Reishi (Ganoderma lingzhi) has been used as a traditional medicine for millennia. However, relatively little is known about this mushroom's proteins and their bioactivities. In this study, we used reishi's own proteases to hydrolyze its protein and obtained auto-digested reishi (ADR) extract. The extract was subjected to in vitro assays and administered to spontaneous hypertensive rats (SHRs) to determine its potential for use as a hypotensive medication. Bioassay-guided fractionation and de novo sequencing were used for identifying the active compounds. After 4 h administration of ADR, the systolic pressure of SHRs significantly decreased to 34.3 mmHg (19.5% change) and the effect was maintained up to 8 h of administration, with the decrease reaching as low as 26.8 mmHg (15% reduction-compare to base line a decrease of 26.8 mmHg is less than a decrease of 34.3 mmHg so it should give a smaller % reduction). Eleven peptides were identified and four of them showed potent inhibition against ACE with IC 50 values ranging from 73.1 μM to 162.7 μM. The results showed that ADR could be a good source of hypotensive peptides that could be used for antihypertensive medication or incorporation into functional foods.

Mushrooms have garnered immense popularity for their nutritional as well as medicinal values. The therapeutic potential of mushrooms in Nepal, a country well known for its biodiversity and natural medicinal resources, remains largely unstudied. Therefore, this study attempts to unveil the antioxidative properties of Nepalese wild mushrooms. Sixty-two wild mushroom samples were collected from several forests in different parts of Nepal. Ethanol and water extracts of the dried samples were tested for their antioxidative activities using total phenolic content (TPC), oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) assay, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS), and reducing power (RP) assays. Ethanol extracts of samples belonging to the order Hymenochaetales showed significantly high activity in all the assays. Inonotus clemensiae had an exceptionally high TPC of 643.2 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g extract and also exhibited the lowest EC50 values in DPPH (0.081 mg/mL), ABTS (0.409 mg/mL), and EC0.5 value in reducing power (RP; 0.031 mg/mL) assays. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis of the top ten samples with the highest TPC was done to identify the phenolic compounds in the extracts, followed by liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) analysis for some unknown compounds. These findings highlight the very strong antioxidative activity of Nepalese mushrooms, and paves the way for further research to explore their economic potential.

A new oxygenated lanostane-type triterpene, named lucidumol C, together with six known compounds, was isolated from the chloroform extract of the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lingzhi. Structures were established based on extensive spectroscopic and chemical studies. Potential cytotoxic activities of the isolated compounds were evaluated against human colorectal carcinoma (HCT-116, Caco-2), human liver carcinoma (HepG2), and human cervical carcinoma (HeLa) cell lines using WST-1 reagent. Selectivity was evaluated using normal human fibroblast cells (TIG-1 and HF19). Among the compounds, lucidumol C showed potent selective cytotoxicity against HCT-116 cells with an IC50 value of 7.86 ± 4.56 µM and selectivity index (SI) >10 with remarkable cytotoxic activities against Caco-2, HepG2 and HeLa cell lines.

Recent studies identified Rho-kinase enzymes (ROCK-I and ROCK-II) as important targets that are involved in a variety of diseases. Synthetic Rho-kinase inhibitors have emerged as potential therapeutic agents to treat disorders such as hypertension, stroke, cancer, diabetes, glaucoma, etc. Our study is the first to screen the total ethanol extract of the medicinal mushroom Ganoderma lingzhi with thirty-five compounds for Rho-kinase inhibitory activity. Moreover, a molecular binding experiment was designed to investigate the binding affinity of the compounds at the active sites of Rho-kinase enzymes. The structure-activity relationship analysis was investigated. Our results suggest that the traditional uses of G. lingzhi might be in part due to the ROCK-I and ROCK-II inhibitory potential of this mushroom. Structure-activity relationship studies revealed some interesting features of the lanostane triterpenes that potentiate their Rho-kinase inhibition. These findings would be helpful for further studies on the design of Rho-kinase inhibitors from natural sources and open the door for contributions from other researchers for optimizing the development of natural Rho-kinase inhibitors.

The present study aims to reveal the antibacterial potential of the wild mushrooms of Nepal. Despite the recognition of the medicinal potential of the natural resources in this country, a systematic study on the bioactivities of the wild mushrooms is still lacking. Therefore, in an attempt to fill this gap, ethanol extracts of 90 Nepalese wild mushroom samples were tested for antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus and Propionibacterium acnes. Staphylococcus aureus was comparatively more susceptible with Inonotus clemensiae exhibiting the least minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of 100 lg/mL. The major compound in I. clemensiae was identified to be hispidin using high resolution liquid chromatography-electron spray ionization mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyses. Furthermore, the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) and MBC values of hispidin were determined to be 25 and 100 lg/mL for S. aureus and P. acnes, respectively. These findings show that the Nepalese wild mushrooms have the potential to be a novel addition to the functional ingredients industry due to their strong antibacterial potential. Keywords Wild mushrooms Á Nepal Á Antibacterial activity Á Inonotus clemensiae Á Hispidin Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (