Ganoderic acid

Ganoderic acids are a class of closely related triterpenes found in Ganoderma mushrooms. For thousands of years, the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma fungi have been used in traditional medicines in East Asia.^[1] Consequently, there have been efforts to identify the chemical constituents that may be responsible for the putative pharmacological effects. There are dozens of ganoderic acids that have been isolated and characterized, of which ganoderic acid A and ganoderic acid B are the most well characterized. Some ganoderic acids have been found to possess biological activities including hepatoprotection,^{[citation needed]} anti-tumor effects,^[2] and 5-alpha reductase inhibition.^[3]

References

1. ^ T. Mizuno, G. Wang, J. Zhang, H. Kawagishi, T. Nishitoba and J. Li, Food Rev. Intern. 11 (1995), p. 151
2. ^ Wang, Guan; Zhao, Jian; Liu, Jianwen; Huang, Yongping; Zhong, Jian-Jiang; Tang, Wen. Enhancement of IL-2 and IFN-g expression and NK cells activity involved in the antitumor effect of ganoderic acid Me in vivo. International Immunopharmacology (2007), 7(6), 864-870
3. ^ Liu, Jie; Kurashiki, Kenji; Shimizu, Kuniyoshi; Kondo, Ryuichiro. Structure-activity relationship for inhibition of 5a-reductase by triterpenoids isolated from Ganoderma lucidum. Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry (2006), 14(24), 8654-8660.