Enhancement of Immunostimulation and Anti-metastasis in Submerged Culture of Bearded Tooth Mushroom (Hericium erinaceum) Mycelia by Addition of Ginseng Extract

After bearded tooth mushroom (Hericium erinaceum) mycelia were cultivated in mushroom complete medium (MCM) supplemented with ginseng extract (GE, 65 degrees Bx) to enhance immunostimulation and anti-metastasis, the submerged culture containing culture broth and mycelia was lyophilized (SC). Hot-water extract from SC cultivated in MCM supplemented with GE-5% (v/v, a ratio of MCM volume to GE, RE-GE-5-HW) showed significantly higher mitogenic activity (1.74 fold of the control) and IL-2 production (2.10 fold) than those of SC without GE (HE-HW) at 100 mu g/mL. The intestinal immune modulating activity was also obtained in HE-GE-5-HW (1.82 fold) whereas HE-GE-3-HW (GE-3%) had the most effective macrophage stimulation (1.88 fold) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha production (3.59 fold). In addition, intravenous administration of HE-GE-3- and 5-HW significantly inhibited the experimental lung metastasis of colon 26-M3.1 cells (61.2 and 67.2%). HE-GE-5-HW mainly contained neutral sugar (72.0%) in addition to small amounts of protein (9.2%) and uronic acid (3.9%). Furthermore, the activities of the GE culture were high compared with the culture without GE, indicating that GE helped enhance the physiological activities of bearded tooth mushroom.