The sudden appearance and rapid growth of mushrooms have made them an object of fascination throughout history. During the Greek and Roman eras mushrooms were considered a delicacy by enthusiastic mycophagists. These days mushrooms are among the most popular, non-conventional food accepted all over the world. Increased consumer demand over the years has led to a quantum jump in their production. Bioactive compounds present in mushrooms have attracted the attention of researchers because of their proven healthy attributes. These include immunomodulatory, antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antitumor, anticancer, anti-HIV, antidiabetic, anticholesterol, and antiarthritic activities.
Macrofungi, all fungi that produce visible fruiting bodies, can be used to synthesis bioactive molecules. These bioactive molecules include polysaccharides, proteins, fats, minterase, glycosides, alkaloids volatile oils, terpenoids, tocopherols, phenolics, flavonoids, carotenoids, folates, lectins, enzymes, ascorbic, and organic acids. This indicated how advantageous mushrooms can be to us. Out of these, polysaccharides are one of the most important for modern medicine while β-glucan is the most versatile metabolite with a wide spectrum of biological activity.
Mushrooms and their bioactive constituents are used to treat various chronic and degenerative diseases like Arthritis, Asthma, Cancer, COPD, Crohn disease, Cystic fibrosis, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and dementia. Agaricus bisporus, Lentinus edodes, Pleurotus spp., Flammulina velutipes, Tricholoma matsutake, Lactarius hatsudake, Boletus aereus Ganoderma spp., are the example of the most common mushrooms used for their therapeutic activity that might be utilized to manage chronic and degenerative diseases.
This research topic will address the untouched vital nutraceuticals found in mushrooms having vital therapeutic activity for chronic and degenerative diseases listed previously. This Research Topic should also include the therapeutic efficacy of different species of both edible and non-edible mushrooms. The variety of mushrooms and their bioactive components are not fully explored yet. Medicinal and edible mushrooms possess strong therapeutic properties for the treatment of chronic and degenerative which needs to be explored. Furthermore, the vital nutraceuticals found in different mushrooms listed previously needs further exploration.
This research topic is focused on the therapeutic potential of some of the most common mushrooms and their nutraceuticals in the treatment of chronic and degenerative diseases. The unexplored mushrooms and nutraceuticals are the key area to explore in this research topic. This issue welcomes researchers, to submit original research and review articles including, but not limited to, the following themes:
1. The role of mushrooms in the treatment of different forms of malignancies.
2. The nutritional and medicinal values of mushrooms.
3. The therapeutic role of the biomolecules in mushrooms in cancer.
4. Biosynthesized nanoparticles synthesized from mushrooms and their therapeutic potential.
5. In silico interactions of the biomolecules of edible mushrooms against various chronic and degenerative diseases.
6. To address the role of mushrooms and their bioactive components for diabetes.
7. To explore the beneficial activity of mushrooms and their bioactive components in neurodegenerative diseases.
8. To investigate the therapeutic potential of mushrooms in obesity and related diseases.
9. To explore the vital activity of biomolecules of mushrooms in reproductive diseases.
10. To explore the use of mushrooms and their nutraceuticals when treating different forms of COPD.
11. The role of different medicinal mushrooms and their bioactive constituent in the treatment and management of asthma.
12. To explore the vital therapeutic impact of different mushrooms in the treatment of Cystic fibrosis and Crohn's diseases.
13. The management of arthritis using mushrooms and their biomolecules.
Please Note: References of mushrooms must include taxonomically valid names. Please refer to the Index Fungorum for information.
-------
All the manuscripts submitted to the collection will need to fully comply with the
Four Pillars of Best Practice in Ethnopharmacology (you can freely download the full version
here).