Isolation and identification of renoprotective substances from the mushroom Ganoderma lucidum

The fruiting bodies of Ganoderma lucidum have been used in China for the prevention of a wide range of diseases including diabetic nephropathy. Our current investigation with this mushroom led to the isolation of six new and two known phenolic meroterpenoids. The structures and absolute configurations at all stereogenic centers in these substances were assigned by using spectroscopic and computational methods. The new meroterpenoids, chizhines A-F (1-6), are isolated as racemic mixtures. Chiral HPLC was utilized to obtain the individual (−)- and (+)-antipodes of these substances. The renoprotective effects of the selected members of the series, were evaluated by using the ELISA technique and high-glucose-induced rat mesangial cells. The results show that the individual enantiomers of these substances significantly inhibit monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1) and fibronectin production in a dose-dependent manner.