Agaricus bisporus fucogalactan: Structural characterization and pharmacological approaches

Abstract The fucogalactan from Agaricus bisporus (EFP-Ab) obtained on aqueous extraction followed by purification had M w 37.1 × 10 4  g mol −1 relative to a (1→6)-linked α- d -Gal p main-chain partially methylated at HO-3, and partially substituted at O-2 by nonreducing end-units of α- l -Fuc p or β- d -Gal p . EFP-Ab also inhibited significantly the neurogenic and inflammatory phases of formalin-induced licking, however, the antinociceptive effect was more pronounced against the inflammatory phase with ID 50 of 36.0 (25.8–50.3) mg kg −1 . In addition, EFP-Ab decreased the lethality induced by CLP. Its administration reduced the late mortality rate by 40%, prevented neutrophil accumulation in lungs and markedly decreased iNOS and COX-2 protein expression by ileum cells. These data show for the first time that EFP-Ab has significant anti-sepsis, antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory actions, which seems to be related to the decreased iNOS and COX-2 expression. Collectively, the present results demonstrate that EFP-Ab could constitute an attractive molecule of interest for the development of new drugs.