Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the effects of Ganoderma lucidum supplementation on antioxidant status and muscular damage after exhaustive exercise in rat. Forty male Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into four groups: control (C, n=10), exhaustive exercise (E, n=10), Ganoderma lucidum treated (G, n=10) and Ganoderma lucidum plus exhaustive exercise (GE, n=10). Ganoderma lucidum was supplemented at the dose of 40 mg/kg body weight for four weeks. Exhaustive exercise was performed on a rodent treadmill with the progressive protocol. Two way ANOVA was carried out to examine the effects of exhaustive exercise and Ganoderma lucidum supplementation on creatine kinase (CK), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activities and malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. The activities of CK, LDH and the levels of MDA in E group were significantly (p<.05) higher than C group, while the activities of SOD and GPx were significantly (p<.05) lower than C group. However, LDH activity and MDA level were significantly lower in GE group compared to E group, and SOD activity was significantly increased with Ganoderma treatment compared to E group. Results from our study demonstrate that Ganoderma lucidum supplementation is beneficial to increase antioxidant status, and reduce the elevation of oxidative stress and muscular damage in exhaustive exercised rats.