Pharmacological Agents from Mushrooms and Legumes
Prof. Tzi Bun Ng E-Mail
Professor, School of Life Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Research Keywords: antibacterial; antifungal; antiviral; bioactive; endocrine; aging; proteins; nonpeptidic
Mushrooms are delicious and nutritious.They produce a diversity of compounds with important biological activities including polysaccharides, polysaccharide-peptide complexes, proteins such as enzymes and ribosome inactivating proteins and triterpenoids, etc.The spectrum of activities found in mushroom compounds comprise anticancer, immunoenhancing, hypercholesterolemic, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, antiosteoporotic, anti-alopecia, antiepileptic, antimelanogenic, skin hydrating, antiobesity, antiinflammatory, anti -atherosclerotic, antihyperuricemic, hepatoprotective, gastroprotective, renoprotective, analgesic, antiaging, antioxidant, cardioprotective, and neuroprotective activities. Articles on the aforementioned and other activities and related pharmacological agents are welcome.
Legumes are nutritious and provide protein, fibre, vitamins such as folate, and minerals, such as iron, magnesium and zinc. They produce an array of compounds including alkaloids, amines, condensed tannins, coumarins, cyanogenic glycosides, enzyme inhibitors, flavonoids, lectins,oligosaccharides, peptides, phenolics, proteins, phytoestrogens, and saponins.
There is a diversity of activities including antidiabetic, antiedema, anthelmintic, antihypercholesterolemic, anti-inflammatory, antimenopause, cardioprotective and renoprotective activities.
Keywords: medicinal mushrooms, culinary mushrooms, wild mushrooms, pharmacological agents, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, immunoenhancing, cosmetic