Hericium erinaceum (HE) is a unique mushroom for its cognitive function improving actions. HE is known as Yamabushitake in Japanese and Lion’s Mane in English. Since the early 1990s, Kawagishi and his colleagues have been investigating the role of the compounds derived from HE in the treatment of dementia (Kawagishi et al., 1991; Kawagishi et al., 1992; Kawagishi et al., 2004; Kawagishi et al., 2008). Bioactive substances in HE have the potential to stimulate the production of NGF, repair neuronal damage and improve brain function if the
substances in HE are able to cross the blood-brain barrier, then NGF may act to repair neuronal function. Nagai et al have found that HE exhibited important bioactive properties, including the induction of NGF synthesis, inhibition of the cytotoxicity of amyloid beta peptide, and protection against neuronal cell death caused by oxidative or endoplasmic reticulum stress (Nagai, Chiba, Nishino et al., 2006).