Study on chemical compositions, antioxidants and intracellular anti‐melanogenic activities of varieties of Ganoderma lucidum in Vietnam

Abstract

SummaryHere, five selected Vietnam Ganoderma lucidum varieties were first prepared and examined for total polyphenol content (TPC) and antioxidant activities (including DPPH, FRAP and tyrosinase inhibition). All the selected extracts exhibited significant bioactivities, which could be attributed to their large TPC values with Pearson statistical coefficients r ~ 0.8 (P < 0.10). Ethanol extract of Korean lingzhi (E‐KR), the largest bioactive one, was identified with 16 bioactive compounds using FT‐IR and HPLC‐MS, including proteins, glucosides, triterpenoids, alkaloids, phenolic compounds, flavonoids and polysaccharides, which could prove the excellent bioactivities of the extract. The E‐KR (40 μg mL−1) examined on B16 melanoma cells did not cause any significant toxicity to cell viability and exhibited significant inhibition towards melanin formation (29.34%) and reduction of intracellular tyrosinase activity (21.93%), which was not a significant difference to the positive control of arbutin (P > 0.05). These results promise a great potential of G. lucidum in skincare cosmetics for therapy treatment of skin pigmentation.