Structural Changes of Erythrocyte Surface Glycoconjugates after Treatment with Medicinal Mushrooms

Under conditions of chronic hyperglycemia there is dysregulation of ion homeostasis, violation of redox metabolism and functioning of membrane enzymes, as well as changes in the structural and functional states of erythrocyte membranes. As a result, the aggregation ability of erythrocytes increased and their deformability decreased. These changes lead to complications to microcirculation blood flow and provoke the development of vascular complications caused by diabetes mellitus. This study investigated the effect of the medicinal mushrooms Agaricus brasiliensis and Ganoderma lucidum on the structure of carbohydrate determinants of surface membrane glycoconjugates of rat peripheral blood erythrocytes under both normal conditions and streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus. The research was carried out using Wistar outbred white rats. Diabetes was induced by streptozotocin intraperitoneally injected once at a dose of 50 mg/kg body weight. The mushroom preparations were orally administered at a dose of 1 g/kg for 14 days. The treatment of diabetic rats by submerged culture mycelium powder restored the physiological balance between sialylation and desialylation processes, renewed the membrane surface charge of red blood cells, normalized aggregation properties, and caused the structural recovery of oligosaccharide chains of erythrocyte membrane surface glycoconjugates. The discovered changes show an improvement in the erythrocyte functional state and rejuvenation of their population caused by biologically active compounds of the studied medicinal mushrooms.