Research Update | Ganoderma lucidum water extract effectively combats altitude sickness and protects brain cells under low-pressure, low-oxygen conditions.

At high altitudes, with low atmospheric pressure and reduced oxygen levels, the brain's nerves are the first to be affected.

The higher the altitude, the lower the atmospheric pressure and the thinner the oxygen becomes, which in turn affects physiological functions and makes one more susceptible to various health risks collectively referred to as altitude sickness.

These health risks can range from mere discomfort—such as headaches, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, and fatigue—to more severe conditions like cerebral edema, which can impair cognitive, motor, and consciousness functions, or pulmonary edema, which can affect respiratory function. How serious the situation is, whether symptoms can gradually subside with rest, and whether the condition might worsen further to cause irreversible damage or even threaten life—all depend on the ability of the body’s tissue cells to adapt to changes in external oxygen concentrations.

The onset of altitude sickness varies from person to person, depending on individual physical condition. As a general rule, when the altitude exceeds 1,500 meters (moderate altitude), it begins to affect the human body. Before the body has had time to acclimatize, anyone— including healthy adults— who recklessly ventures to altitudes above 2,500 meters (high altitude) is highly likely to experience symptoms.

Whether it’s carefully planning your ascent altitude or taking preventive medication before the trip, the goal is to enhance your body’s adaptability and prevent altitude sickness. But actually, there’s yet another option you can add—Reishi mushroom.

This is because, according to a study published in June 2020 by the Defence Institute of Physiology and Allied Sciences (DIPAS), under India’s Ministry of Defence, in the journal Scientific Reports, aqueous extracts of Ganoderma lucidum can accelerate the body’s adaptation to environmental conditions, reduce damage to brain neurons caused by low pressure and low oxygen, and protect cognitive functions associated with spatial memory.

The Water Maze—A Great Way to Test Mice’s Memory Abilities

Before the experiment began, the researchers spent several days training the rats to find a hidden resting platform at the bottom of the water maze (Figure 1).

Figure 1: Schematic Diagram of the Water Maze

Rats are good swimmers, but they don't like water, so they'll do their best to find places where they can avoid it.

As can be seen from the trajectory records in Figure 2, from several circular laps on the first day to a straight line by the sixth day, the rats’ speed in finding the platform steadily increased (Figure 2, third from the left), indicating that they possess excellent spatial memory capabilities.

When the platform is removed, the rat’s swimming trajectory becomes concentrated in the area where the platform used to be (rightmost image in Figure 2). This indicates that the rat indeed has a clear memory of the platform’s location.

Figure 2: Swimming trajectories of rats searching for the platform in the water maze under normal atmospheric pressure and oxygen conditions (purple lines).

Lingzhi alleviates the effects of low pressure and hypoxia. The impact of spatial memory

These trained rats were divided into two groups: some remained in an environment with normal atmospheric pressure and oxygen levels, serving as the experimental control group; others were placed in a hypobaric chamber to simulate living in a low-pressure, low-oxygen environment at an extremely high altitude (approximately 7,620 meters). In addition, some of these rats were fed Ganoderma lucidum water extract GLAQ at daily doses of 100, 200, or 400 mg/kg (HH+GLAQ 100, 200, and 400 groups, respectively).

One week later, these rats were placed again in the water maze, and the results are shown in Figure 3: The rats in the normal control group (Control) quickly found the platform; in contrast, the rats exposed to hypobaric conditions but not given Reishi mushroom (HH) took more than twice as long to find it. However, among the rats living under hypoxic conditions in the same hypobaric chamber, the more Reishi mushroom aqueous extract the rats received (HH+GLAQ), the closer their platform-searching times came to those of the normal control group.

Figure 3: The Effect of Low Pressure and Hypoxia on Spatial Memory in Rats (with Platform)

Next, the researchers removed the platform and placed the rats back into the water maze. The results are shown in Figure 4: Rats in the normal control group (Control) spent the most time circling around the area where the platform had previously been located, indicating that, in their cognition, the platform should have been right there—but where had it gone? In contrast, rats exposed to hypobaric conditions (HH) exhibited a random wandering behavior, seemingly groping blindly for the platform. However, rats exposed to hypobaric conditions and given the aqueous extract of Ganoderma lucidum (HH+GLAQ) showed a significantly increased duration of time spent swimming in the region where the platform had been. Moreover, the more Ganoderma lucidum aqueous extract these rats consumed, the closer their time spent in that region came to that of the normal control group (Figure 4).

Figure 4: The effect of low pressure and hypoxia on spatial memory in rats (no platform)

Ganoderma lucidum alleviates cerebral edema and hippocampal damage.

The results of the above experiment show that Ganoderma lucidum indeed can alleviate spatial memory impairment caused by low pressure and low oxygen.

Memory function reflects the structure and operation of the brain; therefore, researchers further dissected and analyzed the brain tissue of experimental rats and found that:

Hypoxia at low atmospheric pressure can induce vascular cerebral edema (increased microvascular permeability, leading to excessive fluid leakage from blood vessels and accumulation in the interstitial spaces of brain tissue) and damage to the hippocampus (which is responsible for memory formation). However, these problems were significantly alleviated in rats that had been pre-treated with aqueous extracts of Ganoderma lucidum (Figures 5 and 6).

Figure 5: Ganoderma lucidum alleviates cerebral edema caused by low pressure and hypoxia.

[Note] The figure shows a stained section of rat cerebral cortex tissue. Under normal conditions, as indicated by the black arrow in the normal control group, the vascular structures should be intact and free of surrounding edema. However, in a low-pressure, low-oxygen environment, cerebral blood vessels become deformed and edema develops around the vessels. Such damage can be significantly alleviated by the protective effects of aqueous extracts from Ganoderma lucidum.

Figure 6: Ganoderma lucidum alleviates damage to the hippocampus caused by low pressure and hypoxia.

[Note] The figure shows a stained section of rat hippocampal tissue. In the upper image, the black arrow points to damaged neurons; the lower image presents a quantitative analysis of the upper image.

Lingzhi takes a multi-pronged approach. Counteract the harmful effects of low pressure and low oxygen at high altitudes.

Why can the water extract of Ganoderma lucidum protect against damage caused by low pressure and low oxygen? The researchers have summarized the results of their further in-depth investigations in Figure 7. Basically, there are two major directions:

On the one hand, the body’s physiological responses to adapting to low pressure and low oxygen are regulated more quickly and effectively with the intervention of Lingzhi; on the other hand, Lingzhi can directly modulate relevant molecules in brain nerve cells through multiple pathways—including antioxidant effects, anti-inflammatory actions, maintaining stable oxygen levels in the body, adjusting brain neural circuits, and ensuring smooth neurotransmission—thereby protecting brain nerves and enhancing memory.

Figure 7: Protective Effects and Regulatory Mechanisms of Ganoderma lucidum Water Extract under High-Altitude, Low-Pressure, and Hypoxic Conditions

Climb high and enjoy reishi mushrooms to effectively combat altitude sickness.

In the past, numerous studies—from various angles including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, surgical ischemia-reperfusion injury, accidental brain trauma, and age-related degeneration—have demonstrated that Ganoderma lucidum can help protect the brain. Now, this new study from India further strengthens the evidence for Ganoderma’s neuroprotective effects by examining its benefits from the perspective of high-altitude environments characterized by low atmospheric pressure and reduced oxygen levels.

The aqueous extract GLAQ of Ganoderma lucidum used in this study contains, in addition to polysaccharides, phenolic compounds, flavonoids, and ganoderic acid A. This extract has undergone a 90-day toxicity test, which confirmed that even at doses as high as 1000 mg/kg, it does not adversely affect the tissues, organs, or growth and development of rats.

So, if you want to fully enjoy the thrill of hiking to great heights, make sure you’re thoroughly prepared: carefully plan your ascent altitude, take preventive medication before setting off, and don’t forget to bring along an extract of reishi mushroom water.

[References]

1. Purva Sharma, Rajkumar Tulsawani. Ganoderma lucidum aqueous extract prevents hypobaric hypoxia-induced memory deficit by modulating neurotransmission, neuroplasticity, and maintaining redox homeostasis. Sci Rep. 2020; 10: 8944. Published online June 2, 2020.

2. Purva Sharma, et al. Pharmacological effects of Ganoderma lucidum extract against high-altitude stressors and its subchronic toxicity assessment. J Food Biochem. 2019 Dec; 43(12): e13081.

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