Medicinal mushrooms: Towards a new horizon

Nutritive profile, pharmaceutical potentials, and structural analysis of multifunctional bioactive fungal polysaccharides-A review

Asian nations have long used edible fungi as food and medicine. Polysaccharides are among the main building units of the cell walls of fungi. Fungal polysaccharides have been documented in the medicinal and industrial sectors as products with a vast array of various biological activities and applications such as antitumor, antioxidant, anticancer, immunomodulation, and antiviral activities, etc. The goal of this review is to give insights into the various biological activities of mushroom polysaccharides and their potential as a medicine for human health. The extraction, purity, and structural analysis of fungal polysaccharides were also reviewed in this work. Also, future prospective, and challenges for fungal polysaccharides in pharmaceutical applications can be found in this review. Overall, this review serves as a valuable resource in exploring the therapeutic potential and applications of fungal polysaccharides. By building upon the existing knowledge base and addressing critical research gaps, researchers can find new opportunities for utilizing fungal polysaccharides as valuable therapeutic agents and functional ingredients in pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals, and biotechnology.

Antimicrobial, Antibiofilm, and Antioxidant Properties of Boletus edulis and Neoboletus luridiformis Against Multidrug-Resistant ESKAPE Pathogens

Multidrug-resistant ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) has become the most recurrent global cause of skin and soft-tissue infections, belonging to the WHO priority pathogens list. Successful therapy remains challenging and entails the assessment of novel and successful antibiotics. In this study, mushrooms are considered a valuable and unique source of natural antimicrobial compounds. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties of Boletus edulis (B. edulis) and Neoboletus luridiformis (N. luridiformis) aqueous and methanolic extracts against ESKAPE isolates from clinical wound infections. Disk diffusion and microdilution methods were used to assess the antimicrobial activity. Phytochemical characterization was achieved by analysis of total phenols, orthodiphenols content, and antioxidant activity as well as by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detector (HPLC-DAD). Human foreskin fibroblasts-1 (HFF-1) cell viability was performed by the MTT assay. Aqueous and methanolic extracts of B. edulis and N. luridiformis showed antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties against multidrug-resistant bacteria, although with different efficacy rates. The results showed that there is a convincing relation between the content of phenolic compounds, antioxidant activity, and antimicrobial activity suggesting that the presence of phenolic compounds may explain the biological effects. HPLC analysis revealed high levels of protocatechuic acid, homogentisic acid, pyrogallol, gallic acid, p-catechin, and dihydroxybenzoic acid in the aqueous extract of B. edulis, explaining the highest antimicrobial and antibiofilm properties. Importantly, the mushrooms extracts were non-cytotoxic at all the tested concentrations. Overall, the tested mushrooms extracts are good candidates to further explore its use in the prevention of wound infection, particularly by multidrug-resistant pathogens.

Biomolecules of mushroom: a recipe of human wellness

The Indian system of medicine - Ayurveda says "When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is correct, medicine is of no use". In this context, mushroom constitutes one of the major resources for nutraceuticals. Biomolecules of mushrooms have attracted the attention of researchers around the globe due to their proven healthy attributes. They have a plenitude of health-giving properties and these range from immunomodulatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, anticancer, anti-HIV, antidiabetic, anticholesterolic to antiarthritic activities.Mushrooms contain both primary and secondary metabolites. The primary metabolites provide energy while the secondary metabolite exhibits medicinal properties. Hence, the mushroom can be a recipe for human wellness and will play a significant role in fighting COVID-19 pandemics and other infectious diseases.The key findings suggested in this paper refer to the exploration of health and the healing traits of biomolecules of mushrooms. This article reviews the current status of the medicinal attributes of mushrooms and their biomolecules in different diseases such as cardiovascular, diabetes, reproductive diseases, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. The global malnutrition-related morbidity and mortality among children under five and lactating women presents a frightening picture and also a black spot on the human face. Malnutrition is responsible for more ill-health than any other cause. Mushrooms as a rich source of bioactive compounds can be claimed as "Best from the Waste" since they grow on the most abundant organic wastes of the Earth, the lignocellulosic substrate, and 'Best of the Rest' because they are excellent nutraceutical resources.

Combining the Anticancer and Immunomodulatory Effects of Astragalus and Shiitake as an Integrated Therapeutic Approach

Astragalus root (Huang Qi) and Shiitake mushrooms (Lentinus edodes) are both considered medicinal foods and are frequently used in traditional Chinese medicine due to their anticancer and immunomodulating properties. Here, the scientific literatures describing evidence for the anticancer and immunogenic properties of Shiitake and Astragalus were reviewed. Based on our experimental data, the potential to develop medicinal food with combined bioactivities was assessed using Shiitake mushrooms grown over Astragalus beds in a proprietary manufacturing process, as a novel cancer prevention approach. Notably, our data suggest that this new manufacturing process can result in transfer and increased bioavailability of Astragalus polysaccharides with therapeutic potential into edible Shiitake. Further research efforts are required to validate the therapeutic potential of this new Hengshan Astragalus Shiitake medicinal food.

Potential Activity of Albino Grifola frondosa Mushroom Extract against Biofilm of Meticillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus

Mushroom extracts are a rich source of natural compounds with antimicrobial properties, which are able to prevent, to some extent, the growth of foodborne pathogens. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of extracts from albino Grifola frondosa (GF), commonly known as maitake, to inhibit the growth of some bacteria and the biofilm production by Staphylococcus aureus. We obtained not only a significant reduction of OD score between biofilm and biofilm plus albino G. frondosa extract group, but also a reduction of category of biofilm. In addition, we observed a significant presence of isolates with strong category for the biofilm group and a significant presence of isolates with absent category for the biofilm plus albino G. frondosa extract group. These results confirm that the use of albino G. frondosa extract reduces in significant way the presence of biofilm. Our results suggest and confirm that albino G. frondosa extracts could be employed as functional food and could be used as a natural additive for food process control and food safety.

Therapeutic applications of mushrooms and their biomolecules along with a glimpse of in silico approach in neurodegenerative diseases

Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) represent a common neurological pathology that determines a progressive deterioration of the brain or the nervous system. For treating NDs, comprehensive and alternative medicines have attracted scientific researchers' attention recently. Edible mushrooms are essential for preventing several age-based neuronal dysfunctions such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Mushroom such as Grifola frondosa, Lignosus rhinocerotis, Hericium erinaceus, may improve cognitive functions. It has also been reported that edible mushrooms (basidiocarps/mycelia extracts or isolated bioactive compounds) may reduce beta-amyloid-induced neurotoxicity. Medicinal mushrooms are being used for novel and natural compounds that help modulate immune responses and possess anti-cancer, anti-microbial, and anti-oxidant properties. Compounds such as polyphenols, terpenoids, alkaloids, sesquiterpenes, polysaccharides, and metal chelating agents are validated in different ND treatments. This review aims to assess mushrooms' role and their biomolecules utilization for treating different kinds of NDs. The action mechanisms, presented here, including reducing oxidative stress, neuroinflammation, and modulation of acetylcholinesterase activity, protecting neurons or stimulation, and regulating neurotrophins synthesis. We also provide background about neurodegenerative diseases and in-silico techniques of the drug research. High costs associated with experiments and current ethical law imply efficient alternatives with limited cost value. In silico approaches provide an alternative method with low cost that has been successfully implemented to cure ND disorders in recent days. We also describe the applications of computational procedures such as molecular docking, virtual high-throughput screening, molecular dynamic (MD) simulation, quantum-mechanical methods for drug design. They were reported against various targets in NDs.

Culinary and Medicinal Mushrooms: Insight into Growing Technologies

Humans have used mushrooms from the beginning of their history. However, during the last few decades, the market demand for these fruiting bodies has increased significantly owing to the spread in the capabilities of culinary and pharmacological exploitation. Natural mushroom resources have become insufficient to meet the support needs. Therefore, traditional methods of extensive cultivation as well as modern technologies have been exploited to develop effective growing recommendations for dozens of economically important mushroom species. Mushrooms can decompose a wide range of organic materials, including organic waste. They play a fundamental role in nutrient cycling and exchange in the environment. The challenge is a proper substrate composition, including bio-fortified essential elements, and the application of growing conditions to enable a continuous supply of fruiting bodies of market quality and stabilized chemical composition. Many mushroom species are used for food preparation. Moreover, they are treated as functional foods, because they have health benefits beyond their nutritional value, and are used as natural medicines in many countries. Owing to the rapid development of mushroom farming, we reviewed the growing technologies used worldwide for mushroom species developed for food, processing, and pharmacological industries.

Agaricus bisporus and its by-products as a source of valuable extracts and bioactive compounds

Edible mushrooms constitute an appreciated nutritional source for humans due to their low caloric intake and their high content in carbohydrates, proteins, dietary fibre, phenolic compounds, polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins and minerals. It has been also demonstrated that mushrooms have health-promoting benefits. Cultivation of mushrooms, especially of the most common species Agaricus bisporus, represents an increasingly important food industry in Europe, but with a direct consequence in the increasing amount of by-products from their industrial production. This review focuses on collecting and critically investigating the current data on the bioactive properties of Agaricus bisporus as well as the recent research for the extraction of valuable functional molecules from this species and its by-products obtained after industrial processing. The state of the art regarding the antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-allergenic and dietary compounds will be discussed for novel applications such as nutraceuticals, additives for food or cleaning products.

Recombinant latcripin 11 of Lentinula edodes C91-3 suppresses the proliferation of various cancer cells

Lentinula edodes C91-3 is an edible mushroom that has demonstrated a remarkable anti-tumor effect in various cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, we report the ability of recombinant thioredoxin-like latcripin 11 (LP-11) of Lentinula edodes C91-3 to suppress the proliferation of various cancer cells. The LP-11 gene of Lentinula edodes C91-3 was cloned in the pET-32a(+) expression vector and expressed in a prokaryotic system. The expressed protein was refolded by gradual dialysis and purified by affinity gel filtration chromatography. The antioxidant activity of LP-11 was tested by 1,1-dipheny l-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assay. The anti-tumor activity of recombinant LP-11 was tested in eight kinds of tumor cell lines by CCK-8 assay. Recombinant LP-11 significantly suppressed the proliferation of various cancer cells, but not normal human umbilical vein endothelial cells. Human lymphoma U937 cells exhibited the most sensitivity to LP-11 protein. U937 cell apoptosis was assessed by Annexin V staining coupled with flow cytometry, and mitochondrial morphology was analyzed by light and electron microscopy. It was revealed that recombinant LP-11 induced apoptosis in human leukemic monocyte lymphoma U937 cells. Our findings suggest that recombinant LP-11 is a promising agent for the treatment of lymphoma.

The derivatization and antitumor mechanisms of polysaccharides

At present, the polysaccharide antitumor research is focused on how to further improve the antitumor activity of polysaccharides. The structural modification of polysaccharides can enhance their antitumor activity to a certain extent. The antitumor mechanisms of polysaccharide derivatives mainly contain the inducing apoptosis of tumor cells, effecting on the cycle of tumor cells, enhancing the antioxidant activity of organism, activating the body's immune response and inhibiting the tumor angiogenesis. Herein, the common methods of polysaccharide modification, such as sulfation, carboxymethylation, phosphorylation and acetylation, were summarized. At the same time, the effects of chemical modification of polysaccharides on their antitumor mechanisms and activity were analyzed and discussed.

Chemoinformatic Database Building and in Silico Hit-Identification of Potential Multi-Targeting Bioactive Compounds Extracted from Mushroom Species

Mushrooms are widely-consumed fungi which contain natural compounds that can be used both for their nutritive and medicinal properties, i.e., taking advantage of their antimicrobial, antiviral, antitumor, anti-allergic, immunomodulation, anti-inflammatory, anti-atherogenic, hypoglycemic, hepatoprotective and antioxidant effects. Currently, scientific interest in natural compounds extracted from the fungal species is increasing because these compounds are also known to have pharmacological/biological activity. Unfortunately, however, their mechanisms of action are often unknown, not well understood or have not been investigated in their entirety. Given the poly-pharmacological properties of bioactive fungal compounds, it was decided to carry out a multi-targeted approach to predict possible interactions occurring among bioactive natural fungal extracts and several macromolecular targets that are therapeutically interesting, i.e., proteins, enzymes and nucleic acids. A chemical database of compounds extracted from both edible and no-edible mushrooms was created. This database was virtually screened against 43 macromolecular targets downloaded from the Protein Data Bank website. The aim of this work is to provide a molecular description of the main interactions involving ligand/multi-target recognition in order to understand the polypharmacological profile of the most interesting fungal extracts and to suggest a design strategy of new multi-target agents.

DNA barcoding for identification of consumer-relevant mushrooms: A partial solution for product certification?

One challenge in the dietary supplement industry is confirmation of species identity for processed raw materials, i.e. those modified by milling, drying, or extraction, which move through a multilevel supply chain before reaching the finished product. This is particularly difficult for samples containing fungal mycelia, where processing removes morphological characteristics, such that they do not present sufficient variation to differentiate species by traditional techniques. To address this issue, we have demonstrated the utility of DNA barcoding to verify the taxonomic identity of fungi found commonly in the food and dietary supplement industry; such data are critical for protecting consumer health, by assuring both safety and quality. By using DNA barcoding of nuclear ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) of the rRNA gene with fungal specific ITS primers, ITS barcodes were generated for 33 representative fungal samples, all of which could be used by consumers for food and/or dietary supplement purposes. In the majority of cases, we were able to sequence the ITS region from powdered mycelium samples, grocery store mushrooms, and capsules from commercial dietary supplements. After generating ITS barcodes utilizing standard procedures accepted by the Consortium for the Barcode of Life, we tested their utility by performing a BLAST search against authenticate published ITS sequences in GenBank. In some cases, we also downloaded published, homologous sequences of the ITS region of fungi inspected in this study and examined the phylogenetic relationships of barcoded fungal species in light of modern taxonomic and phylogenetic studies. We anticipate that these data will motivate discussions on DNA barcoding based species identification as applied to the verification/certification of mushroom-containing dietary supplements.

Suppositional area for the search of bacterial products for anticancer therapy

It is well-known that bacteria can produce compounds which show anticancer effects. In present time, it is impossible to check all bacterial species on their possible production of anticancer compounds (AC) under different conditions. Thus, it is necessary to limit the area for search of bacterial products for the anticancer therapy. We propose that production of AC by bacteria is a part of microbial biological strategy under natural conditions. We propose that bacteria in soils, in water and on plants do not meet human tumors and their AC serve for the competition with eukaryotic organisms. Most probably, an epiphytic growth of bacilli is accompanied with production of compounds inhibiting eukaryotes. According to awaited profit for the AC-producing bacteria, the epiphytic groups of bacilli show inhibition of mycelial fungi which are a natural model of eukaryotic cells. An example of strain isolation and a primary test is presented.

Experimental evaluation of analgesic and anti-inflammatory potential of Oyster mushroom Pleurotus florida

Background:

Edible mushrooms have been used as flavorful foods and as health nutritional supplements for several centuries. A number of bioactive molecules have been identified in numerous mushroom species

Objective:

To evaluate the analgesic and anti-inflammatory potential of Oyster Mushroom Pleurotus florida using various experimental models in Wistar rats.

Materials and Methods:

Acute toxicity studies were performed whereby dose of 250 mg/ kg and 500 mg/kg was selected for present study, Analgesic activity was determined using hot plate method, tail flick method, acetic acid induced writhing and formalin induced pain in rats, while carrageenan was used to induce inflammation and anti-inflammatory studies were performed.

Results:

HEE showed significant (P < 0.01) analgesic and anti-inflammatory response against all experimental models.

Conclusion:

These studies conclude that Pleurotus florida possesses analgesic and anti- inflammatory potential which might be due to presence of myochemicals like flavonoids, phenolics and polysaccharides.

In vitro H(+) -K(+) ATPase inhibitory potential of methanolic extract of Cissus quadrangularis Linn

Objective:

This study was undertaken to study in vitro H⁺ -K⁺ ATPase inhibitory potential of methanolic extract of Cissus quadrangularis Linn.

Materials and Mathods:

Total phenolic and flavonoid contents from extract was quantified and H⁺ -K⁺ ATPase inhibition assay was performed in presence of different concentrations of standard (omeprazole) and methanol extract.

Results:

Extract showed significant (*P < 0.05) proton pump inhibitory activity in the goat gastric mucosal homogenate which was comparable to standard.

Conclusions:

These findings showed that methanolic extract of C. quadrangularis Linn. is potent inhibitor of proton pump.