Comparing of antioxidant ability, α-glucosidase inhibition and cytotoxicity of three fruiting body shapes of Ganoderma lingzhi

In the process of artificial culture, Ganoderma mushrooms will appear with several different shapes of fruiting bodies, even though they share the same species. The differences in shape can influence and create differences in bioactivity and active ingredients. This study looked at the biological activities of ethanol crude extracts from three shape kinds of fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lingzhi mushroom and herb tablets made from kidney-shaped fruiting body including antioxidant, α-glucosidase inhibition and cytotoxic activity in some cell lines. Besides, the content of ganoderic acid A was also evaluated among the tested samples. The results showed that different shapes of G. lingzhi could possess differences in bioactivities. The shapes with elongated fruiting body stem including antler- and intermediate form, have better antioxidant and α-glucosidase inhibitory capacity than the common kidney shape. Furthermore, the antler and intermediate forms' cytotoxic activity against cell lines including fibroblast, NCI H469 and Hep G2, were higher than the kidney-shaped mushroom extracts. Similarly, the results of ganoderic acid A content from the extracts of antler- and intermediate form samples were also higher than that of the other form. Meanwhile, the herb tablets had the same pattern to the kidney-shaped extract in several activities. The ganoderic acid A content of the tablet sample was lower than that of three samples extracted from different mushroom shapes. Interestingly, the tablets showed the best-reducing power among the investigated samples.