Pharmacologyonline 2: 456-463 (2010) Newsletter Dhamodharan and Mirunalini

Medicinal mushrooms have an established history of use in traditional therapies. Modern clinical practice in Asian countries continues to rely on mushroom derived bioactive compounds. Medicinal effects have been demonstrated for many traditionally used mushrooms. The use of mushrooms extract and their bioactive compounds as antioxidants is becoming increasingly popular and could bring diverse physiological benefits to the consumer, such as protection against human diseases associated with oxidative stress, like coronary heart disease, oxidation associated pathologies, diabetes, infections (fungi, bacteria), immune system disorder and cancer. Recently, considerable attention is focused on anticarcinogenic bioactive compounds particularly those derived from medicinal or edible mushrooms. The aim of the present review is to outline the therapeutic characteristics of Agaricus bisporus (white button mushroom) medicinal mushrooms, and their applications in human health care. Indeed, metabolites from Basidiomycota demonstrate verified pharmacological activity in major diseases such as chronic inflammation.