Objective: To study the influence of temperature on the stability of the triterpenes in Ganoderma lucidum. Method: Investigating the differences in the HPLC fingerprints of the ethanol extract of G. lucidum treated at different temperatures

and SPC-A-1 cells were used to evaluate the inhibitory effects in vitro of these different extracts on tumor cell growth by MTT assays. Result: Triterpenes contents of G. lucidum could be significantly affected by temperature. In the 20 selected chromatographic peaks

the area changes of peak 4

14

15

16 were most obvious. Compared with unheated ethanol extract

the descending range of the four peak areas in the ethanol extract treated at 100 ℃ were 42.601%

35.909%

49.359%

64.061%

respectively. Results in vitro showed that the ethanol extract treated at different temperatures had different anti-tumor activities. The IC50of unheated ethanol extract was 1.44 mg crude drug·mL-1

however

after the ethanol extract treated at 100 ℃

the IC50 increased to 2.77 mg crude drug·mL-1. Conclusion: Results indicated that temperature could significantly affect the contents of the triterpenes in G. lucidum. High temperature could easily lead to the loss of its active components

thus decreasing its anti-tumor activity.