Antitumour Activity of Grifola frondosa Exopolysaccharides Produced by Submerged Fermentation Using Sugar Cane and Soy Molasses as Carbon Sources

Jacqueline Sugitani Chimilovski¹, Sascha Habu¹, Richard Fhillipy Bosqui Teixeira¹, Vanete Thomaz-Soccol¹, Miguel Daniel Noseda², Adriane Bianchi Pedroni Medeiros¹, Ashok Pandey³ and Carlos Ricardo Soccol¹*

¹Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology Division, Centro Politécnico, Federal University of Paraná, 81531-990 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
²Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Centro Politécnico, Federal University of Paraná, 81531-990 Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
³Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (NIIST), CSIR, 695 019 Trivandrum, India

Article history:
Received September 14, 2010
Accepted January 10, 2011

Key words:
Grifola frondosa, kinetics, molasses, exopolysaccharides, antitumour activity, submerged culture

Summary:
Grifola frondosa is an edible Basidiomycete and produces exopolysaccharides (EPS) known for their antitumour activity. The objectives of this study are to produce exopolysaccharides in submerged fermentation using alternative carbon sources (sugar cane and soy molasses), and to evaluate their anti-proliferative activity against tumour cells. Exopolysaccharides were extracted by ethanol and tested against mice tumour cells, then characterized by gas chromatography. Carbon sources represent the major cost of the bioprocess, so a search for new alternatives such as agro-industrial residues is important to establish the viability on an industrial scale. Moreover, the data about the kinetics of the EPS production allow studying the optimization of the process.

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