Кориолус и Херициум кај невродегенеративни нарушувања

Clinical Journal of Mycology, Jan 2022

Mushroom Nutrition in Neurodegenerative Diseases

Neuroinflammation is a specialized immune response that occurs in the central nervous system, mainly in older adulthood, and has been connected to chronic neurodegenerative disorders and characterized by a gradual loss of neurons from specific regions in the brain.

Brain inflammation has been linked to:

• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)                        • Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

• Parkinson´s disease (PD)                                          • Alzheimer´s disease (AD)

• Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB)                          • Depression and Stress

• Psychosis                                                                  • Cognitive Functions

The effects of mushroom-preparations is an area of increasing interest associated with health benefits in a number of pathologies, mostly associated with oxidative stress and free-radical-induced cell damage. Of particular note is the potential use of mushroom preparation as a disease modifying therapy in neurodegenerative conditions.

The brain has a large potential oxidative capacity but a limited ability to counteract oxidative stress. Within the cell, reactive oxygen species (ROS) are physiologically present at minimal concentration as by-products of aerobic metabolism as well as second messengers in many signal transduction pathways and, in normal conditions, there is a steady-state balance between pro-oxidants and antioxidants which is necessary to ensure optimal efficiency of antioxidant defenses. However, when the rate of free radical generation exceeds the capacity of antioxidant defenses, oxidative stress ensues with consequential severe damage to biomolecules such as proteins, lipids, nucleic acids, and carbohydrates.

Increase Lipoxin A4

One approach to reduce neuroinflammation is to increase Lipoxin A4 (LXA4). This is an endogenously produced eicosanoid, that inhibits neutrophil recruitment and activation, reduces many cell responses evoked by pathogens and pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α), blocks the generations of these pro-inflammatory proteins from Th1 cells, CD4+ cells, macrophages, and dendritic cells, and toxic compounds including ROS, thereby promoting resolution of inflammation, and acts as an endogenous “breaking signal” in the inflammatory process.

In 2015 and 2016 a team of researchers at the University of Catania, Italy, led by Professor Vittorio Calabrese demonstrated that mushroom-preparations, such as Hericium erinaceus and Coriolus versicolor can increase Lipoxin A4 in Sprague Dawley rats when compared to a control group in 90 and 30 days, respectively. The supplementation was an equivalent human dose of 3g per day.

Increases in stress biomarkers

In addition to measuring LXA4, additional oxidative stress biomarkers were measured:

1) Heme-Oxygenase –1(HO-1) – an Nrf2-regulated gene that plays a critical role in the prevention of vascular inflammation, especially in atherogenesis.

2) Heat Shock Protein 70 (Hsp-70 – a cell protector from thermal or oxidative stress; such stresses cause proteins to “unfold” and possible aggregation; Hsp-70 binds to unfolded proteins thereby suppressing possible aggregation. Hsp-70 directly inhibits apoptosis.

3) Thioredoxin – a stress-inducible antioxidant protein playing a cytoprotective role and being central metabolic regulators.  

The University of Catania researchers noted that there was a significant increase in Heme-Oxygenase-1 (HO-1), Heat Shock Protein (Hsp 70) and Thioredoxin in the total brain of Sprague Dawley rats supplemented with Coriolus versicolor and Hericium erinaceus when compared to control groups. The supplementation was an equivalent human dose of 3g per day.