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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

2008, Volume10

104 pages

DOI: 10.1615/IntJMedMushr.v10.i1

Issue price - $161.00

High Immunomodulatory and Preventive Effects Against Sarcoma 180 in Mice Fed with Ling Zhi or Reishi Mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (W. Curt.: Fr.) P. Karst. (Aphyllophoromycetideae) Mycelium

Rosalia Rubel
Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology Division, Federal University of Parana (UFPR), Curitiba, Parana, Brazil

Herta Stutz Dalla Santa
Bioprocess Engineering and Biotechnology Division, Federal University of Parana (UFPR), Curitiba, Parana, Brazil; and Department of Food Engineering, Unicentro, Guarapuava, Parana, Brazil

Luiz Claudio Fernandes
Department of Physiology, Federal University of Parana (UFPR), Curitiba, Parana, Brasil

Jose Hermenio Cavalcante Lima Filho
Department of Medical Pathology Federal, University of Parana (UFPR), Curitiba, Parana, Brasil

Bonald Cavalcante Figueiredo
Department of Pediatrics , University of Parana (UFPR), Curitiba, Parana, Brazil

Raffaello Di Bernardi
Department of Biological Sciences , University of Parana (UFPR), Curitiba, Parana, Brazil

Andrea N. Moreno
Biology Course, University Catholic of Parana, Curitiba, Parana, Brazil

Fan Leifa
Institute of Horticulture, Zhejiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Hangzhou, China

Carlos Ricardo Soccol
Laboratorio de Processos Biotecnologicos, Departamento de Engenharia Quimica, Universidade Federal do Parana. Centro Politecnico, Curitiba PR, CEP: 81531-990, Brazil

ABSTRACT

This study evaluated the immunomodulatory and antitumor effects of a diet supplemented with Ganoderma lucidum (Ling Zhi or Reishi) medicinal mushroom mycelium obtained by solid-state fermentation. Over 14 weeks, animals from a test group were fed with 2 concentrations of G. lucidum mycelium, at 85% or 50%, labeled G85 and G50 diets, respectively. A control group received a regular diet. In the tenth week, half the animals from the test group and half the animals from the control group were inoculated with a suspension of Sarcoma 180 cells. Saline was injected in the remaining animals. In week 14, plasma levels of cytokines and the population of CD3⁺, CD4⁺, CD8⁺, CD19⁺, and CD16⁺/ CD32⁺ cells were evaluated. When compared to the control group, G. lucidum-supplemented diets altered the immune systems of the mice significantly (p < 0.05) the G50 diet proving more effective than the G85 diet. Mice inoculated with saline and fed with the G50 diet presented an increase in CD19⁺ and CD16⁺/CD32⁺ cell populations, along with an elevation in the tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and interferon (IFN)-γ concentrations. Conversely, tumor-bearing mice fed with the G50 diet (labeled the G50-S group) presented an increase in CD3⁺, CD4⁺, and CD8⁺ cells, but a decrease in CD19⁺ and CD16⁺/ CD32⁺ cell populations. TNF-α and IFN-γ concentrations were reduced in the G50-S group. The G50-S group presented a tumor weight 84% lower than that found in the control group. These results suggest that the immunomodulatory effect provoked by the consumption of G. lucidum mycelium possibly increased mice resistance against Sarcoma 180.