Reishi Ling Zhi, Ganoderma lucidum (Ganodermataceae) “The Bright-skinned Shiny Mushroom”

Belonging to family Ganodermataceae
“Ganos means brightness or sheen, and derma means skin or hide. Both are derived from Ancient Greek and in combination mean shiny skin. Lucid translates to glossy or polished – again, referring to the smooth, varnished (shiny) surface of the cap. Thus, Ganoderma lucidum fairly accurately describes the appearance of the mushroom. https://fungi.com/blogs/articles/decoding-latin-binomials?_ke=eyJrb...” 

574. lucidum is known as Ling-Zhi, which means “spiritual power grass,” while among the Japanese it is called Reishi or mannentake (“10,000 years fungus”).
     It is an important medicinal mushroom that is traditionally used for the treatment of various conditions, including heart disease, hypertension, hepatitis, diabetes, neurasthenia, and cancer in China and other countries [35]. Mushrooms belonging to Ganodermataceae family contain a number of bioactive polysaccharides [35,36]. Studies found that a majority of bioactive polysaccharides isolated from Ganoderma species consist of β-(1→3)-D-glucans with β-(1→6)-D-glucopyranosyl branches [35]. Recent studies on the polysaccharides isolated from Amauroderma rugosum (Ganodermataceae) produced two immunostimulatory β-glucans for the first time in the Authors’ laboratory [37]. These two novel polysaccharides have β-D-(1→3)-glucan backbone with β-D-(1→6) branched structures and displayed significant immunostimulatory and antioxidant properties [37].
     · Zhou X, Lin J, Yin Y, Zhao J, Sun X, et al. (2007) Ganodermataceae: natural products and their related pharmacological functions. Am J Chin Med 35: 559-574.
     · Niu J, Fang Z, Wang H, Wang G (2002) The research advance on the effective constituents of Ganoderma spp. J Agric Univ Hebei 25: 51-54.
     ·  Zhang L. (2017) Biological activities and Structural characterization of Herbal polysaccharides”, PhD Thesis, Submitted to Western Sydney University, Australia.
     http://nutraceuticals.imedpub.com/bioactive-mushroom-polysaccharide...
     The most famous medicinal mushroom and a common motif in Chinese art. Known as the “mushroom of immortality,” it has been shown in modern studies to ameliorate diverse ailments from cancer to inflammations to the hardening of the arteries to stress.

Reishi is used for hepatopathy, chronic hepatitis, nephritis, hypertension, arthritis, neurasthenia, insomnia, bronchitis, asthma, gastric ulcers. It is analgesic, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-tumor, anti-viral, anti-HIV, anti-ulcer.
It has a central depressant and peripheral anticholinergic action on the autonomic nervous system and reduces the effects of caffeine and relaxes muscles, has cardiotonic action, enhances bone marrow, lowers blood pressure. Reishi   Ganoderma lucidum, lacquered bracket

is famous for its beneficial effect on the nervous system.

It was traditionally used to manage different neurological disorders. This study was designed to investigate the nootropic potential of the mushroom. Considered as “The king of herbs”. It is a fungus that grows on different defunct and dead trees, especially willow, oak, sweetgum, maple, and elm. It has a long history of use for propelling life span and for a healthier lifestyle in China, Japan, and other Asian countries.
It possesses different pharmacological effects, including, calming, anti-atherosclerotic, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, chemopreventive and anti-aging effects [13, 14].
Radioprotective, cytotoxic, antitumor, antibacterial, sedative, hypolipidemic, antiviral (for HIV), antifibrotic, hepatoprotective and antioxidant activities have also been seen in the mushroom [15, 16]. In the latest studies, Reishi has shown its effectiveness in the treatment of carcinoma, leukemia, diabetes, and hepatitis [17].

Reference

13. Wasser SP. Reishi or Ling Zhi (Ganoderma lucidum). In: Encyclopedia of dietary supplements, vol. 1; 2005. p. 603–22.
14. Wachtel-Galor S, Benzie IF. Herbal medicine: biomolecular and clinical aspects; 2011.

15.Batra P, Sharma AK, Khajuria R. Probing Lingzhi or Reishi medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (higher basidiomycetes): a bitter mushroom with amazing health benefits. Int J Med Mushrooms. 2013;15(2):127–43.

16. Zhu XL, Liu JH, Li WD, Lin ZB. Promotion of myelopoiesis in myelosuppression mice by Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides. Front Pharmacol. 2012;3(20):1–7.
17. Gill BS, Sharma P, Kumar R, Kumar S. Misconstrued versatility of Ganoderma lucidum: a key player in multi-targeted cellular signaling. Tumor Biol. 2016;37(3):2789–804.
    The effects of ethanol extracts of G. lucidum on the growth of human gastric carcinoma (AGS) cell lines were investigated which showed a decrease in their viability.

Chen and Zhong (2011) reported the inhibition of tumor invasion and metastasis by ganoderic acid T, a lanostane triterpenoid G. lucidum. It inhibited cell adhesion, and suppressed cell migration with a dose-dependent manner in human colon tumor cells and was found to possess remarkable cytotoxicity on human colon carcinoma.