Review Article Therapeutic Potential of Mushrooms Mahendra Rai1*, Girish Tidke1 and Soloman P Wasser2 1Department of Biotechnology, Amravati University, Amravati – 444 602, Maharashtra, India 2International Centre for Cryptogamic Plants and Fungi, Institute of Evolution University of Haifa, Mt. Carmel, Haifa, 31905, Israel *Correspondent author, E-mail: [email protected] Received 15 April 2004; Revised 16 March 2005 human consumption, and about 650 of Abstract these possess medicinal properties. In the second half of twentieth century, the Mushrooms are an important natural source of foods and medicines. Traditional aboriginals knew the medicinal importance of edible and wild mushrooms and these are now mushroom producing technologies have being screened for their bioactivity in various ailments. Mushrooms represent a major and untapped grown enormously and the value of world source of potent new pharmaceutical products. A wide range of activities including antitumour, mushroom production was estimated to cardiovascular and antimicrobial are reported in mushrooms. In developing countries like India be worth about eighteen billion US dollar. mushroom progress is a boon in the field of food, medicine, and in generating employment. The Many pharmaceutical substances with alternative systems of medicine utilize the curative properties of mushrooms. The present review is aimed to discuss biological activities of mushrooms and their roles in various human diseases. potent and unique properties were recently extracted from mushrooms and make their Keywords: Mushrooms, Antimicrobial, Bioactivity, Biomedical, Cardiovascular, Therapeutics. way all around the world. The IPC code; Int. cl.7— A61K 35/84, A61P 9/00, A61P 31/00, A61P 35/00 Ganodermataceae family includes about forty species with hard basidiocarp Introduction coli (Ishikawa et al, 2001). The use of (fruit bodies). In Chinese folklore the fruit mushrooms as medicine was mentioned body of Ganoderma lucidum (Fr.) P. Mushrooms can be either by Berkeley (1857), who hypogeous or epigeous, large enough to reported that Calvatia be seen with the naked eye and usually gigantea (Giant Puffball) picked by hands. They produce fleshy fruit and C. caelata can be used bodies belonging to Basidiomycotina and in burnt cases due to their Ascomycotina. The edible nature of anaesthetic nature. Calvatia mushrooms is now well-known. Usually spp. are also used to stop Agaricus, Pleurotus and Volvariella bleeding from wounds. A spp. are eaten all over the world in wood decaying fungus, general, and tropical countries, in Fomitopsis officinalis, particular. However, the medicinal which contains agaricin, is uses of the mushroom still need to be used in many medicines. worked out for their biological activities Mushrooms due to a fast increasing number of represent a major and as yet, multidrug resistance in pathogenic largely untapped source of microbes like Candida spp., potent new pharmaceutical Staphylococcus aureus, S. products. Out of epidermidis, Streptococcus spp., approximately 15,000 known Enterococcus spp. and Escherichia species, 2,000 are safe for Agaricus sp. 246 Natural Product Radiance Review Article Agaricus bisporus, Pholiota doses recommended by various doctors nameko, Tricholoma matsutake and and physicians. Auricularia auricula-judae possess The traditional uses of the antitumour effects also. In USA and Japan mushroom are known to the aboriginals Maitake (Grifola frondosa) and of Africa, India, Brazil and other Shiitake (Lentinus edodes) have been countries. In Nigeria, Puff balls reported to be inhibitory to the AIDS virus. (Lycoperdon pusilum and Calvatia The important medicinal mushroom gigantea) are used to cure sores, species with antitumour polysaccharides abrasion or bruises, deep cut, Ganoderma sp. in fruit bodies and cultured mycelium are: haemorrhages, and urinary infections Tremella fuciformis, Schizophyllum (Buswell & Chang, 1993). In India, Karst. (Lingzhi) has been regarded as a commune, Dendropolyporus Ganoderma lucidum is used in panacea for all types of diseases like umbellatus, Grifola frondosa, asthma by the Baiga tribe of Central India, hepatopathy, chronic hepatitis, nephritis, Hericium erinaceus, Inonotus Agaricus spp. is used in goiter and hypertension, hyperlipidemic, arthritis, obliquus, Ganoderma lucidum, G. Lycoperdon pusilum in wound healing neurasthenia, insomnia, bronchitis, applanatum, Lentinus edodes, and also for controlling bleeding. asthma, gastric ulcer, arteriosclerosis, Flammulina velutipes, etc. They The medicinal and commercial leukopenia, diabetes and anorexia. stimulate macrophage activity and potential of bioactive substances derived In developing countries like India strengthen immune systems. from higher Basidiomycetes mushrooms are a boon for progress in In traditional Chinese medicine mushrooms (edible and medicinal) and the fields of food, medicine and extracts from many medicinal mushrooms its proprietary biotechnology process in unemployment. Mushrooms in the have long been used for a wide range of order to produce new dietary supplements twentieth century are well-known to diseases. Modern scientific and medical and, at a later stage, new pharmaceutical people all over the Asian countries as an studies support many of these claims. The products, have been exploited. Extensive important bio-source of novel secondary main areas of medicinal studies include tests to obtain substances for metabolites. In India, particularly the anticancer, cholesterol and blood anticancer, anticholesterol, antidiabetic, alternative systems of medicine, utilize the pressure lowering, liver protective, hepatoprotective and sexual potential curative properties of mushrooms. The antifibrotic, antiinflammatory, antidiabetic, activities have been performed in vitro secondary metabolites of these and antimicrobial activity (Ooi & Liu, and in vivo. Several dietary supplements mushrooms are chemically diverse and 1999; Wasser & Weis, 1999a, 1999b; from fungal biomass are produced and possess a wide spectrum of biological Gunde-Cimerman, 1999; Wasser, 2005 a, tested. These supplements contain many activities, which are explored in traditional 2005 b; Wasser & Didukh, 2005). bioactive substances with mild health medicines and in new targets of molecular In addition to the therapeutic promoting and sustaining effects. They do biology. They have important present potential, hundreds of the mushrooms are not specifically treat disease, rather, they status and possess a potential to design being explored the world over to study and are used as functional food, on a daily future strategies for human health values. reveal their biotechnological potential. basis, strengthening and perfecting many Pharmaceuticals worth $700 million US Wasser (2002) has screened more than different physiological systems of the dollars are produced annually in Japan one hundred Agaricales species for human body. Two new dietary supplements alone from Lentinus, Trametes, their antimicrobial and other such with cholesterol lowering, antidiabetic and Schizophyllum, and Ganoderma. properties. The product made from the immunostimulating properties have been Extracts of various edible fungi, viz. mushroom is being sold in the national produced and patented (Wasser, 2000). Lentinus edodes, Flammulina and international markets. They are The present review is aimed to velutipes, Pleurotus ostreatus, available with prior clinical trials and summarize the therapeutic importance of Vol 4(4) July-August 2005 247 Review Article various mushrooms and explore further antitumour activity. Flammulina enhancing various mediators such as research in various areas and the future velutipes, exhibits strong antitumour lymphokines and IL-1 (Nanba, 1993). prospects in order to develop a new activity against Sarcoma 180, Lewis cancer Grifolan (β-glucan), xyloglucan, generation of modern drugs. of lung, and B-16 melanoma (Ikekawa, annoglucan, fucomannoglucan, 1995). The antitumour glycoprotein compounds isolated from this fungus Antitumour properties proflamin found in mycelia of F. possess antitumour property (Mizuno, velutipes is effective against allogeneic 1997, 1998). Heteroglucan protein, The fruiting body of mushroom and syngeneic tumours by oral mannogalactofucan, heteroxylan, Agaricus brasiliensis S. Wasser administration. Proflamin augments galactomannoglucan, compounds isolated et al (=blazei Murrill ss. Heinem) antibody formation and activates from submerged cultures of G. frondosa having a glycoprotein (50.2% sugar and lymphocyte blastogenesis (Ikekawa, 1995; have also shown antitumour activity 43.3% protein) and three ergosterol Ikekawa et al, 1985). A polysaccharide, (Zhuang et al, 1994a, 1994b). The derivatives (I, II, III), showed antitumour PA3 DE, isolated from this fungus has also antitumour properties of Lentinus activity. A β-D-glucan polysaccharide shown inhibitory activity against implanted edodes are attributed to the isolated from this mushroom also Sarcoma 180 (solid tumour) in mice. polysaccharide lentinan and emitanin. exhibited immunostimulative and The triterpenoids isolated from Lentinan is now used as an antitumour antitumour activity (Mizuno et al, 1990; Ganoderma lucidum are C3 epimers drug (Chihara et al, 1970). Lentinan is Kawagishi et al, 1989). However, a higher and C-3/C -15 positional isomers in pairs. nontoxic to tumour cells, but inhibits antitumour activity was observed in A β-D-glucan isolated from this fungus tumour growth by stimulating the immune another xyloglucan