ANTI-TUMOUR ACTIVITY OF EXO-POLYSACCHARIDES PRODUCED BY AN ISOLATE OF GANODERMA LUCIDUM OCCURRING IN SOUTH INDIA

Author(s): Haridas Ramya, Ravindran K Veena and K K. Janardhanan*

Abstract: Ganoderma lucidum is a popular medicinal mushroom worldwide because of its fascinating therapeutic properties. Investigations carried out in our laboratory have demonstrated the antitumor activity of the extracts, polysaccharides and the terpenoids isolated from fruiting bodies of G. lucidum occurring in south india. In this study, we examined the antitumor activity of the exopolysaccharides produced by a G. lucidum isolate in submerged culture. The exopolysaccharides were isolated from the culture broth by repeated ethanol precipitation, treatment with Sevag’s reagent for the removal of protein, dialysis and lyophilisation. The antitumour activity was tested on Swiss albino mice implanted with Dalton’s lymphoma ascites (DLA) cell line. The exopolysaccharides at doses of 5, 10 and 25 mg/kg body weight achieved 80, 84 and 86% tumor growth inhibition respectively. The standard reference drug, cyclophosphamide at a dose 25mg/kg body weight showed 94% tumor inhibition. The results thus showed that exopolysaccharides produced by the G. lucidum isolate possessed excellent antitumor activity. The finding suggests the potential therapeutic use of exopolysaccharides produced by G. lucidum.

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