Department of Pharmacy, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Zhongli District, Taoyuan City, Taiwan.
PLoS One. 2022 Apr 7;17(4):e0266331. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266331. eCollection 2022.
Lingzhi has long been regarded as having life-prolonging effects. Research in recent years has also reported that Lingzhi possesses anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory, hepatoprotective, and anti-lipogenic effects. The D-galactose (D-gal, 100 mg/kg/day)-induced aging Long-Evans rats were simultaneously orally administered a DMSO extract of Ganoderma tsugae (GTDE, 200 μg/kg/day) for 25 weeks to investigate the effects of GTDE on oxidative stress and memory deficits in the D-galactose-induced aging rats. We found that GTDE significantly improved the locomotion and spatial memory and learning in the aging rats. GTDE alleviated the aging-induced reduction of dendritic branching in neurons of the hippocampus and cerebral cortex. Immunoblotting revealed a significant increase in the protein expression levels of the superoxide dismutase-1 (SOD-1) and catalase, and the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in rats that received GTDE. D-gal-induced increase in the lipid peroxidation product 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) was significantly attenuated after the administration of GTDE, and pyrin domain-containing 3 protein (NLRP3) revealed a significant decrease in NLRP3 expression after GTDE administration. Lastly, GTDE significantly reduced the advanced glycosylation end products (AGEs). In conclusion, GTDE increases antioxidant capacity and BDNF expression of the brain, protects the dendritic structure of neurons, and reduces aging-induced neuronal damage, thereby attenuating cognitive impairment caused by aging.
灵芝一直被认为具有延年益寿的功效。近年来的研究还报告称，灵芝具有抗肿瘤、抗炎、免疫调节、保肝和抗脂肪生成作用。本研究采用 D-半乳糖（100 mg/kg/d）诱导衰老 Long-Evans 大鼠，同时给予云芝提取物（GTDE，200 μg/kg/d）口服 25 周，以探讨 GTDE 对 D-半乳糖诱导衰老大鼠氧化应激和记忆障碍的影响。我们发现 GTDE 可显著改善衰老大鼠的运动和空间记忆及学习能力。GTDE 减轻了衰老诱导的海马和大脑皮层神经元树突分支减少。免疫印迹显示，GTDE 可显著增加 SOD-1 和过氧化氢酶以及脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）的蛋白表达水平。GTDE 可显著减轻 D-半乳糖诱导的脂质过氧化产物 4-羟壬烯醛（4-HNE）的增加，且云芝提取物给药后，pyrin 结构域包含 3 蛋白（NLRP3）的表达显著降低。最后，GTDE 还可显著减少晚期糖基化终产物（AGEs）。综上所述，GTDE 可提高大脑的抗氧化能力和 BDNF 表达，保护神经元的树突结构，减少衰老引起的神经元损伤，从而减轻衰老引起的认知障碍。
