Abstract
This study investigated the effect of gamma irradiation on immune enhancing activity of Chaga mushroom extract (CME). CME was prepared by hot water extraction at $70^{\circ}C$ for 4 hours and lyophilized. Lyophilized CME powder was dissolved with deionized water at $10mg\;ml^{-1}$ and then irradiated at the doses of 10, 30 and 50 kGy by cobalt 60 gamma irradiator. The gamma-irradiated and non-irradiated CME were treated into the splenocyte separated from mouse. Cell proliferation and cytokine production of the immune cells were increased by gamma-irradiated CME and these increases were more prominent when CME was irradiated at higher doses. Therefore, it is considered that gamma irradiation can be an effective method for improvement of the immunomodulating activity Chaga mushroom extract.