Armando Zepeda-Bastida

Anti-inflammatory effect of aqueous extracts of spent Pleurotus ostreatus substrates in mouse ears treated with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate

Aims: To evaluate the application of spent Pleurotus ostreatus substrates, enriched or not with medicinal herbs, as a source of anti-inflammatory compounds. Subjects and Methods: P. ostreatus was cultivated on five different substrates: Barley straw (BS) and BS combined 80:20 with medicinal herbs (Chenopodium ambrosioides L. [BS/CA], Rosmarinus officinalis L. [BS/RO], Litsea glaucescens Kunth [BS/LG], and Tagetes lucida Cav. [BS/TL]). The anti-inflammatory activity of aqueous extracts of spent mushroom substrates (SMSs) (4 mg/ear) was studied using an acute inflammation model in the mouse ear induced with 2.5 μg/ear 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol13-acetate (TPA). Results: Groups treated with BS/CA, BS/RO, and BS/LG aqueous extracts exhibited the best anti-inflammatory activity (94.0% ± 5.5%, 92.9% ± 0.6%, and 90.4% ± 5.0% inhibition of auricular edema [IAO], respectively), and these effects were significantly different (P < 0.05) from that of the positive control indomethacin (0.5 mg/ear). BS/TL and BS were also able to reduce TPA-induced inflammation but to a lesser extent (70.0% ± 6.7% and 43.5% ± 6.6% IAO, respectively). Conclusions: Spent P. ostreatus substrate of BS possesses a slight anti-inflammatory effect. The addition of CA L. to mushroom substrate showed a slightly synergistic effect while RO L. had an additive effect. In addition, LG Kunth and TL Cav. enhanced the anti-inflammatory effect of SMS. However, to determine whether there is a synergistic or additive effect, it is necessary to determine the anti-inflammatory effect of each medicinal herb.

In-vitro liquid culture of the entomopathogenic nematode, Steinernema colombiense, in orbitally shaken flasks

ABSTRACT Steinernema colombiense, an entomopathogenic nematode species (EPN) was grown in two types of orbitally shaken flasks at 130 rpm and 28°C, containing 10 or 20 mL, respectively of a complex culture medium with an initial EPN-concentration of 1,000 Infective Juveniles (IJ)/mL. At the 10th day, the EPN-concentration was 58,771 individuals/mL with 87% of them in the IJ stage. No significant differences were found between the EPN growth kinetics in both types of flasks. The nematode-population growth was modelled by a re-parameterized Gompertz equation of three-parameters with best-fit values of 3.8 days for the lag time, 33.8 day-1 for the maximum growth rate, and 57.3 (dimensionless) for the maximum asymptotic growth.