Lion's Mane May Double Neuron Growth

Many compounds with medicinal effects, such as penicillin, were originally isolated from fungi. Fungi produce a vast number of bioactive compounds, many of which have not been investigated for their potential medicinal benefits. Many claims have been made about the potential medicinal benefits of mushrooms, a type of fungi, but there is little evidence to support claims made by the supplement industry, which is largely unregulated. A recent study found that nerve cells exposed to compounds isolated from lion's mane mushrooms could promote neuron growth.

Many claims are made about mushrooms' medicinal properties due to the fact that fungi are capable of creating a vast array of molecules, not all of which have been studied for their individual properties or medicinal potential. However, there is a lack of evidence to support these claims, largely as the molecules which could have a medicinal effect have not been isolated or studied in the laboratory or in humans. Many of the claims made also allude to the consumption of mushrooms as a whole rather than the effects of individual molecules they might contain, as the dietary supplement industry is not regulated in the same way that medicines are.

The fungi species, Hericium erinaceus, more commonly known as lion's mane mushroom, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for years and is the focus of many claims made about its potential medicinal uses. Claims have been made about the potential benefits of this particular fungi in treating neurodegenerative conditions, and there is an ongoing trial to determine the effects of taking the fungi in capsule form on Parkinson's disease patients, for example.

In order to observe the effect of the fungi on neurons in the laboratory, researchers in South Korea and Australia isolated several compounds from lion's mane fungi as well as tested a crude extract from the mushrooms. They published their findings in the Journal of NeurochemistryTrusted Source.

The study was funded by CNGBio Co, which farms organic mushrooms for medicinal purposes. Lead author Professor Frederic Meunier from the Queensland Brain Institute and former editor of the journal told Medical News Today why they decided to test this particular mushroom: “I am a molecular neurobiologist, and we do grow neurons in a dish on an ongoing basis for many projects. One of my former Ph.D. students YeJin Chai alerted me that the lion's mane mushroom could have an activity on neurons and we, therefore, got involved in a collaboration and tested several compounds extracted from this mushroom.”

“It became clear that some of these compounds had potent activity when we realized that the length and number of branches dramatically increased,” he said.

To study this hypothesis, researchers exposed neurons derived from rat embryos to lion's mane mushroom extracts for 24 hours and compared the length of the neurons and their branching to neurons in a control group. They found the neurons exposed to lion's mane mushroom extracts were up to twice as long as those not exposed. Further analysis of cells from the hippocampus region of the brain showed that neurons showed the most growth when exposed to four separate isolated molecules with hericene A and NDPIH having the greatest effect on neuron growth.

Researchers then gave mice supplements of lion's mane mushroom and tested their memory in a maze test. They found that dietary supplementation with lion's mane mushroom crude extracts significantly enhanced mice's recognition memory.

by Hannah Flynn at medicalnewstoday.com on February 17, 2023