School of Life Science and Techonology, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China.
Shanghai Engineering Research Center for Model Organisms, SRCMO/SMOC, Shanghai 201203, China.
Exp Gerontol. 2019 Mar;117:99-105. doi: 10.1016/j.exger.2018.11.016. Epub 2018 Nov 23.
As a traditional herbal medicine, the clinical efficacy of Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum, also known as Lingzhi in China) has been proved by clinical research and a large number of animal experiments. However, its pharmacological mechanism is not clear. Here, we used the Caenorhabditis elegans as an animal model to study the anti-oxidative stress and anti-aging effects of G. lucidum water extract. Our results showed that G. lucidum effectively promoted the nematodes to resist the oxidative stress of paraquat and heavy metal Cr, and significantly prolonged the lifespan of the nematodes. The underlining mechanisms were further investigated by focusing on the signaling pathways that regulate the stress responses and the lifespan. We found that G. lucidum protected the nematode against the insults of paraquat and heavy metals through the diet restriction pathway and the mTOR/S6K signaling pathway, respectively. Whereas, the effect of G. lucidum on the longevity of the nematode mainly depended on the germline signaling pathway. Microarray assays were conducted to reveal the gene expression profiles. The expression levels of 2746 genes were significantly changed during the aging process, of which 34 genes were reversed in their expression by the treatment of G. lucidum in aged nematodes. These results suggest that G. lucidum regulates the biophysiological processes in the nematodes through multiple signaling pathways.
作为一种传统的中草药，灵芝（Ganoderma lucidum，在中国也被称为灵芝）的临床疗效已被临床研究和大量动物实验证明。然而，其药理机制尚不清楚。在这里，我们使用秀丽隐杆线虫作为动物模型来研究灵芝水提取物的抗氧化应激和抗衰老作用。我们的结果表明，灵芝能有效促进线虫抵抗百草枯和重金属 Cr 的氧化应激，并显著延长线虫的寿命。通过关注调节应激反应和寿命的信号通路，进一步研究了其潜在机制。我们发现，灵芝通过饮食限制途径和 mTOR/S6K 信号通路分别保护线虫免受百草枯和重金属的侵害。然而，灵芝对线虫寿命的影响主要取决于生殖系信号通路。进行了微阵列分析以揭示基因表达谱。在衰老过程中，有 2746 个基因的表达水平发生了显著变化，其中 34 个基因在衰老线虫中经灵芝处理后其表达水平发生了逆转。这些结果表明，灵芝通过多种信号通路调节线虫的生物生理过程。
