Chemical Diversity and Cytotoxicity of Ganoderma lucidum from Two Different Localities of Pakistan

Ganoderma lucidum is a medicinal mushroom of family Ganodermataceae. It is found in Japan, China, Pakistan and some other parts of Asia. It is reported to exhibit numerous pharmacological properties. In Pakistan this mushroom inhabits areas with different soil and climate conditions which may affect its chemical composition and biological activity. In this context, this study was aimed to investigate the chemical constituents and cytotoxicity of wild growing Ganoderma lucidum from two different localities of Pakistan, Bhawalpur, Punjab (GI-X) and Nawabshah, Sindh (MI-X). These yielded an oily residue (R-GI-X; 2.3 g) and (R-MI-X; 20 g) on extraction with petroleum ether at room temperature. Their cytotoxicity was determined for oral adenosquamous carcinoma (CAL-27) and non-small-lung cancer (NCI-460) cell lines. Only R-MI-X showed toxicity for these cell lines and CAL-27 cells were found more sensitive (IC50 35.68 mu M) than NCI-H460 cells which were moderately sensitive (IC50 95.50 mu M). R-GI- X was not active for these cell lines. Fractions R-GI-X and R-MI-X contained 40 and 22 compounds respectively. Common compounds were mainly saturated and unsaturated fatty acids and their esters. A major difference was the presence of two ergosterols, 5, 6-dihydroergosterol and (20E)-3-(acetyloxy) ergosta-9(11),20(22)-dien-6-yl acetate in MI-X which may be responsible for its antiproliferative activity as many ergosterols are reported to possess anti-cancer activity against various cell lines.