The efficacy and function of Ganoderma lucidum

Marti Ganoderma is not the same as the Ganoderma we usually talk about. The Ganoderma lucidum we usually refer to is a fungus, while the Ganoderma lucidum is a plant that is only distributed in Hainan Province in my country. Ganoderma lucidum is named because its fruiting body is shaped like a horse's hoof. It takes many years for the Horse-hoof Ganoderma to complete a growth cycle. It has no stalk and its ventral side grows close to the basic material. Horse hoof Ganoderma lucidum can also be used as medicine. So, what are the effects and functions of Horse hoof Ganoderma lucidum in medicine?

Ganoderma lucidum has a bidirectional regulatory effect on the human body. The diseases it treats involve various systems such as the cardiovascular, digestive, and endocrine systems. It is especially effective in preventing and treating liver diseases, insomnia, and aging. Ganoderma lucidum has a protective effect on liver damage caused by a variety of physical, chemical and biological factors. Whether before or after liver damage occurs, taking Ganoderma lucidum can protect the liver and alleviate liver damage.

Ganoderma lucidum can promote the liver's metabolism of drugs and poisons, and has a definite therapeutic effect on toxic hepatitis. It is reported that the total effective rate of Ganoderma lucidum preparations (such as Ganoderma lucidum syrup, etc.) used to treat viral hepatitis is 73.1% - 97.0%, and the significant effective rate is 44.0% - 76.5%. Its therapeutic effect is mainly manifested in the reduction or disappearance of subjective symptoms such as fatigue, loss of appetite, abdominal distension and pain in the liver area, the reduction of enlarged liver and spleen to varying degrees, and the improvement of liver function (such as serum alanine aminotransferase returning to normal or decreasing to varying degrees). Therefore, Ganoderma lucidum can be used to treat chronic poisoning, various types of acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver dysfunction.

The basidiocarp is horseshoe-shaped, perennial, sessile, woody, with its ventral surface closely attached to the substrate. The cap is 6-9×4-5cm, up to 9cm thick, dark brown or dirty black on the surface, the fresh part is light dirty brown, smooth or with inconspicuous concentric rings; the edges are rounded and blunt; the flesh is thicker, 7.5-8cm, chestnut brown to coffee color, with many black crust layers.

The thickness of the tube layer is 0.2-0.5cm, the stratification is not obvious, and the tube is filled with white hyphae; the hole surface is light brown or dark brown; the tube mouth is slightly round, the tube wall is thick, and there are 5-6 hyphae per millimeter. The crust structure is composed of transparent, thin-walled reproductive hyphae and brown, thick-walled skeleton hyphae loosely glued together. The hyphae are not easy to separate. They are generally 3-4.5μm in diameter and 30-50μm long, similar to the interwoven crust type. The mycelial system is trisomic: reproductive hyphae are colorless and transparent, thin-walled, and 3.5-6.5μm in diameter; skeleton hyphae are light brown to brown, thick-walled to solid, with tree-like branches or needles, the skeleton trunk is 3.5-5μm in diameter, and the ends of the branches form flagella-like colorless winding hyphae; the winding hyphae are colorless, thick-walled, and mostly branched at right angles, similar to the gray coccus type winding hyphae, with a diameter of 1.5-2μm. The basidiospores are oval, sometimes truncated at the apex, light brown, double-walled, with a colorless, transparent, smooth outer wall and small thorns on the inner wall or the thorns are unclear.