The role of polysaccharide POM extracted from Pleurotus ostreatus in curbing and treating the harmful effects on liver and kidney resulting from radiation exposure

This research assesses the radioprotective and antioxidant activity of polysaccharide (POM) derived from Pleurotus ostreatus strain on rats suffering from metabolic problems due to irradiation. The crude POM obtained through chemical analysis was found to consist of glucose, galactose, and fructose in 1:1.2:0.1 ratio but was absent of uronic acid, and sulfate. Moreover, it demonstrated radical scavenging activity (45.21-84.21%) at 5 mg/ml concentration. A total of thirty-two male Sprague-Dawley rats were used and split into four groups: control, radiation (whole body RT with 5 Gy gamma rays), POM treatment (28 days at 100 mg/kg body weight), POM + radiation (n = 8 rats/group). Monitoring of body weight was done and on day 28, cardiac blood samples were collected and tested on liver and kidney function indices. ELISA was used to test for inflammatory factors and liver and kidney sections were stained with hematoyxlin-eosin, and other tests for DNA fragmentation were undertaken. The rats that underwent radiation exhibited reduced body weights, metabolic disruption, and decrease in antioxidant enzyme activities. The histological analysis displayed edema of hepatic cells, inflammatory cell infiltration, and vacuolar degeneration. On the other hand, rats in the POM + Radiation group showed less severe pathological changes. POM treated rats had restored their liver and kidney functions, lower TBARS, higher total protein, and improved antioxidant enzyme activities. POM treatment effectively alleviates liver and kidney damage caused by radiation exposure.