BACKGROUND: It has been reported that Ganoderma lucidum spore powder, a very well known Chinese traditional medicine, can affect immunoregulation, free radical scavenging, and anti-hypoxia responses. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of Ganoderma lucidum spore powder on expression of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and neuronal apoptosis in rats with pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced epilepsy.DESIGN, TIME AND SETTING: A cellular and molecular biology experiment with randomized controlled study design was performed at the Central Laboratory of Basic Medical College of Jiamusi University from June to August 2005.MATERIALS: Thirty healthy, adult, male, Wistar rats were selected and randomly divided into 3 groups (10rats per group): control, epilepsy model, and Ganoderma lucidum spore powder. A sub-eclampsia PTZ dose (35 mg/kg) was intraperitoneally injected to induce epilepsy in the latter two groups. Wild Ganoderma lucidum spore powder (30 g/L) was provided by the wild Ganoderma lucidum plant nursery at Jiamusi,China. lmmunohistochemical detection and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediate dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) kits were purchased from Wuhan Boster Biological Technology Co., Ltd., China.METHODS: Ganoderma lucidum spore powder was intragastrically administered at a dose of 10.0 mL/kg,once a day for 28 days. In the epilepsy and control groups, an equivalent volume of normal saline was intragastrically administered.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: lmmunoreactivity for IGF-1 and NF-κB/P65 were detected by immunohistochemical staining. Neuronal apoptosis was detected using TUNEL methods.RESULTS: The hippocampus and cerebral cortex of rats with PTZ-induced epilepsy exhibited a higher number of apoptotic cells at high magnification (x400), compared with the control group. Expression of IGF-1and NF-κB were higher in the epilepsy group, compared with the control group (P < 0.01). In Ganoderma lucidum spore-treated rats, fewer apoptotic cells were observed in the hippocampus and cerebral cortex,expression of NF-κB/P65 was lower, and immunoreactivity to IGF-1 increased more distinctly, compared with the epilepsy group. In addition, seizure latency was longer on 17, 21, and 25 days post-PTZ treatment in the Ganoderma lucidum spore powder group, compared with the epilepsy group (P < 0.05 0.01).CONCLUSION: Ganoderma lucidum spore powder down-regulated expression of NF-κB in brain tissues of rats with PTZ-induced epilepsy, increased immunoreactivity to IGF-1, and inhibited neuronal apoptosis.These results indicated that Ganoderma lucidum spore powder has a neuroprotective effect.