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Research Project: New Sustainable Processing Technologies to Produce Healthy, Value-Added Foods from Specialty Crops

Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research

Title: Turmeric bioprocessed with mycelia from the shiitake culinary-medicinal mushroom lentinus edodes (agaricomycetes) protects mice against salmonellosis

Author
item KIM, SUNG PHIL - Ajou University Of Korea
item LEE, SANG JONG - Str Biotech Co Ltd
item NAM, SEOK HYUN - Ajou University Of Korea
item Friedman, Mendel

Submitted to: International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/10/2016
Publication Date: 5/14/2017
Citation: Kim, S., Lee, S., Nam, S., Friedman, M. 2017. Turmeric bioprocessed with mycelia from the shiitake culinary-medicinal mushroom lentinus edodes (agaricomycetes) protects mice against salmonellosis. International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms. 19(4):363-376. doi: 10.1615/IntJMedMushrooms.v19.i4.70.

Interpretive Summary: The rhizomatous (underground stem) deep yellow turmeric plant, also known as Indian saffron that belongs to the ginger (Zingiberaceae) family is mainly cultivated in tropical Asia and is widely used as a culinary spice on rice and meat, fish, and vegetable curries. Turmeric powder and aqueous-alcoholic extracts have been shown to exhibit numerous beneficial biological health-promoting properties that might be associated with the major yellow curcumin and other bioactive constituents. Susceptibility to bacterial infections is often attributed to stimulation (upregulation) of immune factors including T-helper (Th1/2) cells and their cytokines. This study describes the ability of a bioprocessed (fermented) turmeric-Lentinus edodes (shiitake) mushroom mycelia formulation to protect mice against the foodborne pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium induced sublethal and lethal infection through stimulation of the Th1 immune reaction along with blocking the translocation of the pathogenic bacteria into internal organs. The bioactive formulation does not seem to be toxic to the mice. Oral feeding protected the mice against both liver damage (necrosis) and lethality. This study suggests that the novel formulation has the potential to serve as an antibiotic functional food for food animals and humans, provided that clinical studies can confirm the observed beneficial health-promoting properties in mice.

Technical Abstract: Extracts of the shiitake mushroom Lentinus edodes and the spice tumeric (Curcuma longa) have both been reported to have health-promoting properties. The present study investigated the suppressive mechanisms of a bioprocessed Lentinus edodes liquid mushroom mycelia culture supplemented with turmeric (Curcuma longa) (BPCLE) against murine salmonellosis. The extract from the bioprocessed (feremented) culture stimulated engulfment of the Salmonella Typhimurium ATCC 14028 into RAW 264.7 murine macrophage cells, elimination of intracellular bacteria, and elevation of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) expression. Dietary administration of BPCLE activated leukocytes from the mice infected with Salmonella through the intraperitoneal (ip) route, as determined by splenocyte proliferation and antigen-specific levels in the culture medium. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis of the cytokine production by splenocytes of infected mice showed significant increases in the levels of the Th1 cytokine including interleukin IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, and IL-12. Histology of tissues showed that dietary administration of BPCLE protected against necrosis of the liver resulting from a sublethal dose of Salmonella. In addition, the treatment (a) significantly extended the lifespan of lethally infected mice; (b) suppressed the invasion of Salmonella into human colorectal adenocarcinoma Caco-2 cells; (c) significantly increased excretion of the bacterium in the feces; (d) suppressed the translocation of the Salmonella to internal organs; and (e) increased total secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) levels in both serum and intestinal fluids. These findings suggest that BPCLE protected the mice against Salmonellosis infection via cooperative effects that include the upregulation of the Th1 immune reaction, prevention of translocation of bacteria across the intestinal epithelial cells, and increased IgA production in serum and intestinal fluids. The bioprocessed formulation has the potential to serve as a new functional food that can protect against infectious diseases.