Affiliations 

  • 1 Bioproducts Research Chair, Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia ; Natural and Microbial Products Department, National Research Centre, Dokki, Cairo 12311, Egypt
  • 2 Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81130 Skudai, Malaysia ; City of Scientific Research and Technology Application, New Burg Al Arab, Alexandria 21934, Egypt
  • 3 Bioproducts Research Chair, Zoology Department, Faculty of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
  • 4 Institute of Bioproduct Development (IBD), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM), 81130 Skudai, Malaysia
Mediators Inflamm, 2014;2014:805841.
PMID: 25505823 DOI: 10.1155/2014/805841

Abstract

For centuries, macrofungi have been used as food and medicine in different parts of the world. This is mainly attributed to their nutritional value as a potential source of carbohydrates, proteins, amino acids, and minerals. In addition, they also include many bioactive metabolites which make mushrooms and truffles common components in folk medicine, especially in Africa, the Middle East, China, and Japan. The reported medicinal effects of mushrooms include anti-inflammatory effects, with anti-inflammatory compounds of mushrooms comprising a highly diversified group in terms of their chemical structure. They include polysaccharides, terpenoids, phenolic compounds, and many other low molecular weight molecules. The aims of this review are to report the different types of bioactive metabolites and their relevant producers, as well as the different mechanisms of action of mushroom compounds as potent anti-inflammatory agents.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.