Heya guys. Thought you'd like to hear about a new juicy bit of research investigating the mysterious Lion's Mane mushroom. Seems like previous research was just the tip of the iceberg... there's a lot of important new info regarding fruiting body extract effects in this paper.
This is a freely available journal, give the PDF a look for yourself.
Biological & Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Vol. 31 (2008) , No. 9
Journal Table of ContentsNerve Growth Factor-Inducing Activity of Hericium erinaceus in 1321N1 Human Astrocytoma Cells Koichiro MORI,a,c Yutaro OBARA,a,b Mitsuru HIROTA,d Yoshihito AZUMI,c Satomi KINUGASA,c Satoshi INATOMI,c and Norimichi NAKAHATA*,a,b a Department of Cellular Signaling, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University; b 21st Century COE Program “CRESCENDO”, Graduate School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tohoku University; Aoba 6–3, Aramaki, Aobaku, Sendai 980–8578, Japan: c Mushroom Laboratory, Hokuto Corporation; 800–8 Shimokomazawa, Nagano 381–0008, Japan: and d Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Faculty of Agriculture, Shinshu University; 8304 Minamiminowa, Kami-ina, Nagano 399–4598, Japan.
Received March 24, 2008; accepted June 20, 2008; published online June 23, 2008
So basically the main point, the extract of fruiting body might contain erinacines, which do increase NGF mRNA but the reason for the NGF
protein expression seems to enhanced by JNK pathway activation by some as-of-yet unknown derivative, fat soluble, of the ethanol extracts. JNK signalling effects phosphorylation which takes place in the mitochondria.
They were able to get NGF increases from the fruiting bodies, but they concluded it needed to be re-examined... They isolated the water soluble components, the hericenones, thinking there was going to be increased NGF like another study said. Instead they found
no effect. Looks like Alcohol+Water extract is the way to go...
Here's a little lazy side note on JNK from Wikipedia:
JNK, by phosphorylation, modifies the activity of numerous proteins that reside at the mitochondria or act in the nucleus. This way, JNK activity regulates several important cellular functions. Inflammatory signals, changes in levels of reactive oxygen species, Ultraviolet radiation, protein synthesis inhibitors, and a variety of stress stimuli can activate JNK. One way this activation may occur is through disruption of the conformation of sensitive protein phosphatase enzymes; specific phosphatases normally inhibit the activity of JNK itself and the activity of proteins linked to JNK activation.[4]
I still feel confident that this substance is not suitable for mass consumption at this time. There are many unknowns as to the long term effects. However, Koichiro chose a human line of astrocytoma in culture to test the NGF producing effects of the alcohol extract of fruiting body with positive effects. The problem I would posit is possibly a bit of neurodegeneration..
Here's what worries me about JNK activation with Lion's Mane administration:
Blockade of c-Jun N-terminal kinase pathway attenuates gentamicin-induced cochlear and vestibular hair cell death.c-Jun N-terminal kinases trigger both degeneration and neurite outgrowth in primary hippocampal and cortical neurons. Summarizing, JNKs are involved in both neuritogenesis and death of primary neurons with differentially regulated nuclear translocation of specific isoforms after degenerative stress, while neuritogenesis is supported by all JNK isoforms.
Disclamers/Thoughts/Stacks:
I am not an expert in biochemistry so my comments are minimally informed. I appreciate the forum's lack of blanket endorsements of any supplement. Lion's Mane has been eaten for a long time, as a delicacy for it's unique texture and rich taste, as well as a way to stay sharp. I'd like to think the people who originally noticed its effects (the Chinese of course) were probably not using ultra-concentrated ethanol+water extracts in powder form, the kinds that exist in a few corners on the internet. I don't take Lion's Mane regularly, I have cycled it for days when I was feeling particularly "fuzzy" or whenever I felt like I might become sick. Having quit aspartame altogether as well as fluoridated tap water as well as Instant Tea (~9 times the fluoride of fluoridated tap water due to repeatedly boiling down already fluoridated city water in manufacturing facility in addition to possible natural fluoride in tea) , my perceived mental acuity has increased and so I stick to the simple stuff like fish oil, coq10, b vitamins, magnesium orotate, zinc orotate, soy lecithin (you need it whenever you take any orotate, else your liver will grow in a bad way), l-theanine (for the tea calming effect, since I was a big tea drinker), just started potassium orotate and loving it (my carpal tunnel/hand joint pain disappeared). Oh yea, EXERCISE. For occasional use are holy basil for stressful times, piracetam+alcar rarely for cramming.
Edited by amenard, 04 September 2008 - 09:39 AM.