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Phytochemicals and Investigations on Traditionally Used Medicinal Mushrooms

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Evidence Based Validation of Traditional Medicines

Abstract

Mushrooms degrade matter to produce metabolite for sustaining life. For degradation they produce enzymes and certain metabolites. Both the enzymes and the metabolites are of use for human. The metabolites have medicinal applications. The traditional use and the scientific work on some traditionally used medicinal mushrooms have been discussed here. Some of the mushrooms are Auricularia delicata, A. polytricha, A. auricular, Agaricus blazei, Coprinus comatus, Cordyceps spp., Fomes fomentarius, Fomitopsis pinicola, Ganoderma lucidum, etc. Auricularia delicata has been used in the traditional medicine of Manipur, India, for dysentery and liver healing therapy. A scientific investigation done by one of the authors on traditionally used Auricularia species showed its hepatoprotective activity. The compound isolated from the ethyl acetate extract was chlorogenic acid. It is known to have hepatoprotective activity. This has been a good example illustrating that traditional medicine is a good lead to drug discovery.

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Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the Department of Chemistry, National Institute of Technology, Manipur, India, for providing the infrastructure for our studies to complete this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, NIT Manipur, Langol, India

    Wangkheirakpam Sujata & Sanjram Nomita Devi

  2. Division of Pharmacognosy, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India

    Subhash C. Mandal

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  1. Wangkheirakpam Sujata
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Correspondence to Wangkheirakpam Sujata .

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  1. Pharmaceutical Technology, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

    Subhash C. Mandal

  2. NEF College of Pharmacy, Guwahati, Assam, India

    Raja Chakraborty

  3. Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science, Assam down town University, Guwahati, Assam, India

    Saikat Sen

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Sujata, W., Devi, S.N., Mandal, S.C. (2021). Phytochemicals and Investigations on Traditionally Used Medicinal Mushrooms. In: Mandal, S.C., Chakraborty, R., Sen, S. (eds) Evidence Based Validation of Traditional Medicines. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8127-4_45

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