Ganoderma Lucidum Polysaccharide Peptide Alleviates Hepatoteatosis
Ganoderma lucidum’s hepatoprotective effect has been new found again!
The team of Professor Yang Baoxue, Department of Pharmacology, Peking University, published a study based on animal experiments and cellular and molecular mechanisms in Cellular Physiology and Biochemistry at the end of 2018, which confirmed that oral administration of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptides could be used to treat fatty liver often accompanied by obesity or caused by abnormal lipid metabolism. It can reduce the accumulation of fat in liver and alleviate the inflammation of liver.
Ganoderma Lucidum Polysaccharide Peptide was extracted from the water extract of Ganoderma lucidum fruiting body. The molecular weight of GLPP was about 500,000. The proportion of polysaccharide and protein was about 95% and 5% respectively. In other words, it is actually a Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide with a small amount of protein components (peptides), known in the past, with anti-tumor and immunoregulatory activities (high molecular weight polysaccharides).
Coincidentally, a report published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine in June 2018 by Qingshan University in South Korea indicates that ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum fruiting body (mainly composed of triterpenes of Ganoderma lucidum) can reduce liver fat accumulation and inflammation caused by high-fat diet by oral administration.
In addition to confirming the similarities and differences between Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharides and triterpenoids, the two research results from different teams also extend the application of Ganoderma lucidum in protecting liver from chemical agents, hepatitis virus, autoimmunity, drugs and alcohol-induced liver damage (hepatitis or liver vitamination) to non-alcoholic ones–Fat disease.
Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide was given to mice with obesity or abnormal lipid metabolism for one month
In addition to detoxification, the liver is also a processing plant and transporting station for various nutrients. All nutrients absorbed from the intestinal tract must be transferred to the liver to form that the body can utilize before they can be delivered to the tissues and cells.
Therefore, whether excessive calorie intake from the diet or abnormal synthesis of triglycerides in the liver exceeding what the body has learned, it is possible to obtain fatty liver, which contains more than 5% fat in the liver, or 10% fat accumulation in the liver cells.
Yang Baoxue’s team then used two animal models to explore the effects of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide on this type of fatty liver.
One is obese mice (ob/ob mice), which lack leptin gene and have strong appetite and gain fast weight. Besides fatty liver, they also have metabolic abnormalities such as insulin resistance, hyperglycemia and hyperlipidemia.
The other is the abnormal lipid metabolism mice (APOC3 mice) of human APOC3 gene, which causes abnormal lipid metabolism in the liver and excessive synthesis of triglycerides, leading to abnormal fatty liver and lipid.
The mice were fed 100 mg/KG Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide daily without restriction of food and drinking water, and then compared with the same type of mice that did not eat Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide and normal mice (the same two groups were fed Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide and not fed Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide). Those who did not give Ganoderma lucidum were replaced by normal saline instead.
Result 1: Protecting liver – less fat, better lipid metabolism, lower inflammatory index and less insulin resistance.
The results showed that no matter obese mice or mice with abnormal lipid metabolism, those who ate Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptides were as follows:
Lipid accumulation in the liver is relatively small (Fig. 1). The ability of liver to metabolize lipids is better (Fig. 2). The increase of hepatitis index AST (GOT) and ALT (GPT) is smaller – representing less damage to hepatocytes (Fig. 3). At the same time, the sensitivity of hepatocytes to insulin is close to normal (Fig. 4).
Fat accumulation in the liver reduces the sensitivity of liver cells to insulin, which is called insulin resistance. The stronger the resistance, the more difficult it is for liver cells to utilize the fat pushed into cells by consumption. In turn, insulin resistance also causes the liver to accumulate more fat. The difference of insulin sensitivity-related protein (p-AKT2/AKT) content in hepatocytes of experimental mice shown in Figure 4 shows that Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide can improve the sensitivity of hepatocytes to insulin (i.e. reduce insulin resistance) and prevent this vicious cycle.
Result 2: Improving blood lipid
not only reduces the burden of liver, obesity mice fed Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide and abnormal lipid metabolism, but also makes the adult mice with abnormal lipid metabolism worse. Especially in mice with abnormal lipid metabolism, there is a significant difference between the four blood lipid indicators and those without Ganoderma lucidum (Fig. 5).
Because the amount of triglycerides and cholesterol in blood lipids is regulated by the liver, because when Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide enhances the ability of liver to metabolize lipids (Figure 2), it also has a good effect on blood lipids naturally.
Result 3: To improve blood sugar
the researchers also conducted the glucose tolerance test (GTT) in obese mice with hyperglycemia, that is, after six hours of fasting, the mice were given a large amount of glucose, and the changes of blood sugar concentration in the next two hours were detected.
Results As shown in Fig. 6, obese mice fed Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide GLPP for one month had relatively low blood sugar values and relatively stable fluctuations. Obviously, Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide can also improve the utilization of glucose in tissue cells, not only improve hyperglycemia, but also reduce the chance of glucose converting into fat hoarding.
Result 4: Reduce visceral fat accumulation
Visceral fat is closely related to fatty liver, and intestinal conjunctival fat is one of the representatives of visceral fat (intestinal conjunctiva refers to the membranous tissue located in the inner wall of the abdominal cavity, covering the intestine, used to fix the large and small intestines).
According to the experimental results of Yang Bao et al., obese mice fed Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide GLPP for one month had relatively less fat attached to intestinal conjunctiva and smaller size of adipocytes (Fig. 7). It showed that visceral fat accumulation was less serious due to Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide.
Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide alleviates hepatoteatosis
Anti-fatty liver mechanism of Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide: regulating bile acid metabolism-inhibiting fatty acid production
Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide protects blood vessels from protecting liver all the way, and even has the effect of losing weight. Why can Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide block fatty liver accumulation in the liver? The answer is related to fatty acids.
Bile acid is the final product of cholesterol decomposition in the liver. Its ultimate goal is to deliver bile acid into the small intestine through the gallbladder to help the small intestine digest and absorb lipid and fat-soluble vitamins in food. In addition to this effect, however, bile acids activate specific receptors on hepatocytes, giving them instructions not to synthesize fatty acids.
Fatty acids are the raw materials for the synthesis of triglycerides, so when the fatty acids become less, the production of fat will also be reduced, which shows the importance of bile acids in inhibiting fatty liver.
Only the liver needs specific enzymes to promote the production of bile acid, but whether obese mice or mice with abnormal lipid metabolism, they have much fewer enzymes in the liver than normal mice, and colleague Rick detected relatively few signals to inhibit fatty acid synthesis in the liver.
Interestingly, all these problems will be reversed by Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide. That is to say, obese mice fed Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide and mice with abnormal lipid metabolism, whose liver regulates bile acid production and inhibits fatty acid synthesis mechanism, are relatively close to normal.
Taking Ganoderma lucidum every day to make your liver different from others!
Although alcoholic overconsumption is a major contributor to fatty liver, in the age when every meal is full and there are snacks between meals, fatty liver can be obtained even if the drinks are not touched.
Many newly discovered fatty liver are simply fat accumulation, and the liver index is normal. However, the longer the fat infiltrates, the wider the scope, the higher the chance of causing inflammation and oxidation, the greater the chance of hepatocyte damage, and may further develop into chronic hepatitis, or even more serious hepatic fibers. Chemotherapy or cirrhosis of the liver.
It is possible to reverse the fatty liver to normal as long as the condition has not deteriorated to too bad. Therefore, the main treatment prescription in clinic is to adjust diet, control body weight, keep exercise and so on. Now, through the research results of Professor Yang Baoxue’s team at Peking University, it is clear that you can do one more thing for your liver, that is, eat Ganoderma lucidum every day.
You may not feel it, but your liver must know it.
Finally, look at the staining results of liver slices of all the experimental mice mentioned above (Fig. 8, Fig. 9). The red part represents the oil droplets in the liver cells. Obviously, the accumulation of fatty liver can be reduced by eating Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide for only one month. If we can continue to eat, what will not only be the result?
Previous anti-fatty liver experiments conducted by South Korean research team with ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum fruiting body (mainly triterpenoids) may provide a reference – this experiment was given to mice fed a high-fat diet for four months (Fig. 10).
So maybe you don’t necessarily feel it, but your liver absolutely knows, because as time goes on, the liver protected by Ganoderma lucidum will surely become more and more different. From a pragmatic point of view, Ganoderma lucidum polysaccharide peptide + Ganoderma lucidum triterpenoids together to protect the liver, certainly more complementary.
Reference:
Zhong D,et al. Ganoderma Lucidum Polysaccharide Peptide Alleviates Hepatoteatosis via Modulating Bile Acid Metabolism Dependent on FXR-SHP/FGF. Cell Physiol Biochem 2018;49(3):1163-1179
Jung S,et, al. Ganoderma Lucidum Ameliorates Non-Alcoholic Steatosis by Upregulating Energy Metabolizing Enzymes in the Liver. J Clin Med. 2018,7(6), 152.
