BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS FROM MUSHROOMS
Hirokazu Kawagishi and Cun Zhuang
Anti-dementia Compounds
We have been engaged in a study to search for nerve growth factor (NGF) synthesis-promoting compounds in medicinal mushrooms, since 1991. We discovered a series of benzyl alcohol derivatives named as hericenones C — H (1 - 6), as well as a series of diterpenoid derivatives named as erinacines A — 1 (7 -15) from Hericium erinaceum, which evidently stimulate NGF production from mouse astroglial cells