Medicinal uses of mushrooms in Nigeria: towards full and sustainable exploitation

Abstract

For centuries, mushrooms have been appreciated as sources of food nutrients and pharmacologically important compounds useful in medicine. Yet not all the medicinal properties of mushrooms have been exploited. The above statement is more pertinent to mushrooms that are indigenous to Nigeria. There are inadequate data on the identity and medicinal properties of these wild mushrooms. Information on the ethnomedicinal uses of some mushrooms such as Pleurotus tuber-regium used for headache, stomach pain fever, cold, constipation; Lentinus squarullosus for mumps, heart diseases; Termitomyces microcarpus for gonorrhea; Calvatia cyathiformis for leucorrhea, barreness; Ganoderma lucidum for treating arthritis, neoplasia; G. resinaceum used for hyperglycemia, liver diseases (hepatoprotector); G. applanatum used as antioxidant and for diabetes had been gathered through survey. The above information is mostly obtained from traditional herbalists who in most cases will not disclose their preparation compositions. A lot of these mushrooms are obtained only in the wild. Scientific documents of the identities and medicinal properties are still scanty. Preliminary studies on some species of Temitomyces, Lenzites and Lentinus species showed that they possess appreciable antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. Moreover, molecular characterization also reveals that they are not 100% homologous with existing sequences under the same name in GenBank. It is therefore pertinent that well structured studies on their ecology, identification and medicinal uses be carried out. This will make the full exploitation of the medicinal potentials of mushrooms indigenous to Nigeria realizable.

Total Phenol , Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Properties of Wild Macrofungi Collected from Akure Southwest Nigeria

“…Higher fungi are a major source of biological active natural substances among many diverse organisms which provide a rich variety of active metabolites (Liu, 2007). There are potentially many bioactivities and novel compounds still to be discovered in higher fungi since until now only a few numbers of higher fungi have been biologically and chemically investigated (Liu, 2007;Oyetayo, 2011). Nigeria is extraordinarily rich in higher fungi.…”

“…The pharmacological potential of about 90% of these macrofungi is yet to be explored. A large number of the unknown species of mushrooms which may possess health promoting properties are not well studied especially in Africa (Oyetayo, 2011). There are no data on these macrofungi and their medicinal potentials.…”

<b>Macrofungi in two botanical gardens in southwestern India</b>

“…Fruit body small to medium size, fleshy agaric, creamish-brown cap, creamish gills and stipe; gregarious, annual, edible with excellent taste and used to treat gonorrhoea (Oyetayo 2011). Pileus 1.6 (1.8-3) 3.1 cm (n=25), creamish-brown, smooth, silky, shiny on wet, at first companulate becoming expanded/broad convex on maturity with shield-shaped umbo (bluntlyumbonate) and irregularly lobed margins (lobes, 4-6) (Image 4H,I).…”

Ethnomycological Conspectus of West African Mushrooms: An Awareness Document

“…While they remained unquestionably popular in the preparation of many delicacies across the West African sub-region, their proximate and nutrient contents may not be fully comprehended by most rural mycophagists [63,64]. This is in addition to being a preferred alternative to animal proteins like red meats and fishes, and synthetic flavouring condiments.…”