TY - JOUR T1 - <em>Gandoderma lucidum</em> Extract Promotes Immune Responses in Normal BALB/c Mice <em>In Vivo</em> JF - In Vivo JO - In Vivo SP - 755 LP - 759 VL - 23 IS - 5 AU - YUNG-HSIEN CHANG AU - JAI-SING YANG AU - JIUN-LONG YANG AU - CHANG-LIN WU AU - SHU-JEN CHANG AU - KUNG-WEN LU AU - CHAO-LIN KUO AU - TE-CHUN HSIA AU - JING-GUNG CHUNG Y1 - 2009/09/01 UR - http://iv.iiarjournals.org/content/23/5/755.abstract N2 - Enhanced fruit and vegetable consumption is closely related to reduced cancer incidence as shown in epidemiological studies. Ganoderma lucidum, one of the most well-known traditional Chinese medicines, has been demonstrated to have pharmacological activities and antitumor effects, in Asian populations. However, the promotion of immune responses in normal BALB/c mice is unclear. In the present study, we investigated the immune responses of BALB/c mice after treatment with G. lucidum extract in vivo. The results demonstrated that G. lucidum extract was able to promote the proliferation of splenocytes under Concanavalin A or lipopolysaccharide stimulation. Compared with the control group, phagocytosis of macrophage was significantly enhanced by intraperitoneal administration of G. lucidum extract at both 3 and 6 mg/kg. Compared with the control group, natural killer cell activity was significantly enhanced by intraperitoneal administration of G. lucidum extract (6 mg/kg). Results of cytometric bead array and flow cytometry indicated that the expressions of interleukin-6 and interferon-γ also increased (p&lt;0.001) by treatment with G. lucidum extract (3 and 6 mg/kg). In conclusion, the findings of this study implied that G. lucidum extract was able to effectively promote immune responses in BALB/c mice. ER -