editorial medicinal and edible fungi as an alternative...

EditorialMedicinal and Edible Fungi as an Alternative Medicine forTreating Age-Related Disease

Da-wei Qin1 and Chunchao Han2

1 School of Chemistry and Pharmaceutical Engineering, Qilu University of Technology, Jinan 250353, China2 School of Pharmacy, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jinan 250355, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Chunchao Han; biobook2@sohu.com

Received 25 March 2014; Accepted 25 March 2014; Published 29 April 2014

Copyright © 2014 D.-w. Qin and C. Han. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons AttributionLicense, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properlycited.

Age-related diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovasculardisease, and cancer involve epigenetic modifications, whereaccumulation of minute changes in the epigenome overtime leads to disease manifestation. Epigenetic changes areinfluenced by life style and diets. This represents an avenuewhereby dietary components could accelerate or prevent age-related diseases through their effects on epigenetic modifica-tions. Therefore, new therapeutic approaches are needed totreat them more efficiently.

The lack of effective and widely applicable pharmaco-logical treatments for ischemic stroke patients may explaina growing interest in traditional medicines. Some of basid-iomycetous fungi produce substances with potential medicaleffects and are called medicinal mushrooms. Fungi (yeasts,molds, and mushrooms) have diverse morphological, phys-iological, and ecological characteristics that support theirdiverse lifestyles. These specific interspecies interactionsdepend on the production of a wide range of bioactive sub-stances. Higher fungi are well recognized for their medicinalproperties and have been used in traditional medicine formillennia. The medicinal effects attributed to fungi, basedmainly on uncharacterized substances or extracts, includeantiviral, immunomodulatory, antitumor, antioxidant, rad-ical scavenging, anti-inflammatory, antihyperlipidemic orantihypercholesterolemic, hepatoprotective, and antidiabeticeffects.

Cordyceps sinensis (CS) has been used as a tonic forlongevity, endurance, and vitality for thousands of years bythe Chinese. Many studies have shown that CS regulatesinsulin sensitivity and decreases plasma cholesterol levels.

W. Qi et al. investigated the protective effect of cordyminon diabetic osteopenia in alloxan-induced diabetic rats andthe possible mechanisms involved. The diabetic rats receiveddaily intraperitoneal injection with cordymin (20, 50, and100mg/kg/day) for 5 weeks. Cordymin could restore thecirculating blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c),serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP), tartrate resistant acidphosphatase (TRAP), and insulin levels in a dose-dependentmanner. Also, the treatment of diabetic rats with cordymincould partially reverse the 𝛽 cells death and decrease the totalantioxidant status (TAOS) in the diabetic rats.The resultsmaydirectly and indirectly account for the possible mechanism ofthe beneficial effect of cordymin on diabetic osteopenia.

The basidiomycete Agaricus blazei Murill (AbM), popu-larly known as “sunmushroom,” is native to Brazil andwidelygrown in Japan and China because of its medicinal proper-ties. It is widely used for nonprescript, medicinal purposes,both as an edible mushroom and in the form of extracts.AbM has traditionally been used for the prevention of arange of diseases, including cancer, hepatitis, atherosclerosis,hypercholesterolemia, diabetes, and dermatitis. P. Wang et al.investigated the anti-inflammatory activity of water-solublepolysaccharide of Agaricus blazei Murill (WSP-AbM) onovariectomized osteopenic rats. The rats were administeredorally WSP-AbM (200mg/kg BW) for 8 weeks. Subsequentserum maleic dialdehyde (MDA) level, total antioxidant sta-tus (TAOS), nuclear factor kappa B (NF-𝜅B) level, polymor-phonuclear (PMN) cells level, interleukin-1𝛽 (IL-1𝛽) level,inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) level, tumor necro-sis factor-𝛼 (TNF-𝛼) level, adhesion molecule (ICAM-1),

Hindawi Publishing CorporationEvidence-Based Complementary and Alternative MedicineVolume 2014, Article ID 638561, 2 pageshttp://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/638561

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and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) were determined by enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunohisto-chemistry, respectively. WSP-AbM administration markedlydecreased serum IL-1𝛽 and TNF-𝛼 levels and the expressionsof ICAM-1, COX-2, and iNOS NF-𝜅B compared with OVXrats. WSP-AbM administration also markedly decreasedPMN infiltration. In conclusion, we observed thatWSP-AbMsupplementation had anti-inflammatory effects in a modelof osteoporosis disease. H. Wang et al. also review Agaricusblazei Murill. They demonstrated ABM is useful againsta variety of diseases like cancer, tumor, chronic hepatitis,diabetes, atherosclerosis, hypercholesterolemia, and so on.W. Ji et al. examined the neuroprotective effect of Agaricusbrasiliensis (AbS) against STZ-induced diabetic neuropathicpain in laboratory rats. After 6 weeks of treatments, all ani-malswere sacrificed to study various biochemical parameters.Treatment with AbS 80mg/kg in diabetic animals showedsignificant increase in body weight, pain threshold, andpaw withdrawal threshold and significant decrease in serumglucose, LPO and NO level, Na-K-ATPase level, and TNF-𝛼 and IL-1𝛽 level as compared to vehicle treated diabeticanimals in dose and time-dependent manner. AbS can offerpain relief in PDN.

Ganoderma lucidum is a popular medicinal mushroomthat has been used as a home remedy in traditional Chinesemedicine for the prevention or treatment of a variety ofdiseases including cancer. Today, G. lucidum is recognizedas a dietary supplement recommended in many countriesas a cancer therapeutic. Another important property of thisedible mushroom is the ability to take up and accumulatetrace metals such as cadmium, lead, arsenic, copper, nickel,silver, chromium, and mercury in the body or myceliumof the mushroom. G. Min-chang et al. compared the effectand toxicity of organic selenium (selenium-enriched proteinfrom Ganoderma lucidum) with inorganic selenium (IOSe)in preventing asthma in ovalbumin-induced asthmatic mice.The results showed that the serum Se levels in the mice fedthe Pro-Se were significant elevations. It results in restorationof the level of endogenous antioxidant enzyme, lower levels ofTNF-𝛼 and IL-1𝛽, and activatedNF-𝜅B in the asthmaticmice.Our experiments have demonstrated profound differencesbetween the activities of organic selenium and inorganicselenium in experimental conditions. These data provide animportant proof of the concept that organic selenium mightbe a new potential therapy for the management of childhoodasthma in humans.

By compiling these papers, we hope to enrich our readersand researchers with respect to medicinal and edible fungi,yet usually highly treatable fungi for age-related disease.

Da-wei QinChunchao Han

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