Lion's Mane Mushroom, full spectrum

In recent years, extensive research of Lion's Mane in animal and human studies has demonstrated neuro-protective, neuro-regenerative and nootropic properties of this mushroom. [1, 2, 3]

Bioactive Compounds

Lion's Mane contains bioactive compounds like hericenones, erinacines, polysaccharides and ergothioneine. [4, 5]

Erinacines are present in Lion's Mane's mycelium, Hericenones are present in its fruiting body. Polysaccharides and ergothioneine are present in both. [5, 6]

• Erinacines and hericenones can stimulate nerve growth factor (NGF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) synthesis, which is crucial for neuroplasticity and memory, and overall brain health. [7, 8, 9] They also improve neurite outgrowth through other mechanisms [5], and enhance neurogenesis (new brain cells formation) in hippocampus. [10, 11]
• Polysaccharides have shown immunomodulatory and antioxidant activities. [5, 12, 13]
• Ergothioneine is a potent antioxidant that can reduce oxidative damage. [14, 15, 16]

Preclinical Studies

The neuroprotective mechanisms involve NGF and BDNF synthesis stimulation, antioxidant effects and anti-inflammatory activities. [2, 3, 17-21]

• In mouse models, Lion's Mane extracts improved memory, and reduced amyloid plaques and inflammation in Alzheimer's disease models. [17, 18]
• Lion's Mane treatment increased neurogenesis (new brain cells production) markers like doublecortin in the hippocampus of aged mice. [10, 11, 19]
• In vitro (in cell cultures), Lion's Mane stimulated neurite outgrowth (which is crucial for neuroplasticity and memory), and protected neuron cells from toxicity. [20, 21]

Clinical Studies

• In a study on 30 people with mild cognitive impairment, Lion's Mane improved cognitive scores compared to placebo. [22]
• A study on people over 50 has found that Lion's Mane prevented short-term memory decline and improved cognition. [23]
• In people with mild Alzheimer's disease, supplementation with Lion's Mane mycelium's molecule erinacine A improved cognitive function and daily living scores. [24]

• 2 small clinical studies have found reduced depression and anxiety symptoms by 4 weeks of Lion's Mane intake. [25, 26]
• 1 more non-randomized clinical study of 77 people has also found, that: "H. erinaceus (Lion's Mane) promoted an improvement in mood disorders of a depressive-anxious nature and of the quality of nocturnal rest. These effects persisted after eight weeks of H. erinaceus wash-out, suggesting that H. erinaceus might affect neuronal plasticity as expected by a NGF or BDNF like effect." [27]

Studies on animals indicate that Lion's Mane extract exhibits gastroprotective, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, and prebiotic effects, promoting beneficial gut bacteria while alleviating gastrointestinal diseases.

• A 2013 study on rats has shown a significant gastroprotective and regenerative activity of Lion's Mane extract, in gastric ulcer models. [28]
• A 2017 study on mice and cell cultures has shown, that Lion's Mane's proteins provide immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects, through regulating the gut microbiota. [29]
• Same year study on rats has shown, that Lion's Mane extracts relieve inflammatory bowel disease by regulating immunity and gut microbiota. [30]
• A 2023 review summarized more than 10 studies of the efficiency of different Lion's Mane's compounds against numerous gastrointestinal diseases, and has concluded that the results are promising. [31]
• Finally, a 2024 study on mice, published in Biology, has concluded, that Lion's Mane "promotes the growth of beneficial gut bacteria, parallelly reducing pathogen bacteria, therefore revealing its prebiotic effect. Additionally, this oral supplementation had a positive impact on cognitive function, also leading to a decrease in inflammation in the hippocampus, a brain area crucially involved in memory formation and consolidation. Overall, these findings support the notion that changing the gut microbiome composition through nutrition modulation could trigger longevity-promoting effects, protecting from age-related cognitive decline." [6]

Antioxidant

4 studies on animals [32, 33, 34, 35] have shown that Lion's Mane has significant antioxidant activities, which can contribute to its anti-fatigue and anti-aging activities. [36]

Anti-inflammatory

Numerous animal studies have shown, that anti-inflammatory action is one of the main mechanisms of Lion's Mane benefits — from reducing neuro-inflammation in preventing Alzheimer's disease [18, 37], to improving gut and overall health by reducing inflammation and modulating healthy gut microbiota, which produces anti-inflammatory molecules. [6, 29, 30]

A large number of in vitro (on cell cultures) [38, 39, 40, 41, 42] and in vivo (on animals) [29, 43, 44, 45, 46] experiments have confirmed Lion's Mane's immunomodulatory activity:

• Lion's Mane polysaccharides improve immune function by functionally enhancing cell-mediated and humoral immunity, macrophage phagocytosis, and NK cell activity. [44]
• A hetero polysaccharide fraction (HEP-W) from Lion's Mane possessed protective effects against cyclophosphamide-induced immunosuppression in mice by significantly enhancing immune organ index, splenocyte proliferation, NK cell activity, IL-2 production as well as improving the macrophage phagocytosis. These findings suggest that HEP-W could be explored as a natural and effective immunomodulatory agent. [45]
• Lion's Mane polysaccharides could regulate composition of gut microbiota... [and] could regulate the immune function via NF-кB, MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling pathways. [46]

One, but quality study on mice, has shown that after 28 days of Lion's Mane treatment, "...Exhaustive swimming times in the [3 different dosage Lion's Mane] groups were significantly longer than that in the Control group, by 18%, 37% and 58%, respectively. These results indicated that Lion's Mane had significant anti-fatigue activity and was capable of elevating the exercise tolerance..." [34]

Although, by 2024 there were no clinical studies on Lion's Mane efficiency in human rejuvenation and longevity, some animal studies have shown promising results:

• ...Supplementation with erinacine A-enriched H.erinaceus mycelia extended the lifespan in both Drosophila melanogaster and senescence-accelerated mice by a maximum of 32% and 23%, respectively, compared to the untreated controls...these findings suggest that erinacine A-enriched H.erinaceus mycelia supplement could promote longevity, mediated partly through the induction of endogenous antioxidants enzymes. [47]
• ...Lion's Mane polysaccharides significantly enhanced skin antioxidant enzymes, MMP-1, TIMP-1 activities and collagen protein levels in a dose-dependent manner. It can be concluded that H. erinaceum (Lion's Mane) polysaccharides possess anti-skin-aging activities. [48]
• Also, Lion's Mane extracts significantly reduced locomotor frailty index and cognitive frailty index in old mice [49]
• Ergothioneine (EGT) (a bioactive compound of Lion's Mane) acts as a master food ingredient in promoting longevity via combating oxidative stress, modulation gene expression and signal transduction cascades related to ageing. EGT with the ability to scavenge free radicals, promote upregulation of antioxidants via the Nrf2 pathway and chelate metal ions, has an essential role in preventing the progression of the ageing process. [16]
• And it is also have been shown, that Lion's Mane supplementation could restrain the hepatic damage caused by acute alcohol exposure. [50]