Abstract

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus is increasing globally and poor countries are increasingly experiencing difficulties in the procurement of conventional medications. This has prompted research in alternative remedies. This study assessed the effects of aqueous extracts of Ganoderma lucidum on the blood profile of streptozotocin-induced diabetic Wistar rats. Sixty male rats of 11-12 weeks old weighing 120-150 g were used for the study. The rats were streptozotocin-induced to become diabetic and administered with 500 g/kg and 1000g/kg water extract of commercial and wild strains of Ganoderma lucidum and metformin. Their blood profile was analyzed at the end of the 28th days experiment. The results show that there were no significant differences in majority of the parameters tested, irrespective of the diabetic status of the rats, and the strain and dose of the mushroom extracts used. There were no significant differences in RBC, WBC, PCV, platelets, MCH, MCHC, RDW-CV, HB, granulocytes (neutrophils, eosinophils, and basophils), monocytes, lymphocytes, LIC, MPV and PCT (p > 0.05). Significant differences were however reported for RDW-SD, MCV, ALY, PDW (p > 0.05). The MCV, PDW and RDW-SD were slightly different across the treatments, without exhibiting any discernible pattern. ALY was slightly higher in the negative control than the other treatments (p < 0.05), but was however not significantly different between the different Ganoderma strains and metformin treatment (p > 0.05). We conclude that the water extract of the mushroom does not cause significant alterations in the major blood parameters of streptozotocin induced diabetic rats.

Key words: Blood markers, Blood profile, Cardiovascular health, Chronic conditions, Herbal medicine, Medicinal mushroom