Men's Health Women's Health Senior's Health Antioxidants Sports Nutrition Diet & Weight Loss Vitamins & Minerals Herbs Specialty Supplements Targeted Supplements Spa Products Anti-Aging Basics Body Systems Body Structure Book Store Pet Health My Recommendation My Favorite Articles Our Most Popular Specials Bargain Basement Brands

MSM

Health News Archive 139 - White Blood Cell Health
<<back to structure/function index

Beta Glucan Improves White Blood Cell Health after Radiation

Beta glucan enhanced the survival rate and improved the white blood cell recovery rate in mice exposed to radiation, a recent study in the journal Blood reports.

Earlier studies have demonstrated that yeast-derived beta glucan enhanced hematopoiesis—the production of white blood cells—after radiation exposure. Beta glucan also has reduced infectious complications of myelosuppression (inhibition of bone marrow function).

The current study sought to confirm these past findings as well as to identify Beta 1, 3-D glucan’s mechanism of action.

In the study, researchers examined the role of complement, a soluble blood protein, and complement receptor 3 (CR3) in bone marrow injury and repair. CR3 positive stem cells (white blood cell progenitor cells) move to the site of injury, bind to injured bone marrow cells and mature into new blood cells. The researchers discovered that beta glucan enhances the proliferation of stem cells, promoting white blood cell recovery. Mice were treated for 12 days with beta glucan and exposed to a sublethal dose of radiation. The beta-glucan-treated animals had approximately 40 percent more cell formation units in the spleen than untreated mice.

In addition, when beta glucan was given orally it also significantly enhanced the survival of animals receiving a lethal dose of radiation after stem cell transplantation. Forty days following radiation exposure, approximately 30 percent of mice treated with beta glucan survived compared with only 3 percent of the untreated animals.

According to the researchers, the reduced death rate that occurred together with an improvement in white blood cell recovery following radiation and beta glucan treatment could be due to a lessening of opportunistic infections in the immune-weakened mice.

Reference:

Cramer DE, Allendorf DJ, Baran JT, Hansen R, Marroquin J, Li B, Ratajczak J, Ratajczak MZ, Yan J. Beta-glucan enhances complement-mediated hematopoietic recovery after bone marrow injury. Blood. 2005 Sep 22.