• Journal of Life Science
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• v.17 no.5 s.85
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• pp.671-677
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• 2007

This study was performed to investigate the effect of the water-extract from non-fermented or fermented Chaga mushrooms (Inonotus obliquus) on the proliferation and apoptosis of the NIH3T3 mouse normal fibroblast cells and various human cancer cell lines including HCT-15 human colon carcinoma, AGS human gastric carcinoma, MCF-7 human breast adenocarcinoma, Hep3B human hepatocellular carcinoma and HeLa human cervical carcinoma using MTT(3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl] -2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay and DNA fragmentation. In an anti-cancer test using various human cancer cells, fermented Chaga mushroom extract showed higher antiproliferating effect than that of non-fermented Chaga mushroom extract. Mouse normal NIH3T3 cells were exhibited 80% above survival under fermented or non-fermented Chngn mushroom extract of various concentrations(0, 0.5 and 1 mg/ml). Fermented Chaga mushroom extract significantly inhibited cell growth on HCT-15 cells in a dose-dependent manner. HCT-15 cells treated with non-fermented or fermented Chaga mushrooms extract produced a distinct oligonucleosomal ladder with different sizes of DNA fragments, a typical characteristic of cells undergoing apoptosis. These results suggest that fermented Chaga mushroom extract suppresses growth of HCT-15 human colon carcinoma cells through apoptosis.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.111-116
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• 2015

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Inonotus obliquus (I. obliquus, Chaga mushroom) has long been used as a folk medicine to treat cancer. In the present study, we examined whether or not ethanol extract of I. obliquus (EEIO) inhibits cell cycle progression in HT-29 human colon cancer cells, in addition to its mechanism of action. MATERIALS/METHODS: To examine the effects of Inonotus obliquus on the cell cycle progression and the molecular mechanism in colon cancer cells, HT-29 human colon cancer cells were cultured in the presence of $2.5-10{\mu}g/mL$ of EEIO, and analyzed the cell cycle arrest by flow cytometry and the cell cycle controlling protein expression by Western blotting. RESULTS: Treatment cells with $2.5-10{\mu}g/mL$ of EEIO reduced viable HT-29 cell numbers and DNA synthesis, increased the percentage of cells in $G_1$ phase, decreased protein expression of CDK2, CDK4, and cyclin D1, increased expression of p21, p27, and p53, and inhibited phosphorylation of Rb and E2F1 expression. Among I. obliquus fractions, fraction 2 (fractionated by dichloromethane from EEIO) showed the same effect as EEIO treatment on cell proliferation and cell cycle-related protein levels. CONCLUSIONS: These results demonstrate that fraction 2 is the major fraction that induces $G_1$ arrest and inhibits cell proliferation, suggesting I. obliquus could be used as a natural anti-cancer ingredient in the food and/or pharmaceutical industry.

• Nutrition Research and Practice
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.177-182
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• 2010

The Chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) has been used in folk medicine to treat cancers. However, limited information exists on the underlying anticancer effects of the major component of I. obliquus in vivo. We hypothesize that the pure compounds ($3{\beta}$-hydroxy-lanosta-8,24-dien-21-al, inotodiol and lanosterol, respectively) separated from I. obliquus would inhibit tumor growth in Balbc/c mice bearing Sarcoma-180 cells (S-180) in vivo and growth of human carcinoma cells in vitro. To test this hypothesis, the growth inhibition of each subfraction isolated from I. obliquus on human carcinoma cell lines (lung carcinoma A-549 cells, stomach adenocarcinoma AGS cells, breast adenocarcinoma MCF-7 cells, and cervical adenocarcinoma HeLa cells) was tested in vitro. Then, after S-180 implantation, the mice were fed a normal chow supplemented with 0, 0.1 or 0.2 mg of subfraction 1, 2 or 3 per mouse per day. All of the subfractions isolated from I. obliquus showed significant cytotoxic activity against the selected cancer cell lines in vitro. Subfraction 1 was more active than subfraction 2 and subfraction 3 against the A549, AGS and MCF-7 cancer cell lines in vitro. In in vivo results, subfraction 1 isolated from I. obliquus at concentrations of 0.1 and 0.2 mg/mouse per day significantly decreased tumor volume by 23.96% and 33.71%, respectively, as compared with the control. Subfractions 2 and 3 also significantly inhibited tumor growth in mice bearing S-180 as compared with the control mouse tumor. Subfraction 1 isolated from I. obliquus showed greater inhibition of tumor growth than subfractions 2 and 3, which agrees well with the in vitro results. The results suggest that I. obliquus and its compounds in these subfractions isolated from I. obliquus could be used as natural anticancer ingredients in the food and/or pharmaceutical industry.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.739-745
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• 2006

Changes in the levels of analytes in the blood and urine of a rodent animal model were taken as a measure of the hypoglycemic effects of a diet containing fermented chaga mushroom. These studies were conducted using the genetically manipulated diabetic Otsuka Long-Evans Tokushima Fatty (OLETF) rat. The effects of 8-week long diets that included either fermented (FCM) or non-fermented (CM) chaga mushroom powder (5% in the diet) on the OLETF rat were compared to the normal diet fed OLETF rat and the non-diabetic Long-Evans Tokushima Otsuka (LETO) rat. Hypoglycemia was tracked by measuring serum and urine concentrations of glucose, insulin, fructosamine, and leptin. Serum and urine levels of glucose, fructosamine, and leptin in the OLETF rats were higher than in LETO rats when fed normal diets but insulin levels did not differ between the two animal groups. The FCM rats were characterized by dramatically low levels of serum glucose and leptin in the OLETF rats whereas the levels of fructosamine and urine glucose trended lower in response to FCM. The serum leptin level in the CM-fed OLETF rat was also lower than that in the normal diet fed OLETF control. Serum concentrations of insulin in the OLETF rats were higher following FCM or CM feeding compared to the normal diet. These observations imply that (a) a dietary supplement of fermented chaga mushroom may contribute to a hypoglycemic effect in the OLETF rat, and (b) the increased blood insulin concentration following 8 weeks of an FCM diet may be important to the noted improvement in hyperglycemia.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.42 no.7
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• pp.1022-1028
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• 2013

Chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) was considered a functional food with an anti-cancer effect in colon, gastric, and lung cancer. Therefore, this study was conducted in order to elucidate the effect of chaga mushroom extract in brain cancer. Glioblastoma U-87 MG cells were used in investigation of cell survivability, apoptosis, and cell cycle arrest analysis. Treatment with various concentrations of chaga mushroom extract resulted in inhibition of cell proliferation and cell cycle arrest. Although caspase-3 expression was increased over $100{\mu}g/mL$ of chaga mushroom extract treatment, apoptosis factors with Bcl-2, Bax and p53 did not change. In analysis of cell cycle regulatory factors, expression of cyclin D1 and CDK2 decreased in a dose-dependent manner. We have demonstrated the anti-cancer effect of chaga mushroom extract in glioblastoma, which may be mediated by activation of the caspase pathway and induction of cell cycle arrest.

• Applied Microscopy
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• v.39 no.2
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• pp.125-132
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• 2009

Extracts and fractions of Inonotus obliquus (Chaga in Russia) have been known to have various biological activities, including antimutagenic, anticancer, antioxidative, and immunostimulating effects. This study was performed to confirm anticancer effect of 10% superfine Chaga mushroom processed by nano-mill technology on C57BL/6 mice. Chaga particles belonged in the size of 1 ${\mu}m$ was about 40% after nanomill processing according to the volume distribution. As the result of subcutaneous injection of B16BL6 melanoma cells to the mice, the tumor volume (p<0.001) and tumor weight (p<0.01) was significantly decreased in the experimental (NCh) group as compared with control (C) group and the tumor growth inhibitory rate was 29.2%. On examination of survival rate after intraperitoneal injection of B16BL6 melanoma cells, the mean survival time per a mouse was 17.7 and 26.0 days in C and NCh group respectively. The survival rate of NCh group was 40% when that of C group was 0% at the 35th day. On the result of examination to confirm histological toxicity by Chaga superfine particles, both groups did not show any morphological and pathological changes in the small and large intestine under the light microscope. These results suggest that feeding of superfine Chaga produced by nanomill technique has a tumor growth inhibitory effect in vivo.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.15 no.5 s.72
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• pp.809-818
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• 2005

The effects of fermented chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) on the concentrations of serum glucose, insulin, lipids and lipid peroxidation in streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats were investigated. Rats were fed a semisynthetic diet supplemented with 50 g/kg chaga mushroom powder (the CM group) and fermented chaga mushroom powder (the FCM group), and no supplemented (the control group) for 3 weeks. The polysaccharide concentrations were CM by $42.9\%$ and FCM by $ 39.1\%$, and the total polyphenol concentrations were CM by $ 0.80\%$ and FCM by $0.91\%$. Feed intakes and water consumption, serum glucose, insulin, triglyceride, and blood urea nitrogen concentrations were significantly lower in the FCM group than in both the CM and control groups. The activities of AST and ALT were also significantly lower in the FCM group than in the control group. No significant differences were detected with regard to the serum cholesterol and creatinine concentrations among the experimental groups. Lipid peroxidations in hepatic homogenate, microsomal and mitochondrial subcellular and pancreas were significantly lowered by the administration of FCM in the STZ-diabetic rats. Hepatic glutathione concentrations, which is closely associated with antioxidant system, was significantly higher in the FCM group than in the control group, indicating a marked effect of FCM administration on the endogenous antioxidant system. However, CM treatment showed a moderate antioxidative activity in the STZ-diabetic rats. Our results indicate that fermented chaga mushroom exert hypoglycemic and antioxidative effects in type 1 diabetes mellitus.

• The Korean Journal of Mycology
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.83-84
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• 2010

We inoculated the spawn of Inonotus obliquus on living trees of Betula platyphylla var. japonica, and could get several fruiting bodies from the inoculations. The fruiting body showed almost the same feature of that collected from natural habitats in Korea, while the size was much smaller than that of natural one. The diameter of the fruiting body ranged from 1.1 cm to 4.8 cm, and the height 0.5 cm to 2.0 cm. We expect that a harvest is possible within 5 years, but need to check the growth rate of the fruiting body to decide suitable time for getting more economic value.

• Journal of Food Hygiene and Safety
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.488-494
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• 2018

To ensure food-safety of mushrooms from radioactive contamination, edible mushroom samples distributed in Gyeonggi province in Korea were collected according to species and country of origin. A total of 284 mushrooms, belonging to 10 species (Lentinula edodes, Pleurotus ostreatus, Pleurotus eryngii, Agaricus bisporus, Flammulina velutipes, Phellinus linteus, Inonotus Obliquus (Chaga), Auricularia auricula-judae, Ganoderma lucidum and Tricholoma matsutake) were subjected to radioactivity testing. The concentration of artificial radionuclides, 131I, 134Cs, and 137Cs, was analyzed using gamma-ray spectrometry. 131I and 134Cs were not detected more than MDA value from all samples. Among 204 domestic mushrooms, however, 137Cs were detected in 0.21~2.58 Bq/kg from six cases (3 Lentinula edodes, 1 Ganoderma lucidum and 2 Tricholoma matsutake), whereas 137Cs were detected in 0.21~53.79 Bq/kg from 38 cases (22 Inonotus Obliquus(Chaga), 14 Phellinus linteus, 1 Lentinula edodes and 1 Tricholoma matsutake) among 80 imported mushrooms. In addition, average concentration of 137Cs in 10 Chaga mushroom-processed products was more than twice as much as dried Chaga mushroom, and maximum concentration was 123.79 Bq/kg. Results suggest that radioactivity monitoring system for imported mushrooms and mushroom-processed products should be continuously intensified to secure food-safety in Korea.

• Journal of the Society of Cosmetic Scientists of Korea
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• v.46 no.3
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• pp.231-241
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• 2020

In this study in order to develop new approaches we investigated using high voltage pulsed electric fields (PEF) technology to reduce the risks, protect the phyto-constituents and improve skin biological activities. After preparing a Chaga mushroom (Inonotus obliquus) extracts pretreated with PEF, components measurement and skin efficacy evaluation were performed. As a result of the content measurement, the content of polysaccharide and polyphenol were higher in the order of extracts treated with 50 Hz and 25 Hz at 0.5 kV/cm, and the content of protein was the highest in extracts treated with 25 Hz at 0.5k V/cm. Similar to the results of the polyphenol measurements, extracts treated with 25 Hz and 50 Hz at 0.5 kV/cm showed leading DPPH scavenging ability. The cell protection effect against sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and UVB was finest in extracts treated with 25 Hz at 0.5 kV/cm, which had the highest protein content. And the hyaluronic acid synthesis was leading in extracts treated with 50 Hz and 100 Hz at 0.5 kV/cm. Therefore, the active ingredient of the high-voltage PEF pre-treatment Chaga mushroom extract can be developed as a functional material with cell protection and moisturizing effect, and such green technology is expected to be used in various fields of cosmetics and material development.