Abstract

The purpose of this project is to test the effects of medicinal mushrooms on the immune system. Specifically this project was designed to test the immunomodulating effects of f3-1-3-glucans and terpenoids found in maitake Fraction D on the immune system of the common channel catfish (lctalurus punctatus). Aquaculture is a large industry in the southern United States and farm raising channel catfish accounts for 85%-90% of the aquacuhure industry, producing almost 500 million pounds of catfish annually (16). Disease and death in these fish is very costly to this industry and deaths due to enteric septicemia cost the industry 19 million dollars annually (16). However a successful vaccination for Edwardsiella ictaluri is not easy to make due to the serological and biochemical homogeneity of E. ictaluri strains (11). Mushrooms help to fight infectious diseases caused by parasites, bacteria, and viruses by stimulating the immune system (20). Mushrooms elicit these powerful responses by stimulating and increasing the potential of the immune response. Catfish were treated with maitake Fraction D and challenged with a virulent strain of E. ictaluri. From inspection of the data of the fish mortalities there can be no clear conclusions drawn from the data. There was evidence that the systems for removing nitrogenous waste from the water were insufficient, resulting in nitrite poisoning of all test groups.