Metabolic profile and skin-related bioactivities of cerioporus squamosus hydromethanolic extract

Being a functional food capable of showing nutritional as well as medicinal properties have great attention. Mushrooms have been proven as leading targets in this field. For this purpose, the edible mushroom Cerioporus squamosus was investigated in this study to evaluate the in vitro skin-related bioactivities of its hydromethanolic extract in terms of enhancing wound healing, and human skin cancer suppression capabilities. Treatment of fibroblast cells (BJ-1) with the hydromethanolic extract of this mushroom at 50 µg/mL enhanced cell migration rates by 71.7% after 24 h of exposure to the extract. Moreover, the same extract exhibited a promising impact on human skin cancer using an epidermoid carcinoma cell line (A431). The gradual increase in C. squamosus hydromethanolic extract concentration caused gradual decrease in the A431 cell viability and proliferation. Maximum effect on reducing the cell viability was obtained at a concentration of 100 µg/mL, where cell viability was 3.7%, and recorded IC50 was 52.6 µg/mL. The metabolic profile of the extract was analyzed by GC-MS, which was performed on its silylated metabolites. Nineteen compounds were detected including sugar alcohols, amino acids, fatty and organic acids. Promising results of this mushroom extract encourage conducting further steps towards using this mushroom as a functional food showing promising bioactivities

Mycorrhiza and Lichens as Two Models of Fungal Symbiosis

Fungi have evolved many symbioses including different eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Mutualism is one of the symbioses and here both symbionts benefit from the interaction. The most common mutualistic relationships involving fungi are mycorrhiza and lichens. A mycorrhiza is a symbiotic relationship between a roots of a plant and a fungus while lichen associates between a fungus and an algae. Many studies have performed to investigate these symbiotic relationships in depth, however, still have some debates on them, though many taxonomists rely on genetic analyses besides with traditional morphological data. In our study, it highlights the nature, importance, nutritional and pharmaceutical uses, and applications of these mysterious dual between fungi and plant and/or algae

Medicinal mushrooms as a new source of natural therapeutic bioactive compounds

In the ancient books of traditional medicines, medicinal mushrooms were occupying the headlines, and the main topics were confirming to their miraculous therapeutic powers. The presence of various phenolic compounds, polysaccharides, and terpenoids and other compounds, is the reason for their potent biological activities as anticancer, antioxidant, antimicrobial, antiaging, hepatic protective, hypoglycemic, hypocholesterolemic, and much more biological activities are discovered every day. Many mushroom genera are famous for their promising therapeutic capabilities. One of the mushrooms genera attracting attention is Cordyceps which has long been used in Asian countries for maintaining long and healthy life. Numerous studies on different metabolic activities of Cordyceps have been performed both in vitro and in vivo. This review describes the importance of medicinal mushrooms with focus on Cordyceps as an example of globally commercialized mushrooms

Fomitopsis officinalis mushroom: ancient gold mine of functional components and biological activities for modern medicine

Polypore mushrooms have been used medicinally for thousands of years. Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis) is a medicinal polypore mushroom containing a host of pharmacologically active compounds that beneficially affect human health. Agarikon is known for its capability of producing various biologically active compounds with medical applications such as antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory agents. This review describes the importance of medicinal mushrooms, with a specific focus on Agarikon as an example of a globally commercialized medicinal mushroom

Antiviral and Antioxidant Potential of Fungal Endophytes of Egyptian Medicinal Plants

This study aimed to explore the antioxidant potential and antiviral activity of endophytic fungi which were isolated from healthy living tissues of medicinal plants. Endophytic strains (29 different taxa) were isolated from 18 Egyptian medicinal plants collected from Saint Katherine Protectorate, Egypt. The fungal endophytes were identified based on morphological characters. All isolates were identified as ascomycetes, except two Zygomycetes strains (Absidia corymbifera and Mucor fuscus). Isolated endophytes were cultivated on potato dextrose media. The fungal metabolites were extracted by ethyl acetate and examined for their biological activities. Among 99 total extracts, only Chaetomium globosum, which was isolated from Adiantum capillus, showed a promising DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging activity (99% at 100 µg/mL). Fifteen extracts prohibited the reproduction of HSV-2 virus. On the other hand, the reproduction of VSV-virus was inhibited by sixteen endophytic extracts. The promising anti-(HSV-2 and VSV) extract of endophytic Pleospora tarda strain; that was originally isolated from the medicinal plant Ephedra aphylla, showed viral inhibitory activity of 40.7% and 15.2%, respectively. Two compounds, for which antiviral activates could be attributed, were isolated and identified as alternariol and alternariol-(9)-methyl ether using different NMR techniques from P. tarda extract. For the first time, we report here the ability of the endophytic fungus P. tarda to produce alternariol and alternariol-(9)-methyl ether. The results indicate that the endophytic fungi from medicinal plants are promising sources of bioactive compounds

GC-MS analysis and in-vitro hypocholesterolemic, anti-rotavirus, anti-human colon carcinoma activities of the crude extract of a Japanese Ganoderma spp

Background and objective Medicinal mushrooms are mines of various biologically active compounds. Therefore, chemical analysis and in-vitro evaluation of some biological activities of the Japanese originated mushroom Ganoderma spp. were conducted. Materials and methods Extraction of the fruiting bodies of Ganoderma spp. was accomplished using 80% methanol. This extract was investigated for its in-vitro cholesterol-lowering activity, anti-rotavirus effect, and anti-human colon cancer influence. Moreover, a gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis for this extract was performed. Results and conclusion The gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analysis resulted in the detection of 39 compounds, which were generally saturated and unsaturated fatty acids, and alkenes. The crude extract exhibited a promising in-vitro cholesterol-lowering activity (100±0%) after 96 h of incubation at room temperature. The same crude extract showed a moderate anti-rotavirus SA-11 strain effect with a therapeutic index of 9.3. Moreover, Ganoderma spp. extract displayed a strong activity toward HCT116 human colon carcinoma cell line, resulting in a cytotoxicity of 84.03±0.93% on HCT116 cell line monolayers. Ganoderma spp. crude extract represents a promising source of biologically active compounds that could by further investigations represent support and/or alternative to the currently used drugs