RT Journal Article ID 5f195aa5537417f6 A1 Choong, Yew Keong A1 Noordin, Mohamed Mustapha A1 Mohamed, Suhaila A1 Umar, Nor Aini B. A1 Tong, Chow Chin T1 Effect of Ling Zhi or Reishi Mushroom Ganoderma lucidum (W. Curt.: Fr.) P. Karst. Mycelium on Benzo[a]prene-Induced Early Alterations of the Respiratory Epithelium in the Hypercholesterolaemic Rats JF International Journal of Medicinal Mushrooms JO IJM YR 2007 FD 2007-06-18 VO 9 IS 2 SP 139 OP 150 AB Many research studies indicate that fractions from the culture medium of Ganoderma lucidum mycelium (GM) have an antitumor activity through immunostimulation. There is a growing need for a short-term, cost-effective bioassay to assess the efficacy of potential antitumor agents from GM. Twenty-five Spraque-Dawley rats were divided into 5 groups according to their different feed. The positive control and negative control groups were given basal rat chew. The cholesterol (Chol) group was fed a 1% cholesterol diet, and the GM group was fed a 10% GM diet, whereby 1% Chol and 10% GM powder was added to the cholesterol plus G. lucidum mycelium (Chol+GM) group diet, respectively. All the rats were sacrificed 3 months after instillation with 13 ng of benzo[a]prene (B(a)P), except the negative control group. The lung sections were preserved for histological examination, and the glutathione S-transferase (GST) level was measured. Supplementation with GM had no significant effect on the increasing ratio of lung weight to body weight of the rats. The level of GST was significantly lower in both the Chol and positive control groups compared to the other groups. In the Chol+GM group, no significant lesions were observed in the lungs. No significant gross pathological changes were observed in the lungs of the negative control, GM, or Chol+GM groups. However, small whitish nodules were observed in the lungs of 3 rats from the positive control group and on both lungs in all rats from the Chol group. The study reported herein showed that GM is an effective treatment in inhibiting B(a)P-induced carcinogenesis in rats. PB Begell House LK https://www.dl.begellhouse.com/journals/708ae68d64b17c52,272b7ce40d852c55,5f195aa5537417f6.html