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. 2005 Aug 19;94(2):188–192. doi: 10.1111/j.1349-7006.2003.tb01417.x

Agaricus blazei (Himematsutake) does not alter the development of rat diethylnitrosamine‐initiated hepatic preneoplastic foci

Luís Fernando Barbisan 1, Ana Lúcia Tozzi Spinardi‐Barbisan 2, Eduardo Luís Trindade Moreira, 3, Daisy Maria Favero Salvadori, 2, Lúcia Regina Ribeiro 2,4, Augusto Ferreira da Eira 5, João Lauro Viana de Camargo 2,6
PMCID: PMC11160270  PMID: 12708495

Abstract

The modifying potential of crude extracts of the mushroom Agaricus blazei Murrill (Himematsutake) on the development and growth of glutathione S‐transferase placental form (GST‐P)‐positive liver foci (liver preneoplastic lesion) was investigated in adult male Wistar rats. Six groups of animals were used. Groups 2 to 5 were given a single i.p. injection of 200 mg/kg b.w. of diethylnitrosamine (DEN) and groups 1 and 6 were treated with saline at the beginning of the experiment. After 2 weeks, animals of groups 3 to 6 were orally treated with three dose levels of aqueous extracts of the mushroom A. blazei (1.2, 5.6, 11.5, and 11.5 mg/ml of dry weight of solids) for 6 weeks. All animals were subjected to two‐thirds partial hepatectomy at week 3 and sacrificed at week 8. Two hours before sacrifice, ten animals of each group were administered a single i.p injection of 100 mg/kg of bro‐modeoxyuridine (BrdU). Apoptotic bodies and BrdU‐positive hepatocyte nuclei were quantified in liver sections stained for hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) (eosinophilic foci) and simultaneously stained for GST‐P expression (GST‐P‐positive foci), respectively. The 6‐week treatment with A. blazei did not alter the development (number and size) of GST‐P‐positive foci and did not affect the growth kinetics of liver normal parenchyma or foci in DEN‐initiated animals. Our results indicate that the treatment with aqueous extracts of the mushroom A. blazei during the post‐initiation stage of rat liver carcinogenesis does not exert any protective effect against the development of GST‐P‐positive foci induced by DEN. (Cancer Sci 2003; 94: 188–192)

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