Cell Proliferation and DNA Repair Ability of Ganoderma neo-japonicum (Agaricomycetes): An Indigenous Medicinal Mushroom from Malaysia

Ganoderma neo-japonicum is an annual polypore that grows on decaying bamboo in the forests of Malaysia. The indigenous Temuan tribe uses this species as a medicinal mushroom to cure fever and epilepsy and to improve body strength. The potential use of G. neo-japonicum in genoprotection and DNA repair was established using a single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay. The effects of the ethanol and hot aqueous extracts from wild and cultivated basidiocarps, solid substrate-fermented (SSF) wheat grains, and mycelia via submerged culture on H2O2-damaged murine RAW264.7 macrophages were investigated. An ethanol extract from wild basidiocarps showed the most significant protective effect on murine RAW264.7 macrophages, followed by ethanol and hot water extracts of cultivated basidiocarps, and this effect was dose dependent. However, only the ethanol extracts from SSF and submerged culture showed significant protective effects compared with the control. As for DNA repair ability, only the ethanol extract from wild and cultivated basidiocarps showed significant results when compared with the negative control. The findings suggest the potential therapeutic use of G. neo-japonicum in genome protection and as a DNA repair stimulator.