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International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms

ISSN for PRINT: 1521-9437

Institutional price:	$538.00
Issues per year:	4

Best Paper Award Selection - Editorial Board Site

2000, Volume2

128 pages

Issue price - $128.00

The Hypnotic and Sedative Actions of the Spores of Ganoderma lucidum (Curt.: Fr.) P. Karst. (Aphyllophoromycetideae) in Mice

Linghong Yu
Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China

Huailing Wei
Department of Pharmacology, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China

ABSTRACT

Ganoderma has multiple pharmacological activities and clinical uses. The aqueous extract of G. lucidum (Curt.: Fr.) P. Karst. spores also has many pharmacological activities and clinical uses. The injection made from the spores of G. lucidum (called Jisheng injection) has been used clinically for more than 20 years for its therapeutic effects on several neuromuscular disorders such as myotonia and polymyositis. Jisheng injection can gradually improve a patient's sleep and enhance appetite after he or she takes it for about 2 weeks. To determine the pharmacological bases of the clinical effect of Jisheng injection in improving patients' sleep, the authors investigated the hypnotic and sedative effects of Jisheng injection on the central nervous system in mice. The results are as follows: (1) subcutaneous injection of Jisheng extract significantly prolonged the sleeping time induced by both sodium pentobarbital and barbital in mice in a dose-dependent manner; (2) Jisheng extract also induced sleep in mice after intraperitoneal injection of a subthreshold dose of pentobarbital which could not induce sleep in normal mice; (3) repeated injection of the effectively hypnotic dosage of Jisheng extract once daily for 8 consecutive days did not induce addiction, as the prolonging effect of Jisheng on pentobarbital sleeping time was not shortened, whereas the chemical hypnotic drug diazepam induced addiction after repeated injection for 8 days; and (4) Jisheng injection markedly decreased the spontaneous motor activity in mice. It may be concluded from these results that the aqueous extract of G. lucidum spores has hypnotic and sedative actions on the central nervous system in mice.