THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS OF MUSHROOMS AND ITS COMPOSITIONAL ANALYSIS BY HIGH THROUGHPUT SCREENING TECHNIQUES

Mushrooms can be considered as a prolific resource for drugs as per previous literature surveys. Their constituent bioactive components are broadly classified such as phenols, flavonoids, triterpenoids, saponins. Whole mushrooms or mainly fruiting bodies extracts and compounds isolated from their mycelium are of immense pharmacological importance. Extraction employing suitable solvents leads to the isolation of various principle compounds. Pure compounds can also be isolated from natural material or can be synthesized chemically. 80-85% of all medicinal mushroom products are isolated from fruiting bodies. 15% of all products are obtained from mycelia. Cultivation of mushrooms requires minimal resources; therefore the development of cultivation farm helps for creating employment for various people in many parts of the country. Many kinds of literature have already reported the detailed chemical bioactive constituents of the extracts prepared from mushrooms via various extraction methods. These compounds are of immense therapeutic importance, and some of them have already become a part of clinical trials as an adjuvant therapy along with the conservative therapy applied for patients suffering from cancer in various countries like China, Japan. The next most crucial part is the development of suitable galenic formulations in the form of capsules, tea or tablets which depends on the isolated material. Mixing of several mushroom components is also becoming common and will be of course beneficial to mankind shortly.