Abstract
Hericium erinaceus, an ideal culinary-medicinal mushroom, has become a well-established candidate in promoting positive brain and nerve health-related activities by inducing the nerve growth factor from its bioactive ingredient. Among its active compounds, only erinacine A has confirmed pharmacological actions in the central nervous system in rats. Hence, this review has summarized the available information on the neurohealth properties of H. erinaceus mycelia enriched with erinacines, which may contribute to further research on the therapeutic roles of these mycelia. The safety of this mushroom has also been discussed. Although it has been difficult to extrapolate the in vivo studies to clinical situations, preclinical studies have shown that there can be improvements in ischemic stroke, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and depression if H. erinaceus mycelia enriched with erinacines are included in daily meals.
Highlights
Diseases of the aging nervous system, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke, are serious global public health crises as there is no cure for them currently
Decreased levels of proinflammatory cytokines and inducible NO synthase, have been detected in ischemic neurons after mycelia exposure. These findings suggested that erinacine A-enriched H. erinaceus mycelia may be a promising agent for stroke injury as these have the ability to decrease neuronal apoptosis and reduce stroke cavity size in the rat brains by targeting iNOS/reactive nitrogen species (RNS) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK)/CCAAT enhancer-binding protein homologous protein (CHOP) pathways
The evidence so far has shown that H. erinaceus mycelium enriched with its active compounds is capable of delaying neuronal cell death in rats with neurodegenerative diseases, such as ischemic stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and depression
Summary
Diseases of the aging nervous system, such as Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, and stroke, are serious global public health crises as there is no cure for them currently These lucrative markets have attracted the interest of a majority of large pharmaceutical companies which have put a tremendous effort into seeking medications to relieve the symptoms. Despite one new drug out of 244 compounds tested in 413 Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials between 2002 and 2012 being approved for use, it cannot stop Alzheimer’s from progressing [6]. Different compounds isolated from this mushroom inducing the expression of neurotrophic factors such as nerve growth factors (NGF) have been actively studied and reported [10,11,12,13,14,15]. This review will summarize the recent advances on the neurohealth properties of H. erinaceus mycelia enriched with erinacines (≥3 mg/g) and discuss the potential mechanisms of action responsible for these medicinal properties
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
