[A stable culturing method and pharmacological effects of the Agaricus blazei]

There have been some reports suggesting the effectiveness of medicinal mushrooms in not only keeping health but also preventing and curing diseases as well as recovering from illnesses. However, no uniformity has been observed with its medicinal effect and thus there are some problems in these materials from clinical aspects. Ununiformity of constituents which has resulted from the lack of established optimum culturing methods and inadequacy of experimental approaches are given as the causes of the problems. In the present study, the authors established a culturing method for harvesting fruit bodies with stable constituents by the use of the best cytogenetical technique for Agaricus blazei(CJ-01)which has attracted special interest recently among medicinal mushrooms. Fundamental medical scientific researches have been conducted with the medicinal effect of Agaricus blazei(CJ-01)obtained by the new culturing method by the widely use of immunological and pharmacological approaches. Based on the results of these studies, the author demonstrated the effect scientifically on the cases where the effect had already been observed clinically (hypertension, atopic dermatitis and diabetes).