Ganoderma lucidum and Ganoderma sinense, known as Lingzhi in Chinese, are commonly used Chinese medicines with excellent beneficial health effects. Triterpenes and polysaccharides are usually considered as their main active components. However, the content of triterpenes differs significantly between the two species of Ganoderma. Polysaccharides in Lingzhi have attracted much attention in biomedical research because of their significant pharmacological activity and relatively low toxicity, for example, antitumor, immuno-modulating, anti-oxidative, hypoglycemic, and platelet aggregation inhibiting activities. To date, a careful comparison of polysaccharides from the two species of Ganoderma has not been performed. Therefore, more attention should be paid on the quality control of polysaccharides in Lingzhi. In this study, polysaccharides from fruiting bodies of two species of Lingzhi collected from different regions of China were analyzed and compared based on Master Thesis, University of Macau V HPSEC-ELSD and HPSEC-MALLS-RI analyses, as well as enzymatic digestion and HPTLC of acid hydrolysates. Then water soluble polysaccharides from Ganoderma lucidum were extracted and purified. The results indicated that HPTLC profiles of their TFA hydrolysates colored with different reagents and their monosaccharides composition were similar between different samples, but their protein ingredients are significantly different. Both HPSEC-ELSD profiles and molecular weights of the polysaccharides for these two species were also similar. Enzymatic digestion showed that polyshaccharides from all samples of Lingzhi could be hydrolyzed by pectinase and dextranase.

靈芝是一種名貴的中藥材，因其獨特的保健作用，被廣泛使用。赤芝和紫芝 均為《中華人民共和國藥典》的收載品種，其化學成份和生物活性上的差異引起 人們的廣泛關注。三萜和多糖是靈芝中的主要活性成份，然而靈芝三萜在兩種靈 芝中的差別很大。藥理學研究表明靈芝多糖具有抗腫瘤、免疫調節、抗氧化、活 血化瘀、降糖保肝等作用，且毒性較低，越來越受到人們的重視。目前為止，有 關赤芝和紫芝多糖的比較研究較少，引起了我們的關注。 本研究採用高效薄層色譜法對來自不同產地的紫芝和紫芝多糖的酸水解產 物進行了比較分析，同時用 HPSEC-ELSD 和 HPSEC-MALLS-RI 的方法，對這不同產 地的靈芝多糖及其酶解產物進行了分析，最後對赤芝多糖進行了分離純化。HPTLC 結果表明，兩種靈芝多糖的單糖組成相似，氨基酸含量具有一定差異。HPSEC-ELSD 色譜以及分子量分布差別很小。酶解結果顯示，赤芝和紫芝多糖均能被果膠酶和 葡聚糖酶水解，兩者沒有特徵性差異。