Chemical Composition and Chronic Toxicity of Disc-Cultured Antrodia cinnamomea Fruiting Bodies

Current and further outlook on the protective potential of Antrodia camphorata against neurological disorders

Prevalent neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and stroke are increasingly becoming a global burden as society ages. It is well-known that degeneration and loss of neurons are the fundamental underlying processes, but there are still no effective therapies for these neurological diseases. In recent years, plenty of studies have focused on the pharmacology and feasibility of natural products as new strategies for the development of drugs that target neurological disorders. Antrodia camphorata has become one of the most promising candidates, and the crude extracts and some active metabolites of it have been reported to play various pharmacological activities to alleviate neurological symptoms at cellular and molecular levels. This review highlights the current evidence of Antrodia camphorata against neurological disorders, including safety evaluation, metabolism, blood-brain barrier penetration, neuroprotective activities, and the potential on regulating the gut-microbiome-brain axis. Furthermore, potential strategies to resolve problematic issues identified in previous studies are also discussed. We aim to provide an overview for the ongoing development and utilization of Antrodia camphorata in cerebral neuropathology.

Metabolomic Profiling of Different Antrodia cinnamomea Phenotypes

Antrodia cinnamomea (AC) is a precious medicinal fungus with numerous therapeutic benefits. Based on the color appearance of its fruiting bodies, AC can be divided into red AC (RAC), yellow AC (YAC), and white AC (WAC); however, the differences in their metabolomic profiles remain unknown. This study aimed to analyze the metabolomic profiles of three different AC phenotypes and examine their relationship to the color appearance of fruiting bodies. The results showed that although RAC, YAC, and WAC appear to have a relatively similar profile of index triterpenoids, their total triterpenoid contents were significantly different. Among the annotated triterpenoids, many of them were highly present in RAC but not in YAC and WAC, and the relative contents of the four ergostanes (antcamphin F, antcamphin L, antcin B, and antcin K) and one lanostane (versisponic acid D) were found to be significantly different among AC phenotypes. The metabolomic profiles of the AC fruiting bodies demonstrated a total of 140 metabolites, and 41 of them were very different among AC phenotypes. This study indicates that red, yellow, and white AC can biosynthesize the diverse structures of triterpenoids, and RAC possesses a relatively higher contents of triterpenoids and diverse unannotated metabolites than YAC and WAC.