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Volume 18 • Number 4 • October-December 2019
Fomitopsis officinalis mushroom: ancient gold mine of
functional components and biological activities for modern
medicine
Waill A. Elkhateeb
a
, Ghoson M. Daba
a
, Marwa O. Elnahas
a
,
Paul W. Thomas
b,c
a
Department of Chemistry of Natural and
Microbial Products, Pharmaceutical Industries
Researches Division, National Research
Centre, Giza, Egypt,
b
Mycorrhizal Systems,
Mycorrhizal Systems Ltd, Lancashire,
c
Natural
Science, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
Correspondence to Assistant Professor, Dr /
Waill Ahmed Elkhateeb, PhD, Department of
Chemistry of Natural and Microbial Products,
Pharmaceutical Industries Researches Division,
National Research Centre, El Buhouth Street,
Dokki, Giza 12311, Egypt.
Tel: (+202) 33371635-33370933;
fax: (+202) 33370931;
e-mail: waillahmed@yahoo.com
Received: 9 September 2019
Accepted: 16 October 2019
Published: xx xx 2019
Egyptian Pharmaceutical Journal 2019,
18:285–289
Polypore mushrooms have been used medicinally for thousands of years. Agarikon
(Fomitopsis officinalis) is a medicinal polypore mushroom containing a host of
pharmacologically active compounds that beneficially affect human health.
Agarikon is known for its capability of producing various biologically active
compounds with medical applications such as antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer,
and anti-inflammatory agents. This review describes the importance of medicinal
mushrooms, with a specific focus on Agarikon as an example of a globally
commercialized medicinal mushroom.
Keywords:
Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis), biological activities, medicinal mushrooms, secondary
metabolites, traditional medicine
Egypt Pharmaceut J 18:285–289
©2019 Egyptian Pharmaceutical Journal
1687-4315
Introduction
Nature is considered an important source for the
discovery of new medicines. A vast diversity of
important biologically active compounds have arisen
in the natural world, shaped by evolution and spanning
a large diversity of species across different kingdoms
[1]. In the fungi kingdom, medicinal (edible)
mushrooms have long been used for the treatment
of pathogens and disease. Furthermore, fungi
show great potential as sources of antibacterial,
antifungal, antiviral, anti-inflammatory as well as
immunostimulant and antitumor agents [1–4].
Mushrooms have a rich history of use as food and
medicine. As a group of macrofungi categorized as
either ascomycetes or basidiomycetes, they may obtain
their nutrition through saprotrophism, parasitism,
symbiosis, or a combination of approaches.
Mushrooms have a reproductive phase (fruiting bodies)
and a vegetative phase (mycelia) [5,6]. Nowadays,
medicinal mushrooms are regarded as functional foods
and exist as over-the-counter health supplements used in
complementary and alternative medicines [7,8].
Several compounds are responsible for the therapeutic
activities of many fungi genera; the main groups of these
compounds are polysaccharides, terpenes, phenolic
compounds, and essential amino acids, as well as
minerals such as such as calcium, potassium,
magnesium, iron, and zinc [6,9]. Polysaccharides
represent the major compounds existing in medicinal
mushrooms, and they exhibit antioxidant, anticancer,
antidiabetic,anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, antiviral,
and immunomodulatory activities [6,10–13]. Glucan
polysaccharides especially β-glucans have been
reported to exhibit antimicrobial activity, are
hypoglycemic, and are able to enhance immunity
through the activation of macrophages [14–16].
Terpenes are the compounds responsible for the
antioxidant, anticancer, and anti-inflammatory
activities among many other biological activities
exerted by mushrooms [5,17]. Phenolic compounds
are responsible for antioxidant activities in mushroom
extracts through acting as decomposers of peroxidase,
inactivators of metals, oxygen scavengers,or inhibitors of
free radicals [18]. On the contrary, mushrooms produce
many bioactive proteins and peptides, such as lectins and
laccases [5,6]. There are many genera of medicinal
mushrooms known for their use as a source of
therapeutic bioactive compounds. In this review, one
of these species, Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis)is
discussed in detail as an example of a promising
source of therapeutic bioactive compounds.
This is an open access journal, and articles are distributed under the terms
of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0
License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work
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Review article 285
©2019 Egyptian Pharmaceutical Journal | Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow DOI: 10.4103/epj.epj_46_19
Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis), a polyporus fungi
Polypores are a group of fungi that develop fruiting
bodies; they are characterized by the presence of
hymenium (surface with a high density of spore-
bearing structures), consisting of multiple, small
pores. Although their ecological categorization
ranges from being pathogens to saprotrophs, they
are often entirely dependent on wood as a substrate
[19]. Polypores have been of great interest to those
looking for novel medicinal compounds, owing to their
rich history of medicinal use by various cultures [20].F.
officinalis (also known as Fomes officinalis,Agaricum
officinalis, and Laricifomes officinalis) is a wood-
decaying fungus in the family Polyporaceae and is
commonly known as ‘Agarikon.’The fruiting bodies
are used as a popular source of medicine in North
America, Western Europe, and Asia (including
Mongolia) for the treatment of asthma, cough,
gastric cancer, and pneumonia [21–23].
A rich literature base has dealt with F. officinalis ethno-
mycological aspects, but isolation and chemical
characterization of single compounds has only
recently been explored. According to several reports,
there is indication of a broad-spectrum antibacterial
and antiviral activity by F. officinalis, against pathogens
like Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Staphylococcus
aureus, as well as Orthopoxvirus [22,24,25]. Other
biological activities of F. officinalis extracts include
anticancer [21] and anti-inflammatory [26] activities.
Fomitopsis officinalis ecology
F. officinalis can grows as a parasite on a coniferous
hosts, or as a saprobiont after the trees die where it
causes brown rot [27,28]. Its carpophores are perennial
and may last for more than 50 years; they are usually
cylindrical or hoof shaped, and sometimes they may
grow together to form irregular masses [29]. F.
officinalis can be easily distinguished from other
species by its chalky appearance as well as its specific
bitter taste and odor in the earlier stage of growth [30].
The upper surface of the fruit body is rough and
cracked, with a thin layer that is chalky white,
creamy, or nut colored. As they age, the carpophores
become darker in color and strongly cracked; its length
can reach up to 50 cm or more [28].
F. officinalis fruit body appear at the initial site of
infection, usually a few decades after the tree was
first colonized [31]. The infection almost always
takes place through heartwood that has been
exposed through mechanical damage or through any
burls found on the tree. After the fungal spores
germinate, the mycelium grows into the woody
interior, and from there develops a form of brown
rot that starts cracks along the annual rings and rays
and finally crumbles to develop small cubes [29]. This
fungus species is distributed in the temperate zone, and
it was reported in North America, Africa (Morocco),
Asia (China, Korea, Japan, India, and Mongolia), and
western Europe countries [28] (Fig. 1).
Figure 1
Agarikon (Fomitopsis officinalis) (photographs taken by Oluna and Adolf Ceska, Canada, hosted by http://mycoportal.org).
286 Egyptian Pharmaceutical Journal, Vol. 18 No. 4, October-December 2019
Agarikon natural products
F. officinalis produces a variety of secondary
metabolites such as eburicoic acid, sulfurenic acid,
versisponic acid d, dehydroeburicoic acid, 3-
ketodehydrosulfurenic acid [32,33], fomefficinic acid
a-e [34], fomefficinic acid f, g, dehydrosulfurenic acid,
fomefficinola-b,fomlactonea-c, laricinolicacid [21,35],
agaric acid [36], fomitopsin a, officimalonic acids a-h
[26], fomitopsin c [33], fomitopsin f, g, h, trypanocidal
demalonyl fomitopsin h, and trypanocidal fomitopsin d
ethyl ester [37]. The majority of these compounds exert
promising biological activities, such as antimicrobial. In
previous phytochemical investigations on F. officinalis,
drimane sesquiterpenoids [38], lanostane triterpenes
with a 12,23-epoxy-26,23-lactone moiety [38,39], and
chlorinated coumarins [24] have been reported, and
the biological activity of the isolated compounds
showed antiviral, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, and
antituberculosis activities [37].
Agarikon health benefits and medicinal actions
Exploring the miraculous Agarikon mushroom for
biological activities has resulted in many promising
outcomes. Agarikon contains many pharmacologically
active compounds that beneficially affect human health
[40–42]. Several studies have reported biological
activities of F. officinalis such as antibacterial activity,
antiviral activity, anti-inflammatory activity, and
antitumor activity.
Antibacterial activity
F. officinalis exhibits many vital biological activities.
Chlorinated coumarin from mycelia has been used for
the treatment of pulmonary diseases, especially
tuberculosis and pneumonia, where it showed
antibacterial activities toward M. tuberculosis and
Bacillus pneumoniae as well as other microorganisms
[25]. Parkash and Sharma [43] observed a variability in
the efficiency of the aqueous and the ethanolic extracts
when they were testing the effect of F. officinalis against
some phytopathogenic microfungi (Curvularia lunata,
Fusarium oxysporum,Alternaria solani, and Aspergillus
terreus), as well as some bacteria (Bacillus subtilis and
Escherichia coli). It was found that the pure ethanolic
extract of F. officinalis inhibited the growth of A. solani
and A. terreus completely, whereas 1 : 4 diluted extract
was able to completely inhibit the growth of C. lunata
and F. oxysporum. Moreover, the same results were
reported using the aqueous extract where the growth of
C. lunata and F. oxysporum was completely inhibited by
1 : 4 dilution of the aqueous extract. On the contrary,
regarding the antibacterial activity. The pure ethanolic
extract exhibited maximum inhibition activity toward
E. coli, whereas 1 : 4 dilution extract showed maximum
activity against B. subtilis. Aqueous extract only
showed inhibition activity toward E. coli when used
in the 1 : 4 dilution. Thus the preparation of the extract
plays an important role in the potential antimicrobial
activity.
Antiviral activity
Medicinal mushrooms also show antiviral properties,
which are helpful in preventing, reducing, or curing
infection from various viruses [22]. The mycelium
extract of F. officinalis has been found to have unique
antiviral properties, including activity against the
Orthopoxvirus, which is responsible for Smallpox [44].
Stamets [45] reported that F. officinalis extract (1–2%)
reduced the viral-induced cell damage by 50%, whereas
the diluted crude extract (1 : 10
6
) reported a great efficacy
against several viruses including herpes, influenza A, and
influenza B. Moreover, the aqueous extract of F. officinalis
showed antiviral activities against human influenza
(H3N2) and bird influenza (H5N1) [46].
Anti-inflammatory activity
F. officinalis shows another biological application as an
anti-inflammatory agent. Its methanolic extract was
able to reduce the production of nitric oxide (NO),
which is implicated in several inflammatory diseases
including asthma. Han et al. [26] reported methyl-
lanostane triterpenes of diverse structures, which were
able to inhibit NO production in lipopolysaccharide-
stimulated RAW264.7 cells, hence reducing the
inflammation process. Moreover, it was reported
that Agarikon treats musculoskeletal pain owing to
its anti-inflammatory properties when applied
topically as a poultice [44].
Antitumor activity
Full clinical trials are costly in time and resources, and
consequently, fungal extracts efficiency in preventing
and treating cancer is still largely unproven. More and
rigorous investigation is essential to explore this
complex topic further. Nevertheless, there is some
promising evidence, indicating that the consumption
of some fungal extracts helps in protecting
against some cancers types, specially breast and
gastrointestinal [47,48].
Lanostane-type triterpenoids, which was reported in F.
officinalis extract, showed anticancer activity [21]. It
was found to inhibit eukaryotic DNA polymerase, a
feature which allows it to be a cytotoxic agent and
helpful as a cancer chemotherapeutic agent [49].
Wu et al. [50] reported that the ethanol extracts of F.
officinalis exhibit stronger anticancer activities than that
Fomitopsis officinalis mushroom Elkhateeb et al. 287
of water extracts toward human breast cancer (MDA-
MB-231) cells, hepatoma (HepG2), colon cancer
(HCT-116), lung cancer (A549), and mouse
sarcoma 180 cells (S-180). This was evaluated by 3-
(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium
bromide assays (MTT assay), which is a colorimetric
assay used to measure cell viability before and after
being treated with the fungal extract. The results
showed that the maximum anticancer activity was
shown toward HCT-116, where the cell viability
using MTT assay was only 15.7±4.0% at a
concentration of 50 μg/ml after 24 h of incubation.
The intense global interest and value assigned to F.
officinalis has led to commercial products derived from
this valuable medicinal mushroom, as shown in Fig. 2.
Global market of Agarikon
Unfortunately, Agarikon grows very slowly and is rarely
found, which made its use as a supplement very
challenging. This problem encourages culturing of
Agarikon using submerged techniques or cultivation
in the boreal nature to cover demands of this marvel
mushroom. Figure 2 illustrates some products based on
Agarikon extracts.
Conclusion
Globally, there is a rich history of foods being used as
medicine. One such kind of traditional therapy that
was commonly used consists of mushrooms with
medicinal properties. There are several edible
mushrooms that have significant medicinal
metabolites, whereas there are other species that may
not be used as food but are valued solely for their
medicinal properties. F. officinalis is one such species
and contains various active compounds which makes it
of great interest from a biological and pharmacological
perspective.
Several studies have presented promising activities of F.
officinalis. Many of those studies use relatively crude
extracts of F. officinalis, and some have confirmed the
existence of biological activities of F. officinalis, such as
antiviral, antibacterial, anticancer, and anti-
inflammatory. Further research is required to isolate
and identify more bioactive compounds responsible for
such biological activities. The relative efficiency of F.
officinalis in comparison to other medicinal species
remains to be elucidated and would be a fertile topic
for further investigation.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
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