Investigation on the universality of antibiotic property of polysaccharide in lentinan

HOU Ai-ping; ZHANG Shu-mei

Abstract：Objective To investigate the general inhibitive effect of lentinan on bacteria,fungi and viruses. Methods Double layer agar plates were cultured with the following bacterias:Hemolytic streptococcus,Staphylococcus aureus glucose, Salmonella typhimurium,Bacillus subtilis,E. Coli,Pasteurella multocida,Shigella dysentery,Salmonella typhi,Paratyphoid bacilli and following fungi:Candida albicans,Brewer's yeast,Trichophyton rubrum,Penicillium,Viride,Rhizopus nigricans,As-pergillus fumigates. Filter paper with known concentration lentinan was put on top of the agar plates. After culture for 24 hours the minimal concentration of polysaccharide which inhibits bacterial/fungal growth was calculated by measurement of the size of inhibitive ring. The inhibition on viruses( influenza virus,respiratory syncytial virus,adenovirus,coxsackie virus A,herpes simplex virus-1,rotavirus,ECHO virus-2)was investigated by binding of lentinan to either the host cells or di-rectly to viruses. Results Lentinan showed inhibitive effect on all nine bacteria and seven viruses tested,but only slightly inhibited three out of seven fungi tested. Conclusion Lentinan had general inhibitive effect on bacteria and viruses but not on fungi.