Comparison of immunological effects of commercially available β-glucans

Abstract

Biological and most of all immunological effects of natural immunomodulator glucan are already well established. However, since hundreds of individual glucans, isolated from various sources, used at different concentrations and having different physicochemical characteristics are being used, the current scientific knowledge is not complete. In addition, direct comparisons of individual glucans are quite rare. In the present paper, we tested fifteen varieties of glucans differing in source and solubility. Whereas no direct connection between source and immunological effects was found, we can conclude that the best glucans have pleiotropic effects stimulating all facets of immunological reactions, whereas other glucans have low effects or none at all.

Protective effect of β-glucan and glutamine on intestinal and immunological damage in mice induced by cytarabine (Ara-C)

“…The images were obtained using an Olympus CX31 binocular microscope (Olympus Optical do Brazil Ltda, São Paulo) with an attached camera (SC30 CMOS Color Camera for Light Microcopy, Olympus Optical do Brazil Ltda, São Paulo). Measurements were performed using Image-Pro ® Express Software version 6.0 (Media Cybernetics, Rockville, MD, USA), according to an adapted technique (Vetvicka & Vetvickova 2014) wherein three histological sections were randomized per segment for each animal. Three villi and three crypts were measured per square.…”

“…These polysaccharides are not found in the animals, they are considered to be classic pathogen--associated molecular patterns (Sato et al 2006, Huang et al 2012, Arena et al 2016. The recognition of β-Glucans in both systems results in the triggering of innate and adaptive immune responses (Vetvicka & Vetvickova 2014).…”

In Vitro Proinflammatory Polarization of Macrophages Isolated from Hepatocarcinogenic Stage in Humans and Rats

“…In the study of Fan et al, glucan addition did not alter the basal ROS levels of murine macrophages (19). However, according to Vetvicka and Vetvickova, barley glucan insignificantly increased superoxide production in human HL-60 cells after 24 h of incubation (20). We observed significant changes during cultivation only in macrophages from patients with HCC but without differences between cultures treated or not with BBG.…”

“…Chanput et al also did not observe cytotoxicity of BBG at a concentration of 100 μg/ml on human monocytic leukemia cell line after up to 24-h incubation (22). In numerous animal models, β-glucans have shown broad anti-infective and antitumoral activities, including activation of macrophages, and no undesirable side-effects of BBG have yet been reported in humans and rats (20,23).…”

Anti-Angiogenic Effect of Beta-Glucan Extracted From Pleurotus Spp.

“…the glucan purity is an important character in determination of its application since glucan may be used in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and other felids. [32] Anti-angiogenic effect of P. eryngii β-Glucan…”