Elsevier

Nutrition

Volume 28, Issue 5, May 2012, Pages 527-531
Nutrition

Applied nutritional investigation
Dietary intake of Agaricus bisporus white button mushroom accelerates salivary immunoglobulin A secretion in healthy volunteers

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nut.2011.08.005Get rights and content

Abstract

Objective

Secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) acts as the first line of adaptive humoral immune defense at mucosal surfaces. A lack of SIgA or the inability to produce antigen-specific SIgA can lead to an increased risk of infections. Dietary intake may improve mucosal immunity by accelerating SIgA secretion. This study investigated the effect of dietary intake of Agaricus bisporus white button mushroom (WBM) on salivary IgA (sIgA) secretion in healthy subjects.

Methods

Twenty-four healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to a normal daily diet (control group) or a normal diet with WBM. The subjects in the active group (n = 12, 41.4 ± 11.3 y old) consumed 100 g of blanched WBM daily with their normal diet for 1 wk, whereas those in the control group consumed their normal diet (n = 12, 43.5 ± 12.5 y old) without WBM. Saliva was collected before and after commencement of the study and every week thereafter for 3 wk. Saliva flow rate, sIgA concentration, and osmolality were determined and the sIgA:osmolality ratio and the sIgA secretion rate were calculated.

Results

There was no significant difference between pre- and postdietary mushroom intakes for all indices in the control group (P > 0.05). In contrast, the mean sIgA secretion rate increased significantly at weeks 1 and 2 by 53% and 56%, respectively, compared with that at week 0 (P < 0.0005) in the WBM intake group and then returned to a baseline level at week 3. Changes in sIgA secretion rate over the intervention period were greater in the WBM group than in the control group without WBM. In both groups, no significant changes in osmolality and saliva IgG were noted. There was, however, a significant increase in the sIgA:osmolality ratio (P < 0.0012), confirming the postdietary WBM-induced sIgA increase.

Conclusion

The dietary intake of A. bisporus WBM significantly accelerates sIgA secretion, thereby indicating its potential health benefits for improving mucosal immunity.

Introduction

The mucosal membrane of the oral cavity, the gastrointestinal, genitourinary, and respiratory tracts, and the mammary gland occupies the largest area of the human body [1]. Its continuous exposure to the environment is vulnerable to attack by pathogenic microorganisms that cause epithelial cell dysfunction and/or cell death [2]. Protection against infectious agents is carried out by the body’s specialized innate and adaptive immunity system [3]. The adaptive mucosal immune defense is largely mediated by secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA), which is the predominant immunoglobulin class in human secretions [2], [3], [4]. Evidence for a gut contribution to adaptive mucosal immune responses derives largely from animal studies [3], [5]. Antigen-sensitized mucosal immunocytes (e.g., IgA B cells) initiated in the gut-associated mucosal tissue migrate with the blood to mucosal tissues to form the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue, where they differentiate into plasma cells producing antigen-specific IgA antibodies for defense of the mucosal surfaces against invasive pathogens. A similar mechanism appears to occur in humans to ensure that SIgA antibodies are produced at every mucosal site, which includes the intestine, respiratory tract, salivary and mammary glands, and genitourinary tract [6], [7], [8], [9], [10]. For example, oral intake of killed bacteria [7] or bacterial antigen [8] has led to the generation of IgA-committed B cells in peripheral blood before their appearance in mucosal sites to secrete the specific IgA antibody and establish mucosal immunity.

The function of the SIgA antibody in mucosal defense is to perform “immune exclusion” by preventing potentially harmful pathogens and antigens from adhering to and penetrating through the secretory epithelia, containing the gut microbiota, reinforcing the epithelial barrier function and contributing to the immunologic homeostasis [3], [5]. Thus, changes in the protective capacity of SIgA to perform these functions can lead to infections and inflammatory diseases [5], [11]. SIgA in saliva has been used to monitor the status of the mucosal immune system (reviewed by Albers et al. [12]). The salivary glands (parotid, sublingual, and submandibular) are an important source of SIgA in the upper respiratory tract [13]. Numerous studies of saliva composition have found decreases in salivary SIgA secretion with age [14], psychological and occupational stresses [15], [16], [17], [18], nutritional deficiencies [19], [20], strenuous physical exercise [21], [22], and immune-compromised individuals [23] and may lead to an increased risk of respiratory infections [19], [20], [24]. These examples illustrate the importance of measuring salivary SIgA and point to the potential benefit of dietary intervention for improving or slowing the decline of salivary IgA (sIgA) in susceptible populations.

Agaricus bisporus white button mushroom (WBM) constitutes the bulk of all mushrooms consumed, especially in Western countries. The mushroom contains bioactive compounds that have been shown to exhibit immunomodulating and anticancer properties [25], [26], [27]. To our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to determine the effect of mushroom consumption on sIgA secretion. The objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that the dietary intake of A. bisporus WBM is effective in enhancing sIgA secretion in healthy subjects.

Section snippets

Subjects

Ethics approval was obtained from the University of Western Sydney human research ethics committee. The subjects were recruited by a local advertisement placed on the university campus. The participants included researchers, laboratory staff, and employees. They were informed of the experimental procedures and gave their written informed consent. Participants also completed a medical questionnaire before participating. Twenty-four healthy subjects (24–56 y old, 12 male and 12 female)

Results

Four of 12 subjects from the control group were not eligible for saliva collection at follow-up because of poor compliance (absence or refused). The remaining participants met the exclusion criteria throughout the test period. The mean absolute values for sIgA secretion rate, sIgA concentration, saliva flow rate, osmolality, sIgG concentration, and IgG secretion rate over time are listed in Table 1. There was no significant difference between the pre- and postdietary intervention for all

Discussion

This study has shown for the first time that a dietary intake of WBM resulted in higher sIgA secretion in the saliva of healthy adult subjects. The elevated sIgA secretion rate in the WBM group remained stable at week 2. The change in the sIgA concentration and secretion rate was not due to the change in saliva osmolality, which remained relatively constant in both groups over time. In addition, elevated sIgA secretion occurred in the absence of an increase in sIgG secretion over the same

Conclusions

This study has shown that a dietary intake of the WBM increases SIgA secretion in the saliva of healthy subjects. The increase of salivary SIgA may have the potential for improving mucosal immunity. It is important to determine the significance of such changes induced by a dietary intake of the WBM on the overall defense capacity of saliva and how this could lead to increased protection against the risk of infections such as upper respiratory illness in susceptible populations.

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    This research was supported by a grant from the Australian Mushroom Growers’ Association and Horticulture Australia.

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