Effects of fermentation products ofGanoderma lucidumon growth performance and immunocompetence in weanling pigs

Nutraceutical Enrichment of Animal Feed by Filamentous Fungi Fermentation

There is an urgent need for improvements in animal production, particularly for ruminants, such that more sustainable and efficient processes are developed for obtaining more nutritious and efficient feeds. Filamentous fungi can add value to residual plant biomass, and may also have the potential to produce metabolites and enrich plant biomasses used in animal nutrition, converting them into nutraceutical sources. Thus, in this work, filamentous fungal fermentation of ruminant feed biomasses commonly used in Brazil was performed, and the enrichment for bioactive metabolites was tested. For this, Fistulina hepatica, Ganoderma lucidum, Pleurotus pulmonarius, Panus lecomtei, and Aspergillus terreus were grown for 28 days on different substrates: starchy grains- (sorghum, oat, and corn), fibrous substrates (coast-cross, rice husk, and moringa plant) and protein-rich substrates (cottonseed cake and pigeon pea plant). Fermented substrates were evaluated for laccase activity, crude protein, β-glucan, and lovastatin content. The highest growth rate was observed for G. lucidum in oat substrate (OT-01) (0.708 ± 0.035 cm/day) and F. hepatica in oat + coast-cross + pigeon pea treatment (OT-10) (0.607 ± 0.012 cm/day). High laccase activity was observed for P. lecomtei grown in starchy grain + moringa + pigeon pea substrate, reaching an activity of 416.8 ± 20.28 U/g. A. terreus growth in ST-09 (sorghum + pigeon pea) showed higher protein (15.3 ± 0.46%), β-glucan (503.56 ± 8.6 mg/g) and lovastatin (1.10 ± 0.17 mg/g) content compared to untreated substrates. These results demonstrate that filamentous fungi are an alternative for nutraceutical enrichment of ruminant feed biomasses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report in which P. lecomtei and F. hepatica are evaluated for their ability to be cultivated in ruminant feed substrates from Brazil.

Ganoderma lucidum Spore Polysaccharide Inhibits the Growth of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells by Altering Macrophage Polarity and Induction of Apoptosis

Background

Ganoderma lucidum has certain components with known pharmacological effects, including strengthening immunity and anti-inflammatory activity. G. lucidum seeds inherit all its biological characteristics. G. lucidum spore polysaccharide (GLSP) is the main active ingredient to enhance these effects. However, its specific biological mechanisms are not exact. Our research is aimed at revealing the specific biological mechanism of GLSP to enhance immunity and inhibit the growth of H22 hepatocellular carcinoma cells.

Methods

We extracted primary macrophages (Mø) from BALB/c mice and treated them with GLSP (800 μg/mL, 400 μg/mL, and 200 μg/mL) to observe its effects on macrophage polarization and cytokine secretion. We used GLSP and GLSP-intervened macrophage supernatant to treat H22 tumor cells and observed their effects using MTT and flow cytometry. Moreover, real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and western blotting were used to observe the effect of GLSP-intervened macrophage supernatant on the PI3K/AKT and mitochondrial apoptosis pathways.

Results

In this study, GLSP promoted the polarization of primary macrophages to M1 type and the upregulation of some cytokines such as TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and TGF-β1. The MTT assay revealed that GLSP+Mø at 400 μg/mL and 800 μg/mL significantly inhibited H22 cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. Flow cytometry analysis revealed that GLSP+Mø induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G2/M phase, associated with the expression of critical genes and proteins (PI3K, p-AKT, BCL-2, BAX, and caspase-9) that regulate the PI3K/AKT pathway and apoptosis. GLSP reshapes the tumor microenvironment by activating macrophages, promotes the polarization of primary macrophages to M1 type, and promotes the secretion of various inflammatory factors and cytokines.

Conclusion

Therefore, as a natural nutrient, GLSP is a potential agent in hepatocellular carcinoma cell treatment and induction of apoptosis.

Effects of Armillariella tabescens mycelia on the growth performance and intestinal immune response and microflora of early-weaned pigs

This study was performed to evaluate effects of Armillariella tabescens (A. tabescens) on the growth performance and intestinal immune response and microflora in early-weaned pigs when used as feed additive. A. tabescens mycelia were added to basal diets at concentrations of 0%, 0.1%, 0.3% or 0.9% (w/w). A total of 144 commercial cross-bred piglets were randomly allocated to one of these four diets and fed for 30 days. The growth performance of early-weaned piglets displayed improvement with diets containing 0.1% and 0.3% dried mycelia powder from A. tabescens. Supplementing with 0.1% or 0.3% A. tabescens mycelia induced a 2.6- and three-fold increase in secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) content in the jejunal mucosa, respectively, but had only a marginal effect on sIgA in the ileal mucosa. Expression of interleukin-2, interferon-γ, and tumor necrosis factor-α in the jejunal mucosa were elevated with A. tabescens mycelia administration. Increased amounts of Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium spp. in the jejunum, and decreased amounts of Escherichia coli in the jejunum and ileum were observed with the administration of A. tabescens-containing diets. This study demonstrated that A. tabescens had beneficial effects on the growth performance and intestinal microflora of early-weaned pigs.

Extract of Ganoderma lucidum prolongs sleep time in rats

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ganoderma lucidum (Ling Zhi) is a basidiomycete white-rot macrofungus that has been used as a tranquilizing agent (i.e., An-Shen effect) for the treatment of restlessness, insomnia, and palpitation in China for hundreds of years.

AIM OF THE STUDY

The present study aimed to investigate whether Ganoderma lucidum extract (GLE) influences the sleep of freely moving rats and the potential mechanism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Ganoderma lucidum extract was extracted from fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum. Rats were treated with GLE orally for 3 days, and on the third day, electroencephalographic and electromyographic recordings were made for 6h from 9:00 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. in freely moving rats. Sleep parameters were analyzed using SleepSign software. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) levels were measured using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

RESULTS

Three-day administration of GLE significantly increased total sleep time and non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep time at a dose of 80 mg/kg (i.g.) without influencing slow-wave sleep or REM sleep in freely moving rats. TNF-α levels were significantly increased concomitantly in serum, the hypothalamus, and dorsal raphe nucleus. The hypnotic effect of GLE (80 mg/kg, i.g.) was significantly inhibited by intracerebroventricular injection of TNF-α antibody (2.5 μg/rat). Co-administration of GLE (40 mg/kg, i.g.) and TNF-α (12.5 ng/rat, i.c.v.), both at ineffective doses, revealed an additive hypnotic effect.

CONCLUSION

These results suggest that GLE has hypnotic effects in freely moving rats. The mechanism by which the extract promoted sleep remains unclear, but this effect appears to be primarily related to the modulation of cytokines such as TNF-α. Furthermore, these data at least partially support the ethnomedical use of Ganoderma lucidum.

Applied modern biotechnology for cultivation of Ganoderma and development of their products

A white-rot basidiomycete Ganoderma spp. has long been used as a medicinal mushroom in Asia, and it has an array of pharmacological properties for immunomodulatory activity. There have been many reports about the bioactive components and their pharmacological properties. In order to analyze the current status of Ganoderma products, the detailed process of cultivation of Ganoderma spp. and development of their products are restated in this review article. These include the breeding, cultivating, extracting bioactive component, and processing Ganoderma products, etc. This article will expand people's common knowledge on Ganoderma, and provide a beneficial reference for research and industrial production.

Literature-related discovery: Potential treatments and preventatives for SARS

Literature-related discovery (LRD) is the linking of two or more previously disjoint concepts in order to produce novel, interesting, plausible, and intelligible connections (i.e., potential discovery). LRD has been used to identify potential treatments or preventative actions for challenging medical problems, among myriad other applications. Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) was the first pandemic of the 21st century. SARS was eventually controlled through increased hygienic measures (e.g., face mask protection, frequent hand washing, living quarter disinfection), travel restrictions, and quarantine. According to recent reviews of SARS, none of the drugs that were used during the pandemic worked. For the present paper, SARS was selected as the first application of LRD to an infectious disease. The main goal of this research was to identify non-drug non-surgical treatments that would 1) prevent the occurrence, or 2) reduce the progression rate, or 3) stop/reverse the progression of SARS. The MeSH taxonomy of Medline was used to restrict potential discoveries to selected semantic classes, and to identify potential discoveries efficiently. To enhance the volume of potential discovery, databases were used in addition to Medline. These included the Science Citation Index (SCI) and, in contrast to previous work, a full text database. Because of the richness of the full text, 'surgical' queries were developed that targeted the exact types of potential discovery of interest while eliminating clutter more efficiently.

In vitro effects of plant and mushroom extracts on immunological function of chicken lymphocytes and macrophages

1. The present study was conducted to examine the effects of organic extracts from milk thistle (Silybum marianum), turmeric (Curcuma longa), reishi mushroom (Ganoderma lucidum), and shiitake mushroom (Lentinus edodes) on innate immunity and tumor cell viability. 2. Innate immunity was measured by lymphocyte proliferation and nitric oxide production by macrophages, and the inhibitory effect on tumor cell growth was assessed using a non-radioactive assay. For measuring the cytokine levels in the HD11 macrophages which were treated with extracts of turmeric or shiitake mushroom, the levels of mRNAs for interferon-alpha (IFN- alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), IL-6, IL-12, IL-15, IL-18, and tumor necrosis factor superfamily 15 (TNFSF15) were quantified by real time RT-PCR. 3. In vitro culture of chicken spleen lymphocytes with extracts of milk thistle, turmeric, and shiitake and reishi mushrooms induced significantly higher cell proliferation compared with the untreated control cells. Stimulation of macrophages with extracts of milk thistle and shiitake and reishi mushrooms, but not turmeric, resulted in robust nitric oxide production to levels that were similar with those induced by recombinant chicken interferon-gamma. All extracts uniformly inhibited the growth of chicken tumor cells in vitro at the concentration of 6.3 through 100 microg/ml. Finally, the levels of mRNAs encoding IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-12, IL-18, and TNFSF15 were enhanced in macrophages that were treated with extracts of turmeric or shiitake mushroom compared with the untreated control. 4. These results document the immunologically-based enhancement of innate immunity in chickens by extracts of plants and mushrooms with known medicinal properties in vitro. In vivo studies are being planned to delineate the cellular and molecular mechanisms responsible for their mechanism of action.

Immunomodulatory effects of beta-glucans on porcine alveolar macrophages and bone marrow haematopoietic cell-derived dendritic cells

The immunopharmacological activities of beta-glucans with a backbone of beta-1,3/beta-1,6-linkages associated with anti-tumor, anti-viral, bacterial and fungal infections have been well documented. Dectin-1, a specific pattern recognition receptor for beta-1,3/beta-1,6-glucans, is expressed mainly on phagocytes, especially macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs). In this study, the encoding nucleotide for the carbohydrate-recognition domain (CRD) of porcine dectin-1 was sequenced for the first time, and the immunomodulatory functions of a synthetic particulate beta-glucan (p-beta-glucan) were examined. Results showed that p-beta-glucan significantly enhanced cell activity and phagocytosis in porcine alveolar macrophages (AMs), immature DCs (imDCs) and mature DCs (mDCs), in a similar way to zymosan. Zymosan enhanced dectin-1/TLR2/TLR4 expression and TNF-alpha/IL-10 production in all of three types of cell, whereas p-beta-glucan increased dectin-1/TLR4 and TNF-alpha/IL-12 production in AMs but inhibited IL-10 in mDCs. These results indicate that the complex collaborating interactions between dectin-1 and TLRs in the recognition of beta-1,3/beta-1,6-glucans with different structural features may direct different cellular responses.