Depression is a common affective disorder that seriously affects human health. Due to a variety of disadvantages such as the slow onset of efficacy of typical antidepressants, large individual differences, low overall cure rates, and side effects. Therefore, it is imperative to find new preventive methods, complementary treatments, or novel compounds with antidepressant activity. In recent years, the antidepressant effects of medicinal fungi are being explored, and related bioactive components are gaining attention for their multi-target and low side effects.
Lifeasible provides research services for the application of mushroom extracts in the development of antidepressant drugs. The pharmacological effects of mushroom extracts are evaluated through the use of various depression models. We provide a one-stop pre-clinical research service for the development of mushrooms for antidepressant drug applications to better explore the potential use of mushrooms in the treatment of human diseases.
Fig. 1 Potential mechanism of antidepressant activity of medicinal/edible mushroom. (Lazur J, et al., 2023)
Our Services
Our research service provides the basis for mushroom applications for depression development and facilitates your experiments. Our service process takes a rigorous experimental design and can also be tailored to your needs for mushroom application to other types of disease. Our services include but are not limited to the following:
Studies on the Mechanism of Mushroom Antidepressant Activity
- Anti-Inflammatory Effects of Mushrooms
Peripheral inflammation affects the central nervous system in many ways. We offer studies on anti-neuroinflammatory activity and provide analyses based on the activity of TLR4 and NF-κB pathways in cells to see if mushroom extracts exhibit anti-inflammatory activity.
- Effect of Mushrooms on Neurotrophins
We offer in vitro and in vivo models to study the effects of extracts of mushroom substrates or mycelium or isolates of medicinal/edible mushroom species on neuronal cell survival. We also analyze the effects of neurotrophin expression.
We also offer to feed mushroom extracts in animal models to see if there is an increase in the expression of proteins associated with mRNA upregulation and neurogenesis. Proteins tested include BDNF, bicortin, nestin, synaptophysin, and pro-myosin receptor kinase B (TrkB).
- Effect of Medicinal Mushroom Species on Gut Microbiota
The gut microbiota also regulates the pharmacokinetic parameters of certain drugs, including those acting on the central nervous system. We observe whether the gut microbiota is altered in the treated group in experimental animal models following mushroom extract feeding.
We also offer a range of services including medicinal mushroom cultivation, mushroom active substance extraction, and pre-clinical studies, pharmacological/toxicological studies, pre-clinical efficacy and safety evaluation of antidepressant drugs for pharmaceutical companies.
Contact Us
Lifeasible offers research services for mushroom extracts in antidepressant drug development. If you are interested in our services, please do not hesitate to contact us for further details.
Reference
- Lazur J, et al. Discovering the potential mechanisms of medicinal mushrooms antidepressant activity: a review. Antioxidants (Basel). 2023; 12 (3).
For research use only, not for clinical use.
