Research Update | Chinese scholars have confirmed that ganoderic triterpenes can regulate over 400 liver proteins and alleviate alcoholic liver injury.

If you could drink alcohol every single day, how would you like to drink it?

If someone were to conduct a 30-day experiment offering free food, lodging, and even alcohol every day, I wonder which group you’d choose to join: just alcohol? Or alcohol plus an anti-hepatitis drug, alcohol plus low-dose reishi mushroom, alcohol plus medium-dose reishi mushroom, or alcohol plus high-dose reishi mushroom?

Of course, the anti-hepatitis drugs and reishi mushrooms are also free. If you’re really unmoved, you can also choose the “zero-alcohol” control group as a baseline for comparison with the previous groups.

Do you think this is a joke? No! There really is a group of scientists who took a cohort of adult male mice—each weighing between 18 and 22 grams, with comparable health conditions and similar living environments—and divided them into six groups according to the experimental conditions described above, with 10 mice in each group. They then observed whether there were any differences in liver function and liver tissue among the groups after 30 days. Of course, these mice had no choice whatsoever; which group they ended up in depended entirely on luck.

The alcohol used in the experiment was Erguotou liquor at 52 degrees. All mice assigned to the group labeled with the “alcohol” prefix received 5 mL/kg daily; the control group received an equal dose of normal saline.

The anti-hepatitis drug used in the experiment was bifendatatum, a clinically common medication administered orally at a daily dose of 0.02 g/kg. Its pharmacological effects—protecting hepatocytes and enhancing the liver's detoxification function—can inhibit the elevation of transaminases (ALT or AST).

As for the low, medium, and high doses (10, 30, or 50 mg/kg) of Ganoderma lucidum administered daily to the mice in the experiment, these were indeed Ganoderma lucidum. Ganoderma lucidum ) The fruiting body ethanol extract was analyzed using an ultra-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC) instrument to detect its triterpene components. The analysis revealed that this extract is rich in ganoderic triterpenes (as shown in the figure below).

[Note] When the alcoholic extract of Ganoderma lucidum fruiting bodies, used in the UPLC-based assay, is analyzed, a spectrum with a red curve is obtained. Each prominent peak on the curve corresponds to a specific ganoderic triterpene; the higher the peak, the greater its content (proportion). The peaks numbered 1 through 8 on the spectrum represent the eight most abundant ganoderic triterpenes found in this Ganoderma lucidum alcoholic extract. (Source: Food Chem. 2019; 271: 148-156. All subsequent image sources are also from this publication.)

Whether or not you drink alcohol and consume ganoderma affects liver health significantly.

This study was jointly conducted by scholars from the School of Food Science and the School of Life Sciences at Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, the National Engineering Research Center for Mushroom-Grass Technology, as well as the Institute of Chinese Medicine at the University of Macau and the State Key Laboratory for Quality Research of Chinese Materia Medica. They found that, among mice continuously drinking baijiu for 30 days, those fed with reishi showed significantly better liver health compared to the control group that did not take reishi.

(1) The degree of liver dysfunction is mild.

AST (aspartate aminotransferase) and ALT (alanine aminotransferase) are the two enzymes most abundantly found in liver cells. When liver cells are damaged, these enzymes leak out of the liver cells and enter the bloodstream. Therefore, the higher the concentrations of AST or ALT in the blood, the more severe the liver inflammation and damage, and the poorer the liver function.

Continuous alcohol consumption for 30 days indeed causes a significant increase in AST and ALT levels in the blood of mice. However, when the mice were simultaneously administered an ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum, although AST and ALT levels still rose, the degree of elevation was considerably milder. This effect was particularly pronounced in the suppression of ALT, with results nearly comparable to those of antiviral hepatitis drugs (as shown in the figure below).

This means that under the protection of Ganoderma lucidum extract, fewer liver cells will be damaged by alcohol, and liver function can therefore be relatively better maintained.

(2) Oxidative damage in liver tissue is relatively low.

The large number of free radicals generated by alcohol are the primary weapon it uses to damage liver cells. The oxidative effects of these free radicals can erode the cell membranes of liver cells and produce a lipid peroxidation product called MDA (malondialdehyde). This substance itself is also oxidatively active and can further damage other liver cells. Therefore, by measuring the MDA content in liver tissue, one can infer the extent of damage to liver cells.

The results showed that in mice protected by the ethanol extract of Ganoderma lucidum, the MDA levels measured in liver tissue were lower than those in mice that had consumed alcohol alone (as shown in the figure below).

(3) The liver tissue contains a high amount of antioxidants.

Why, when faced with the same abundance of free radicals generated by alcohol, liver tissue protected by reishi mushroom extract suffers less oxidative damage? The answer lies in antioxidants.

The experiment showed (as illustrated in the figure below) that the alcohol extract of Ganoderma lucidum significantly increased the levels of SOD (superoxide dismutase) and GSH-Px (glutathione peroxidase) in the liver tissue of mice. These two antioxidants can “neutralize” free radicals and MDA, thereby depriving them of their ability to damage liver cells.

(4) The degree of inflammation and necrosis in the liver tissue is mild.

When liver tissue sections from each group of mice are examined under magnification (as shown in the figure below), it can be observed that the liver tissue of the alcohol-treated mice has already entered an inflammatory state—many hepatocytes exhibit swelling and necrosis, and the number of hepatocytes has decreased (Figure b).

In contrast, mice treated simultaneously with anti-hepatitis drugs (Figure c) or Ganoderma lucidum extract (Figures d–f) showed significantly reduced abnormalities in liver tissue cells. In particular, the liver tissues protected by medium- and high-dose Ganoderma lucidum extract (Figures e and f) were closer to those of normal mice (Figure a).

Ganoderma lucidum regulates the liver's metabolism of alcohol.

Having reviewed the experimental results above, I’m sure you now have a good idea of how to drink alcohol more “peace of mind.” However, exactly how does this ganoderma extract—rich in triterpenes—reduce liver damage caused by alcohol?

More than 400 liver proteins differ due to ganoderic triterpenes.

The liver is able to perform its functions primarily because of the tens of millions of different proteins it contains—proteins with diverse functions (such as the transaminases and antioxidants mentioned earlier in this article)—which carry out a wide variety of chemical reactions. The liver’s metabolic processing of alcohol operates in much the same way.

Different chemical reactions involving different elements will inevitably produce different substances and lead to different outcomes. Therefore, even when consuming the same yellow soup, the presence or absence of reishi alcohol extract can result in vastly different effects—likely due to differences in the chemical reactions occurring within the liver.

The researchers therefore employed a combination of iTRAQ and LC-ESI-MS/MS technology to conduct a comprehensive analysis of proteins in mouse liver tissue, comparing the differences between the alcohol-only group and the “alcohol plus Ganoderma lucidum extract” group. The results revealed that the expression levels of 457 proteins showed significant differences.

In other words, the alcohol extract of Ganoderma lucidum likely regulates the liver’s metabolism of alcohol by increasing or decreasing the expression levels of these proteins, thereby minimizing damage.

Reduced CYP2E1 expression and increased ADH1 expression → reduced free radical generation

Taking CYP2E1 (cytochrome P450 2E1) and ADH1 (alcohol dehydrogenase 1)—two proteins that play crucial roles in the liver’s metabolism of alcohol—as examples, researchers found that Ganoderma lucidum extract reduces the expression level of CYP2E1 in mouse livers while increasing the expression level of ADH1 (as shown in the figure below).

Converting alcohol into acetaldehyde is the liver’s first step in “detoxifying” alcohol. Both CYP2E1 and ADH1 can transform alcohol into acetaldehyde; the key difference is that CYP2E1 generates large amounts of free radicals during this chemical reaction, whereas ADH1 does not. Therefore, the regulatory effect of Ganoderma lucidum extract undoubtedly reduces oxidative stress in the liver right at its source.

The above research findings were published in January 2019 in Food Chemistry, a journal dedicated to food chemistry. Friends who are interested may wish to find the original article and explore it in greater depth—while you’re at it, you can also check whether the author has exaggerated the benefits of Ganoderma lucidum.

We need “good friends,” but even more so, we need “old friends.”

Although alcohol can harm the liver, it remains a cherished companion—essential for socializing and networking, adding joy to celebrations, helping us escape reality, and offering temporary relief from worries. And when we simply can’t do without this “good friend,” it’s fortunate that there’s an “old friend” who has been by humanity’s side for millennia, ready to share the burden and ease the strain on your liver.

The mice in the lab can only rely on luck, but we get to choose our own lives. So please remember to bring along our “old friend” and go find your “good friend”—even if not for yourself, at least do it for your family and for those who love you.

[Source] Zhao C, et al. Hepatoprotective activity of Ganodermalucidum triterpenoids in alcohol-induced liver injury in mice: an iTRAQ-based proteomic analysis. Food Chem. 2019 Jan 15;271:148-156.

[About the Author / Wu Tingyao]

Having reported firsthand news about Lingzhi since 1999, he continues to do so to this day and is the author of “Lingzhi: Marvelous Beyond Words” (published by People’s Medical Publishing House in April 2017).

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