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Nature’s Own Pharmacy: Mushroom-Based Chemical Scaffolds and Their Therapeutic Implications

Summary

This comprehensive review explores how mushrooms can be used as natural medicines. Various mushroom species contain powerful compounds that can fight cancer, boost immunity, reduce inflammation, and treat infections. The paper details 15 important medicinal mushrooms and their therapeutic uses, showing that mushrooms are indeed a nature’s pharmacy with significant potential for treating many diseases.

Background

Mushrooms have been used for centuries in traditional medicine and are recognized as significant sources of bioactive compounds. Approximately 148,000 mushroom species have been discovered with an estimated 1-1.5 million species existing globally. Medicinal mushrooms contain novel bioactive components with therapeutic potential for various diseases.

Objective

This review provides a comprehensive overview of chemical scaffolds present in medicinal mushrooms and their therapeutic implications in the human body. The paper aims to identify and characterize bioactive compounds from various mushroom species and their applications in treating diseases.

Results

The review identifies 15 major medicinal mushroom species with diverse bioactive compounds including polysaccharides, β-glucans, triterpenoids, terpenoids, phenolic compounds, proteins, peptides, and alkaloids. These compounds demonstrate antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and immunomodulatory properties across multiple therapeutic applications.

Conclusion

Medicinal mushrooms represent a valuable natural source of bioactive compounds with significant therapeutic potential for treating various diseases. Future research using genomics, proteomics, and metabolomics should focus on discovering novel metabolites from understudied mushroom species to advance therapeutic applications in human health.
  • Published in:International Journal of Molecular Sciences,
  • Study Type:Review,
  • Source: PMC10647524, PMID: 37958579
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