Journal Article

Ganoderma lucidum reduces obesity in mice by modulating the composition of the gut microbiota

Ko, Yun-Fei, Lin, Chuan-Sheng, Lai, Hsin-Chih, Lu, Chia-Chen, Wu, Tsung-Ru, Chang, Chih-Jung, Ojcius, David M., Chen, Yi-Yuan Margaret, Tseng, Shun-Fu, Young, John D., Martel, Jan

2015

Overview

Obesity is associated with low-grade chronic inflammation and intestinal dysbiosis. Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom used in traditional Chinese medicine with putative anti-diabetic effects. Here, we show that a water extract of Ganoderma lucidum mycelium (WEGL) reduces body weight, inflammation and insulin resistance in mice fed a high-fat diet (HFD). Our data indicate that WEGL not only reverses HFD-induced gut dysbiosis—as indicated by the decreased Firmicutes-to-Bacteroidetes ratios and endotoxin-bearing Proteobacteria levels—but also maintains intestinal barrier integrity and reduces metabolic endotoxemia. The anti-obesity and microbiota-modulating effects are transmissible via horizontal faeces transfer from WEGL-treated mice to HFD-fed mice. We further show that high molecular weight polysaccharides (>300 kDa) isolated from the WEGL extract produce similar anti-obesity and microbiota-modulating effects. Our results indicate that G. lucidum and its high molecular weight polysaccharides may be used as prebiotic agents to prevent gut dysbiosis and obesity-related metabolic disorders in obese individuals. Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom used in Traditional Chinese Medicine with putative anti-diabetic properties. Here, the authors show that polysaccharides from a water extract of this mushroom exert beneficial metabolic effects by modulating the composition of the gut microbiota in mice.

• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group UK,Nature Publishing Group
• Subject: 38 / 631/154/349 / 64 / 64/60 / 692/698/2741/2135 / 692/699/2743/393 / 96 / 96/21 / 96/31 / 96/95 / Animals / Bacteroides - drug effects / Body weight / Body Weight - drug effects / Diet, High-Fat / Drugs, Chinese Herbal - pharmacology / Dysbiosis - metabolism / Dysbiosis - microbiology / Endotoxemia / Endotoxins / Fecal Microbiota Transplantation / Firmicutes - drug effects / Fungal Polysaccharides - pharmacology / Gastrointestinal Microbiome - drug effects / Herbal medicine / Humanities and Social Sciences / Inflammation - metabolism / Inflammation - microbiology / Insulin Resistance / Intestines - drug effects / Intestines - metabolism / Metabolic disorders / Mice / multidisciplinary / Obesity / Obesity - metabolism / Obesity - microbiology / Permeability - drug effects / Plant Extracts - pharmacology / Proteobacteria - drug effects / Reishi / Saccharides / Science / Science (multidisciplinary)