Ganoderma lucidum A potent source of polysaccharide for human cancer prevention

Ganodermalucidum is one of the most famous medicinal mushroom that is used as a healthfood and medicine in the Far-East for more than 4000 years. Recent studies indicate that G.lucidum mycelium contains major bioactive components such as polysaccharides andganoderic acid. These compounds are used normally for therapeutic application especiallyfor cancer prevention.The aim of this research isoptimization of polysaccharide compoundsproduction byGanodermalucidumin vitro as a source of pharmaceutical product for humancancer prevention.The experiments were divided to two parts for optimizing the therapeuticcompounds production by G. lucidum. In the first part, two strategies (seed culture on agar orpreparation in submerged fermentation) for preparation of mycelialinocula for submergedfermentation was investigated. In the second part, the effect of some parameters such ascarbon source (glucose, lactose and maltose), carbon concentration and pH on mycelia dryweight, extracellular polysaccharides (EPS) and intercellular polysaccharides (IPS)production in liquid culture was evaluated. Response surface methodology was used tooptimize each parameter. The data were analyzed using Minitab 16 softwareThe resultsshowed that an initial pH value had a significant effect on cell growth and productbiosynthesis. According to the results, the highest mycelia biomass (7.57g DW/l), EPS (326.4mg/l) and IPS (389.55 mg/l) was produced in media that containedmaltose as a carbonsource. Lowering the initial pH gradually led to a higher production of EPS and the higherspecific production of IPS, as well as increasing the initial pH gradually led to a higherbiomass production and IPS. The highest production of total polysaccharide and biomasswas achieved with a pH value of 4.89 and maltosesource with 49 g.l-1.The results of theresearch confirmed that in vitro culture of Ganodermalucidum is a potent system forproduction of important medicinal polysaccharide which are responsible for human cancerprevention and their production could be maximized by changing the media parameters suchas carbon source and media pH.

Keywords:

Cancer , Polysaccharide , Ganoderma lucidum , Medicinal mushroom , Optimizing media