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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Diabetes. May 15, 2017; 8(5): 187-201
Published online May 15, 2017. doi: 10.4239/wjd.v8.i5.187
Effect of medicinal mushrooms on blood cells under conditions of diabetes mellitus
Taras Vitak, Borys Yurkiv, Solomon Wasser, Eviatar Nevo, Natalia Sybirna
Taras Vitak, Borys Yurkiv, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Natural Science, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Solomon Wasser, Institute of Evolution and Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Natural Science, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Eviatar Nevo, Institute of Evolution, Faculty of Natural Science, University of Haifa, Haifa 3498838, Israel
Natalia Sybirna, Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Biology, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Lviv 79005, Ukraine
Author contributions: Vitak T and Yurkiv B wrote the manuscript; Wasser S, Nevo E and Sybirna N reviewed and edited the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Taras Vitak, PhD, Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Faculty of Natural Science, University of Haifa, Abba Khoushy Ave 199, Haifa 3498838, Israel. taras.vitak90@gmail.com
Telephone: +38-096-8327983
Received: October 28, 2016
Peer-review started: October 31, 2016
First decision: January 14, 2017
Revised: February 13, 2017
Accepted: March 12, 2017
Article in press: March 13, 2017
Published online: May 15, 2017
Abstract

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the third most common non-infectious disease leading to early disability and high mortality. Moreover, the number of patients is growing every year. The main symptom of DM is hyperglycemia. Increased levels of blood glucose activate polyol, hexosamine, and protein kinase metabolic pathways cause the intensification of non-enzymatic glycosylation and nitration of macromolecules. This, in turn, leads to the development of oxidative and nitrative stresses and secondary complications, such as different kinds of micro- and macroangiopathies. Metabolic disorders caused by insulin deficiency in diabetes significantly impede the functioning of a homeostasis system, which change the physical, biochemical, morphological, and functional properties of blood cells. As a result, the oxygen-transport function of red blood cells (RBCs), rheological properties of the blood, and functions of immunocompetent cells as well as the process of apoptosis are primarily affected. Modern pharmacotherapy focuses on the search for new preparations that aim to decrease blood glucose levels. Undesirable side effects and adverse reactions caused by synthetic medicines led to the search and investigation of new preparations of natural origin. Medicinal mushrooms play an important role among such new preparations. They are a source of a large number of high- and low-molecular compounds with pronounced biological effects. Our investigations show pronounced hypoglycemic and anti-anemic action of submerged cultivated mycelium powder of medicinal mushrooms Agaricus brasiliensis (A. brasiliensis) and Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum) on streptozotocin-induced DM in rats. Also, we showed that mycelium powders have membrane protective properties as evidenced by the redistribution of RBC populations towards the growth of full functional cell numbers. Normalization of parameters of leukocyte formula and suppression of apoptosis of white blood cells in diabetic rats treated with A. brasiliensis and G. lucidum mycelia indicates pronounced positive effects of these strains of mushrooms. Thus, the use of medicinal mushrooms for treatment of DM and in prevention development of its secondary complications might be a new effective approach of this disease’s cure. This article is aimed at summarizing and analyzing the literature data and basic achievements concerning DM type 1 treatment using medicinal mushrooms and showing the results obtained in our research.

Keywords: Diabetes mellitus, Streptozotocin, Agaricus brasiliensis, Ganoderma lucidum, Leukocytes, Red blood cells

Core tip: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is the third most common non-infectious disease leading to early disability and high mortality. The main symptom of DM is hyperglycemia. Metabolic disorders caused by insulin deficiency in diabetes significantly impede the functioning of a homeostasis system. Medicinal mushrooms play an important role among new preparations that aim to decrease blood glucose levels. This investigations show pronounced hypoglycemic, anti-anemic, membrane protective, apoptosis suppressive effects of Agaricus brasiliensis and Ganoderma lucidum on streptozotocin-induced DM in rats. Thus, medicinal mushrooms might be new effective approach for treatment and prevention of DM.