The hepatoprotective activity against ethanol-induced cytotoxicity by aqueous extract of Antrodia cinnamomea

The objective of this study was to evaluate the hepatoprotective activity against the ethanol-induced cytotoxicity by Antrodia cinnamomea which were produced from a large-scale fermentation. The production of biomass, extracellular polysaccharide (EPS), intracellular polysaccharide (IPS), and triterpenoids was 27.1, 1.2, 0.7, and 2.0 g/L, respectively, using a 5000-L agitated bioreactor with 3500 L of A. cinnamomea medium (ACM). The hepatoprotective effects of the water extract from the mycelia of A. cinnamomea (WAC) were evaluated in vitro using ethanol-induced cytotoxicity on AML12 hepatocytes. The cytotoxicity and the apoptosis-associated phosphatidyl serine redistribution of plasma membrane to AML12 cells induced by 300 mM ethanol were effectively reduced by adding 500 mg/L of WAC. From the compositional analysis, the major component in WAC was polysaccharides that showed a high galactose content (70.9 mg/g crude polysaccharide). Hence, the large-scale fermentation was efficient in producing cell mass and its metabolites which were able to protect hepatocytes from the damage by ethanol.