®, and was concentration-dependent. Reishimax ® primed 63.66% of the neutrophils, while MCE, MB and FBE primed 77%, 80.33% and 69.67% of the neutrophils, respectively. Hence, the 5. commune-derived crude extracts have potential immunomodulating effect by priming neutrophils.