Fungus used in Chinese medicine improves sleep in rodents (and also impacts glutamine/glutamate)

This isn't an easy read but, if the results can be relied on, looks promising

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Abstract

Ganoderma resinaceum is a valuable Chinese medicine. This study aimed to investigate whether a G. resinaceum alcohol extract (GRAE) improves sleep, and analyze the potential mechanism. After 30 days of continuous administration of GRAE at various doses, GRAE (1,000 mg/kg.bw) prolonged pentobarbital sodium-induced sleep, increased the rate of sleeping in mice treated with a subthreshold dose of pentobarbital sodium, and shortened sleep latency. The mice brain was analyzed using UPLC-MS/MS and RNA-sequencing. Metabolomics analysis revealed that 73 metabolites in the high-dose (HD) group had changed significantly, mainly in amino acids and their derivatives, especially the accumulation of L-glutamine and PGJ2 (11-oxo-15S-hydroxy-prosta-5Z, 9, 13E-trien-1-oic acid). Transcriptome analysis revealed 500 differential genes between HD and control groups, mainly enriched in neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, amphetamine addiction, and cocaine addiction pathways. The conjoint analysis of the transcriptome and metabolome showed that the biosynthesis of L-glutamine might be regulated by Homer1, Homer3, and Grin3b. This suggests that GRAE may affect L-glutamine accumulation by regulating the expression of these genes. This study showed that GRAE may prolong the sleep time of mice by reducing the accumulation of L-glutamine and deepens our understanding of the regulatory network between certain genes and L-glutamine.

[ChrisColumbus]

Interesting. There have been increasing numbers of studies looking at the "mushroom of immortality". Immortality? Perhaps not! A cure for RLS would do!

frontiersin.org/articles/10...

[Hidden in reply to ChrisColumbus]

Hear, hear.

That's a very interesting article thanks. The bottom line seems to be that even taxonomists are still coming to grips with all the mushroom species out there / and scientists with the medicinal properties of each species. So it's almost impossible for the consumer to ensure that what they're buying actually corresponds with the product label.