Medicinal mushrooms from tropical Africa: A state of the art about their diversity and application spectrum
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Fungi are playing an important role in human health care and industry since immemorial time. The relevance of fungi in human health is not only high, but their benefits are actually staggering and expanding. It is well known that fungi represent a potential source of biologically active compounds with immune-modulating, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, and anticancer activities. The use of fungi for therapeutic purposes is largely documented in traditional medicine of numerous countries, with China ranking top one. Conservative estimates of about 182 fungal species with therapeutic/medicinal properties have been reported worldwide. Due to their mega-diversity, tropical African fungi are predicted to provide novel bioactive metabolites of remarkable pharmaceutical significance. This prediction is supported by few ethnomycological investigations that reported on various taxa commonly used for therapeutic purposes. Therapeutic exploitation presents a large spectrum, including treatments against convulsions, skin diseases, heart problems, cancer; but also to boost the immune system. In the present talk, we will give a global overview of the diversity of tropical African macromycetes commonly used in traditional medicine along with the application procedure. We will also explore fungi taxa that present a high potential for useful secondary metabolites and discuss about recent findings on their bio-activity.
Keywords: Fungi, therapeutic applications, health, bio-activity, Tropical Africa
ID: 3487173