Evaluation Of The Proinflammatory Activity Of Basidiospores And Spore-bearing Tissues From The Mushroom Chlorophyllum Molybdites Using Human Whole Blood

RATIONALE: Little is known about the inflammatory potential of basidiomycetes ("true mushrooms"). As a result we analyzed the proinflammatory activity of spores and spore-bearing tissue from the Chlorophyllum molybdites using a novel pyrogens assay. METHOD(S): Mushrooms were collected from a recreational park. Spores were collected by cutting the stem from the fruiting body and leaving the basidiocarp of the fruiting body overnight on aluminum foil with gills (spore-bearing tissue) facing downwards. Also, small squares of gills were cut with a sterile scalpel. Blood was collected from adult subjects with no history of inflammatory diseases (e.g. asthma, COPD, autoimmune disease) and cryopreserved at -808C. Dry spores (7.2, 4.2, and 0.6 mg), spore-bearing tissue (9.8, 4.2, 1.4 mg), and spore dilutions (14 x 106 to 104) were incubated for 18hrs with cryopreserved whole blood. Endotoxin dilutions (0.5 - 10 EU/ml) and pyrogen-free water were also incubated with cryopreserved blood as positive and negative controls, respectively. After incubation, the supernatants were collected and the concentration of the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin 1b (IL-1beta) determined with ELISA using monoclonal antibody pairs. RESULT(S): Dry spores induced 951, 758, and 480 pg/ml, dry sporebearing tissue 767, 515, and 385 pg/ml, and spore dilutions induced 443, 378, and 375 pg/ml of IL-1beta. Endotoxin induced 286, 127, 88, and 13 pg/ ml, while the blank was below the limit of detection (>.05pg/ml). CONCLUSION(S): To our knowledge, this is the first study to evaluate the proinflammatory potential of spores and spore-bearing tissues from basidiomycetes, which induced more IL-1beta than endotoxin alone.