Poria

Polyporus, a medicinal fungus of the Polyporaceae family, is a member of the order Aphyllophorales. The fruiting body is large or very large, fleshy, stalked, multi-branched, with a round white to light brown cap at the end, and the diameter of a cluster can reach 35cm. The cap is round, concave in the middle and nearly funnel-shaped, with involuted edges, covered with dark fine scales, 1-4cm wide. The flesh is white, the pore surface is white, and it is straw yellow after drying. The pore mouth is round or broken into irregular teeth, extending, with an average of 2-4 per millimeter. The spores are colorless, smooth, cylindrical, round at one end and crooked at the other end, 7-10μm×3-4.2μm. Economic value: The fruiting body is edible when it is young and tender, and tastes very delicious. Its underground sclerotia are black and of various shapes. It is a famous Chinese medicine with the effect of diuresis and edema treatment. It contains polysaccharide (glucan), which is experimentally anti-cancer.

Nutritional value of Poria cocos

It contains 7.89% crude protein, 0.24% ether-soluble extract, 46.06% crude fiber, soluble sugars, etc. It also contains free and bound biotin, 2-hydroxytetracosanoic acid, ergosterol, biotin, carbohydrates, and protein.

The efficacy and function of Poria cocos

1. Diuretic effect:

Poria decoction, equivalent to 0.25-0.5g/kg of crude drug, intravenous or intramuscular injection, has a relatively obvious diuretic effect on non-anesthetized dogs, and can promote the excretion of electrolytes such as sodium, chloride, and potassium, which may be due to the inhibition of renal tubular reabsorption function. 2. Effect on immune function:
2.1 Immunity enhancement effect:

Polyporus polysaccharide can significantly enhance the proliferation response of mouse T cells to ConA and the proliferation response of B cells to LPS. Polyporus polysaccharide has a significant mitogenic effect on mouse whole spleen cells. At a dose of 12.5 mg/(kg·day), Polyporus polysaccharide can significantly enhance the number of specific antibody secreting cells of mice to SRBC; it can significantly enhance the delayed hypersensitivity reaction of mice to heterotypic spleen cells and promote heterotypic spleen cells to activate cytotoxic T cells (CTL) to kill target cells. CTL is an important effector cell of the body's immune surveillance and plays a key role in tumor immunity.
2.2 A non-T cell mitogen effect.

Normal mouse spleen cells and thymocytes, nude mouse spleen cells and spleen cells after removing adsorbed cells were cultured to observe the proliferation response to different concentrations of Polyporus polysaccharide. The results showed that the response of nude mouse spleen cells to Polyporus polysaccharide was no different from that of normal mouse cells, that is, T cells did not play a role in this reaction; after removing adsorbed cells from nude mouse spleen cells, most of the remaining cells were B cells, but they could still have a significant proliferation response to Polyporus polysaccharide, indicating that Polyporus polysaccharide has a B cell mitogenic effect. The response of nude mouse spleen cells to Polyporus polysaccharide was significantly weakened after removing adsorbed cells, indicating that adsorbed cells have a certain auxiliary role in the response of nude mouse spleen cells to Polyporus polysaccharide. It is revealed that Polyporus polysaccharide may be a non-T cell mitogen. However, it does not have hemagglutination effect, which is different from plant-derived mitogens such as PHA and ConA.
2.3. Effect on ANAE-positive lymphocytes in mouse blood:

The experimental mice were intraperitoneally injected with 2mg/0.2ml of Polyporus polysaccharide every day for 7 consecutive days. Blood smears were taken before and after the experiment, and the ANAE-positive T lymphocytes were labeled by a-naphthyl acetate esterase method, and the percentage was determined. The results showed that Polyporus polysaccharide had no effect on the total number of ANAE-positive T lymphocytes in the blood of mice, reduced the granular positive T lymphocytes, and significantly proliferated the dispersed granular positive T lymphocytes.
3. Anti-tumor effect:
3.1 Effects on liver glucose metabolism and adrenal cortex function in H22 liver cancer-bearing mice:

Polyporus polysaccharide was given to H22 mice bearing liver cancer by intraperitoneal injection of 200 mg/kg for 2 days. The animals were killed on the 10th day, the ascites was taken out, and the total number of tumor cells in each mouse was detected by eosin method. The result showed that the inhibition rate was 39%. Intraperitoneal injection of 100-200 mg/kg for 5 days can increase the accumulation of glycogen in the liver of cancer-bearing mice, and enhance the activity of glycogenoneogenesis enzymes: glucose-6-phosphatase and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, but it has no such effect on the liver of normal mice. 400 mg/kg can restore the hyperactive cortical function of cancer-bearing mice to normal. It is suggested that Polyporus polysaccharide has an adaptogenic effect, which may be a pharmacological basis for its anti-tumor effect.
3.2 Effects on hepatic glycogen accumulation, gluconeogenesis and degradative enzyme system in H22 mice bearing liver cancer:

The regulation of gene expression and gene rearrangement in the process of tumor formation are carried out through key enzymes. Since gluconeogenesis is an important mechanism for the body to maintain homeostasis, the activities and dynamic changes of several key enzymes in the sugar metabolism pathway were selected as indicators to observe how the effective anti-tumor polysaccharide polysaccharide increases the accumulation of liver glycogen in cancer-bearing mice. Intraperitoneal injection of 400 mg/kg of polysaccharide per day for 5 days can increase the activity of glucose-6-phosphatase (G-6-Pase) from 217±35 to 267±12umolp/gram protein/hour, and the activity of fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase (F1,6-Pase) from 263±25 to 448±56umolp/gram protein/hour. If the same dose is injected intraperitoneally once, the activity of G-6-pase increases significantly in 1.5 hours, reaches a peak in 12 hours, and remains at a high level at 24 and 48 hours. F-1,6-Pase increases significantly at 12 and 24 hours, while liver glycogen increases significantly after 24 hours. But it had no effect on the activity of glycogenolytic enzymes, namely phosphorylases. This suggests that the accumulation of liver glycogen in cancer-bearing mice after administration of Polyporus polysaccharide is through the increase of glycogenoneogenesis enzyme activity, accelerating gluconeogenesis and improving the body's homeostasis state.
3.3. Anti-tumor effect of Polyporus umbellatus extract:

Poria extract (mainly Poria polysaccharide) has a significant inhibitory effect on mouse transplanted tumor S-180. The tumor inhibition rate is 50-70%, and the tumor weight inhibition rate is more than 30%. Among the tumor-bearing mice treated with the extract, about 6-7% of the tumors completely disappeared. For mice with completely disappeared tumors, no tumors grew when tumor cells were inoculated again 1-6 months later. The extract was administered by intraperitoneal injection, intravenous injection and oral gavage, and it can inhibit tumor growth at a certain dose, but the effect of oral gavage is worse than that of intraperitoneal injection and intravenous injection, and the dosage is also large. Preventive administration has an inhibitory effect on S-180. At a dose where chemotherapy drugs alone do not show anti-tumor effects, adding an appropriate amount of Poria extract will have a significant anti-tumor effect. The number of antibody-producing cells in the spleen of tumor-bearing mice increased significantly, indicating that it has a significant effect on promoting antibody formation, and can also significantly improve the phagocytic activity of peritoneal macrophages in tumor-bearing mice. This product can increase the cAMP content in S-180 ascites cancer cells. In the experimental group with high cancer cell proliferation inhibition rate, the cAMP content in cancer cells is also high. Generally, the cAMP content in cancer cells is lower than that in normal cells. The more cancerous it is, the lower the cAMP content is. cAMP can transform tumor cells into normal cells. Polyporus ketone AG and 7 compounds have cytotoxic effects on L1210 cells and have a dose-dependent inhibitory effect.
3.4. Inhibitory effect on experimental bladder tumors:

Female rats were given BBN [N-butyl-N-(4-hydroxybutyl)nitrosamine] solution 0.25ml (90mg) by gavage twice a week for 12 weeks, with a total dose of BBN of 2.16g per rat. They were fed with 90g/kg of Polyporus dry powder at the same time. They were killed after 30 weeks. The results showed that the total bladder tumor rate dropped from 100% in the pathological control group to 61.1%, a decrease of 38.9%. The number of tumors and tumor diameter per rat were significantly lower than those in the pathological control group. The cancer rate dropped from 77.8% in the pathological control group to 11.1%, a decrease of 66.7%. This shows that Polyporus has a significant inhibitory effect on the occurrence of BBN bladder tumors, and has no obvious toxic side effects.
4. Protective effect on the liver of mice with toxic hepatitis:

Carbon tetrachloride and D-galactosamine were intraperitoneally injected into mice to induce toxic hepatitis. Polyporus polysaccharide 100-200 mg/kg was intraperitoneally injected before and after induction, and the drug was administered once every 4, 8, and 12 hours. All of them can significantly prevent the occurrence of liver lesions, reduce the activity of SGPT, and increase the activity of liver 5'-nucleotidase and acid phosphataminase 6-phosphogluconate phosphatase. Similar effects were also observed in vitro, indicating that it has a significant protective effect on the liver.
5. Anti-radiation effect:

Polyporus polysaccharide has a significant effect in preventing and treating acute radiation sickness in mice, and the effective dose and time are relatively wide. The survival rate of mice irradiated with a lethal dose (800rad) was increased by 30-70% by intraperitoneal injection 2 and 48 hours before irradiation. Administration after irradiation has protective efficacy regardless of oral or intraperitoneal injection, and the preventive effect is higher than the therapeutic effect. Polyporus polysaccharide has no protective effect on the hematopoietic function of irradiated mice, but it does significantly improve the stress function of the adrenal cortex of irradiated mice. It is preliminarily believed that the anti-radiation effect of Polyporus polysaccharide may be through regulating the function of the pituitary-adrenal system, putting the body in a state of stress, thereby enhancing the ability to resist radiation damage.
6. Other functions:

Intraperitoneal injection of Polyporus polysaccharide to mice for 48 hours can significantly enhance the incorporation of 3H-TdR in mouse thymocytes and accelerate the release of thymocytes. Since these phenomena no longer occur after adrenalectomy, and polysaccharide can significantly increase the level of corticosterone in animal plasma, it can be considered that these effects are achieved through the adrenal cortex.

Medicinal value of Poria

[Alias ​​of medicinal material] Zhuling, Zhuling, pig dung, pig dung, Sima Biao, Xiling, Diwutao, wild boar food, pig dung, pig tuckahoe, wild boar dung [Source of medicinal material]: Remove mud and sand after digging out and dry it [Nature and flavor]: sweet, light, flat.
① "Ben Jing": sweet, neutral.
② "Materia Medica": slight fever.
③Li Gao: light and sweet, neutral.
[return through]: heart, spleen, stomach, lung and kidney meridians.
① "Tangye Bencao": enters the foot Taiyang and Shaoyin meridians.
②《Pharmaceutical Chemistry》: Enters the spleen and bladder meridians.
③ "Bencao Jingjie": enters the hand Taiyin lung meridian and foot Taiyin spleen meridian.
【Effects】: Diuresis and dehumidification. Treats dysuria, edema, diarrhea, stranguria, and leucorrhea.
【Notes】: Do not take if you are not suffering from water retention.

Side effects of Poria

[Mechanism of adverse reactions] Poria polysaccharide is mainly a polymer, which contains impurities and protein antigens, and can cause allergic reactions.
[Adverse Reactions] Overdose of this product may cause excessive urine output, dry mouth, irritability, etc. Poria injection may cause local pain, redness, swelling, heat, drug-induced rash, angioedema, anaphylactic shock, and other symptoms such as upper gastrointestinal bleeding, vaginal bleeding, joint pain, kidney damage, transient tinnitus, etc.
【Treatment and rescue】
(1) If there is an allergic reaction, give anti-allergic treatment. When anaphylactic shock occurs, promptly give anti-shock treatment with drugs such as adrenaline.
(2) Other symptomatic treatments.

Contraindications of using Poria

Do not take if you are not damp.
1. "Medical Origin": "Poria cocos is mild and penetrating, and it is very dry and causes loss of body fluids. Do not take it if you do not have dampness symptoms."
2. "Medical Introduction": "People with dampness and kidney deficiency should avoid it."
3. "Depei Materia Medica": "Blurred eyes and thirst without dampness are prohibited."