Leo J.L.D. Van GriensvenWageningen University & Research | WUR · Plant Research International
Leo J.L.D. Van Griensven
PhD
About
242
Publications
91,099
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
9,588
Citations
Introduction
Additional affiliations
January 1995 - December 1999
Independent Researcher
Position
- Agricultural University Wageningen
Education
September 1959 - August 1969
Publications
Publications (242)
Mushrooms are experiencing a kind of renaissance as a part of the contemporary human diet. These valuable organisms are more than food, they fit in perfectly as a novel market group known as nutra-mycoceuticals. Immune-balancing mushroom dietary fibers and secondary metabolites such as polyphenols are the main focus of the healthcare industry. Well...
Our previous study suggested that the interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 could serve as good biomarkers for chronic inflammatory disease. We previously established an IL-6 and IL-10 reporters assay that could examine reporter activity along with the reference gene in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 cells. In this study, we described new and stable RAW 264.7 derive...
As a continuation of our search for biologically active mushroom species the present study investigates in vitro antidiabetic properties of six edible and medicinal mushroom species: Agaricus blazei Murrill, Coprinus comatus (O.F. Müll.) Pers., Cordyceps militaris (L.) Fr., Inonotus obliquus (Ach. ex Pers.) Pilát, Morchella conica Pers. and Phellin...
Differences in anomericity and in the branching degree of glucans lead to characteristic intermolecular association that influences their solubility in water or other solvents. A simple purification approach, based on the glucan solubility in aq. 0.1 M NaOH solution, was applied for the separation of mixed water-insoluble α-D-glucans from β-D-gluca...
This study was done to discover any beneficial effect of a medicinal mushroom Agaricus brasiliensis extract on the honey bee. Firstly, a laboratory experiment was conducted on 640 bees reared in 32 single-use plastic rearing cups. A. brasiliensis extract proved safe in all doses tested (50, 100 and 150 mg/kg/day) irrespective of feeding mode (sugar...
A water-soluble β-D-glucan was obtained from fruiting bodies of Piptoporus betulinus, by hot aqueous extraction followed by freeze-thawing procedure and dialysis. Its molar mass distribution and conformational behavior in solution was assessed by size-exclusion chromatography, showing a polysaccharide with an average molecular weight of 2.5 × 105 D...
For hundreds of years mushrooms have been used as functional food for health. The basidiomycete Agaricus brasiliensis (A. brasiliensis) is famous for the medicinal properties of its beta glucans and of its antioxidants. Most researchers have studied polysaccharides from A. brasiliensis for their anti-inflammatory activity. However, active compounds...
Higher Basidiomycetes and Ascomycetes mushrooms possess various immunological and anticancer properties. They also offer important health benefits and exhibit a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, cytotoxic, immunomodulating, anti-inflammatory, antioxidative, antiallergic, antidepressive, ant...
In this article we report the healing effects of a Phellinus linteus fruiting body hot water extract (PLE) in streptozotocin (STZ)–induced diabetic rats. PLE was given before and after STZ. The preprotective, protective, and postprotective effects of PLE on STZ-induced oxidative stress were studied using biochemical (caspase 3 activity, cytosolic-t...
Kaolinite and the modified natural zeolite minazel plus (M+) were used as supplements in substrate used for the production of the medicinal mushroom Grifola frondosa. Growth stimulation, expressed as yield and biological efficiency, was observed when M+ (1%) was added. The production cycle was shortened by half as a result of the zeolites' ion-exch...
Oxidative stress caused by an imbalanced metabolism and an excess of reactive oxygen species (ROS) lead to a range of health disorders in humans. Our endogenous antioxidant defense mechanisms and our dietary intake of antioxidants potentially regulate our oxidative homeostasis. Numerous synthetic antioxidants can effectively improve defense mechani...
Oxidative stress caused by an imbalanced metabolism and an excess of reactive oxygen species (ROS) lead to a range of health disorders in humans. Our endogenous antioxidant defense mechanisms and our dietary intake of antioxidants potentially regulate our oxidative homeostasis. Numerous synthetic antioxidants can effectively improve defense mechani...
Cordyceps militaris (L.) Link, an edible entomopathogenic fungus widely used in traditional Chinese medicine, has numerous potential medicinal properties including antitumor activity. The methanolic extract of C. militaris fruiting body was recently shown to have tumor cell growth inhibitory activity in several human tumor cell lines. Nonetheless,...
Phellinus linteus and igniarius (L.) Quel. have been used in traditional Asian medicine for over two centuries against a variety of diseases. Polysaccharides from their fruiting bodies show strong immunomodulatory activity. In this study we characterized the structure and composition of polysaccharides from Phellinus linteus and Phellinus igniarius...
The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the possible protective activity of Agaricus brasiliensis (=A. blazei sensu Murrill) ethanol extract against thymol-induced DNA damage in human lymphocytes. Before we studied the possible interaction of thymol and A. brasiliensis extract, each component was tested in the comet assay. Thymol significantl...
The methanolic extract of the wild edible mushroom Cantharellus cibarius Fr. (chanterelle)
was analyzed for in vitro antioxidative, cytotoxic, antihypertensive and antibacterial
activities. Various primary and secondary metabolites were found. Phenols were the major
antioxidant components found in the extract (49.8 mg/g), followed by flavonoids, wh...
The birch polypore Piptoporus betulinus was among two mushrooms that were found in the Iceman’s bag. Recent studies indicated that P. betulinus was probably used as a religious and medicinal item. In order to examine the medicinal potential of P. betulinus, hot water (HW), partially purified (PP), and alkali extract (HA) were prepared and tested fo...
The basidiomycetous mushroom Phellinus igniarius (L.) Quel. has been used as traditional medicine in various Asian countries for many years. Although many reports exist on its antioxidative and anti-inflammatory activities and therapeutic effects against various diseases, our current knowledge of its effect on stroke is very limited. Stroke is a ne...
Mushrooms are widely appreciated for their organoleptic qualities, being also recognized as good sources of bioactive compounds that provide antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxic activities. Polysaccharides (including glucans) are often pointed out as the most bioactive compounds isolated from mushrooms, but other molecules such as triterpenoids...
Abstract
The Ascomycete Cordyceps militaris, an entomopathogenic fungus, is one of the most important traditional Chinese medicines. Studies related to its pharmacological properties suggest that this mushroom can exert interesting biological activities. Aqueous (CW and HW) and alkaline (K5) extracts containing polysaccharides were prepared from t...
Agaricus bisporus (J. E. Lange) Emil J. Imbach and Agaricus brasiliensis Wasser, M. Didukh, Amazonas & Stamets are edible mushrooms. We chemically characterized these mushrooms for nutritional value, hydrophilic and lipophilic compounds. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of methanolic and ethanolic extracts were assessed. Hepatotoxicity...
The editors would like to express their greatest appreciation to the authors for their fascinating and interesting contributions. The editors would like also to express their gratitude to the reviewers for their important time and valuable suggestions/comments to make the special issue a success. The papers published in this special issue not only...
The fungal polysaccharides attract a lot of attention due to their multiple challenging biological properties, such as: anti-tumor, anti-viral, anticomplementary, anticoagulant, hypolipidemic, immunomodulatory and immune-stimulatory activities, which all together make them suitable for application in many quite distinctive areas, such as food indus...
The edible mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill is known to induce protective immunomodulatory action against a variety of infectious diseases. In the present study we report potential anti-quorum sensing properties of A. blazei hot water extract. Quorum sensing (QS) plays an important role in virulence, biofilm formation and survival of many pathogenic...
Context:
Excess use of alcohol is known to be associated with liver diseases such as fatty liver, alcoholic hepatitis, and cirrhosis. Various practices may be applied to prevent or treat the damage caused by chronic alcoholism. Coprinus comatus (O.F. Müll.) Pers. (Agaricaceae) is a macrofungus that has been reported to aid the recovery of murine l...
Abstract In the present study, the curative effects of crude polysaccharides (PSs) from mushrooms on the symptoms of alcoholic liver injury were investigated. PSs from Agaricus bisporus, Agaricus brasiliensis, and Phellinus linteus fruiting bodies were administered by gavage at levels of 100 mg per kg body weight per day for 7 d after the onset of...
The edible mushroom Agaricus blazei Murill is known to induce protective immunomodulatory action against a variety of infectious diseases. In the present study we report potential anti-quorum sensing properties of A. blazei hot water extract. Quorum sensing (QS) plays an important role in virulence, biofilm formation and survival of many pathogenic...
Expression of genes involved in cell immune responses and apoptosis regulation (BCL2, CASP-9, NF-κB, TNFα, IFNγ, and IL-10) was evaluated by qPCR assays in the human leukemia cell line K562. The cells were stimulated with ethanol and hot water extracts of Agaricus bisporus, A. blazei, Phellinus linteus. Ganoderma lucidum. Upregulation of the genes...
The differentiation resp. death of human monocytic THP-1 cells induced by polysaccharide extracts of the medicinal mushrooms Phellinus linteus, Agaricus bisporus and Agaricus brasiliensis have been studied. This study aims to identify leads for the causal effects of these mushroom components on cell differentiation and death.
THP-1 cells were treat...
We studied the appearance of fruit body primordia, the growth of individual fruit bodies and the development of the consecutive flushes of the crop. Relative growth, measured as cap expansion, was not constant. It started extremely rapidly, and slowed down to an exponential rate with diameter doubling of 1.7 d until fruit bodies showed maturation b...
Abstract A detailed comparative study on chemical and bioactive properties of wild and cultivated Ganoderma lucidum from Serbia (GS) and China (GCN) was performed. This species was chosen because of its worldwide use as medicinal mushroom. Higher amounts of sugars were found in GS, while higher amounts of organic acids were recorded in GCN. Unsatur...
Mushrooms have been reported as sources of biomolecules with various potential. Coprinus comatus was studied to obtain information about this species, comparing cultivated and wild samples. Free sugars, fatty acids, tocopherols, organic acids and phenolic acids were analysed by chromatographic techniques coupled to different detectors. C. comatus m...
The (1→6)-β-d-glucans from Agaricus bisporus and Agaricus brasiliensis were purified to evaluate their effects on the innate immune system. THP-1 macrophages were used to investigate the induction of the expression of TNF-α, IL1β, and COX-2 by RT-PCR. The purification of the polysaccharides gave rise to fractions containing 96-98% of glucose. The s...
Hot water extract (LN), partially purified polysaccharides (LP) and hot alkali extracted polysaccharides (LNa) obtained from fruiting bodies of the wild basidiomycete Laetiporus sulphureus were examined for their antioxidant activities. LNa was the most active antioxidant, as shown by the median effective concentrations (EC(50) values) of 1,1-diphe...
Hot water extract (LN), partially purified polysaccharides (LP) and hot alkali extracted polysaccharides (LNa) obtained from fruiting bodies of the wild basidiomycete Laetiporus sulphureus were examined for their antioxidant activities. LNa was the most active antioxidant, as shown by the median effective concentrations (EC 50 values) of 1,1-diphen...
Cited By (since 1996):2, Export Date: 18 October 2014
Background
The hepatoprotective potential of Phellinus linteus polysaccharide (PLP) extracts has been described. However, the molecular mechanism of PLP for the inhibition of liver fibrosis is unclear. This study aims to investigate the molecular protein signatures involved in the hepatoprotective mechanisms of PLP via a proteomics approach using a...
Antioxidant activities of polysaccharide extracts of four of the most widely known mushrooms often used in medicinal applications as well as in tea and food, namely Ganoderma applanatum, Ganoderma lucidum, Lentinus edodes and Trametes versicolor, were studied. G. applanatum and L. edodes extracts were the strongest DPPH scavengers, i.e. EC50 < 0.1...
Two human leukemia cells K562 and THP-1, the breast cancer lines MCF-7 and ZR-75-1, and the melanoma line MDA-MB-435S were compared by flowcytometry for their behaviour at increasing levels of 3BP. K562 and THP-1 responded to 3BP by membrane depolarization and increased ROS; MCF-7 and ZR-75-1 showed decreased polarization and low ROS increase; MDA-...
Partially purified polysaccharides were obtained from four medicinal mushroom species, Agaricus bisporus, Agaricus brasiliensis, Phellinus linteus and Ganoderma lucidum by hot water extraction, followed by ethanol precipitation. The four samples contained varying amounts of both α- and β-glucans as determined by FT-IR and by quantitative estimation...
Mushroom polysaccharides have traditionally been used for the prevention and treatment of a multitude of disorders like infectious illnesses, cancers and various autoimmune diseases. Crude mushroom extracts have been tested without detailed chemical analyses of its polysaccharide content. For the present study we decided to chemically determine the...
Agaricus bisporus mushrooms are cultivated on straw compost prepared in the sequence phase I and phase II. Phase I is a process at 70–80 °C for several days up to 2 weeks. Phase II is a controlled process at 45 °C for 6 days. In phase II the thermophilic fungus Scytalidium thermophilum becomes abundant. Its density in finished compost is correlated...
a b s t r a c t Partially purified polysaccharides were obtained from four medicinal mushroom species, Agaricus bispo-rus, Agaricus brasiliensis, Phellinus linteus and Ganoderma lucidum by hot water extraction, followed by ethanol precipitation. The four samples contained varying amounts of both a-and b-glucans as deter-mined by FT-IR and by quanti...
The effect of culinary-medicinal Royal Sun Agaricus (Agaricus brasiliensis) hot water extract on methyl methane sulfonate (MMS) induced mutagenicity/genotoxity in Drosophila melanogaster was studied using a quick and broadly applicable in vivo assay, i.e., the wing somatic mutation and recombination test. We used 2nd instar larvae, trans-heterozygo...
The chemical composition and antibacterial activity of essential oils from 10 commonly consumed herbs: Citrus aurantium, C. limon, Lavandula angustifolia, Matricaria chamomilla, Mentha piperita, M. spicata, Ocimum basilicum, Origanum vulgare, Thymus vulgaris and Salvia officinalis have been determined. The antibacterial activity of these oils and t...
An alpha-glucan was isolated from the culinary medicinal mushroom A. bisporus by hot water extraction, ethanol precipitation and DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The resulting material showed a single HMW peak excluded from a Sephadex G50 column that could completely be degraded by alpha-amylase treatment. After heating in 1% SDS a small additional p...
Mushrooms are known for their immune modulating effect for which the polysaccharide fraction, mainly glucans, seem to be responsible. Fungal beta-glucans have been studied extensively, whereas little is known about mushroom alpha-glucans. We have earlier shown that the polysaccharide fraction from the mushroom A. bisporus, consisting 90% of alpha-g...
In the present study we describe the effects of hot water extract of the culinary-medicinal button
mushroom, Agaricus bisporus, on the symptoms of streptozotocin-induced diabetes in Sprague Dawley rats. A.bisporus extract at the doses of 0, 100, 200, and 400 mg/kg body weight (bw) per day were orally applied to
streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats...
The present study investigates the exopolysaccharide (EPS) and biomass production of 18 strains of 15 species of culinary-medicinal higher Basidiomycetes in submerged culture under four different media. Gloeophyllum abietinum and Schizophyllum commune produced the highest EPS and biomass amounts—3.81 and 14.68 g L−1, respectively—after 5 days of in...
We have studied the effects of Agaricus bisporus and Phellinus linteus ethanol extracts on transcriptional regulation of genes involved in cytokine release and apoptosis in the human leukemia cell line K562. In particular, we applied quantitative real-time PCR (Q-PCR) assays to monitor alterations of gene expression for the following genes: Bcl-2,...
Mushrooms are known for their immune-modulating and anti-tumour properties. The polysaccharide fraction, mainly beta-glucans, is responsible for the immune-modulating effects. Fungal beta-glucans have been shown to activate leukocytes, which depend on structural characteristics of beta-glucans. As edible mushrooms come in contact with the intestina...
In teh Western world the mushroom industry suffers of overproduction. Expectations are stronger than reality and as a result production is too high and prices are too low. Since bulk production has taken the lead, which not only happens in the West, overproduction occurs regularly Low pricing influences the quality concept of consumers and hence th...
The potential antifungal effects of Thymus vulgaris L., Thymus tosevii L., Mentha spicata L., and Mentha piperita L. (Labiatae) essential oils and their components against 17 micromycetal food poisoning, plant, animal and human pathogens are presented. The essential oils were obtained by hydrodestillation of dried plant material. Their composition...
The major disease of the cultivated mushroom Agaricus bisporus Lange (Imb) in Serbian mushroom farms is wet bubble caused by the fungus Mycogone perniciosa (Magnus) Delacr. In this study we report the morpho-physiological characteristics and inter-relationships between colonies of five isolates of M. perniciosa. The results suggest that mycelial co...
In the Western world, the mushroom industry suffers from overproduction. Expectations are stronger than reality, and as a result, production is too high and prices are too low. Because bulk production has taken the lead, which not only happens in the West, overproduction occurs regularly. Low pricing influences the quality concept of consumers and...
The nematode Steinernema feltiae (Nematoda: Steinemematidae) was tested for its ability to control two main mushroom pests i.e. the sciarid Lycoriella auripila (Diptera: Sciaridae) and the phorid Megaselia halterata (Diptera: Phoridae) in growing-rooms filled with spawned compost. A clear difference between female and male sciarid control was obser...
Incidence of brown-discoloured mushrooms, differing from brown blotch disease caused by Pseudomonas tolaasii, has increased in the Netherlands and been responsible for considerable economic losses. A comparative SEM-study of diseased tissue revealed that hyphae were collapsed and covered with a plaque in which numerous bacteria were embedded. The p...
Polysaccharide extracts of a large range of higher basidiomycetes fruit bodies were prepared by hot-water
extraction and further purified by ethanol precipitation. The resulting solutions contained 0.3–5.0% protein
and 0.3–6.1% phenolic compounds. Extracts of all mushrooms activated reactive oxygen species (ROS) in
human peripheral blood monocytic...
Hot water extracts of 2 groups of medicinal mushrooms have been tested from the genera Agaricus, Antrodia, Auricularia, Coprinus, Cordyceps, Hericium, Grifola, Ganoderma, Lentinus, Phellinus, and Trametes for ROS-generating activity in human cells and for DPPH-TEAC antioxidant activity. Group 1 comprised 39 commercial extracts (7 species), and grou...