Study of Immunomodulatory Activity of Purified Polysaccharides Extracted from Grifola frondosa

Grifola frondosa is a Basidiomycete fungus belonging to the order Aphyllopherales and the family Polyporaceae. A wide variety of applications of polysaccharides extracted from Grifola frondosa have been reported an immunostimulating and antitumor agents for clinical use. Kodama et al.(2002) reported the activity of anti-diabetic, anti-hyperliposis and antitumor of polysaccharide(MD-fraction) extracted from Grifola frondosa fruting body. In addition, Lee et al.(2005) investigated that the polysaccharide extracted from culture broth of Grifola frondosa should be a very useful cosmetic ingredient, as a skin moisture, and protecting agent for various skin irradiation. However, there was no study to compare the immunomodulatory activity of polysaccharideof Grifola frondosa extracted from cultured broth and fruting body. The main goals of this study were to investigate the immunomodulatory activity of purified polysaccharides extracted from Grifola frondosa.