Using Lions Mane for Brain Fog

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[Moderator: Kudos for a well composed post!]

I recently decided to try Lions Mane (a mushroom also called Hericium

erinaceus) as part of my effort to get my brain back. I took it because I

read that it stimulates the synthesis of Nerve Growth Factor (NGF) and

promotes the process of myelination, thus enhancing cognitive functions and

helping to slow the onset of dementia associated with various neurological

conditions.

While I am thinking more clearly, I cannot tell the source because I started

a few weeks after starting nootropics and I had relatives staying with me

for nine days so I was more focused on staying on my feet and paying less

attention to any changes.

I was wondering if anyone else has any experience with it. The following is

the research I found on it thus far. Nothing directly related to using it

with ME

Medicinal and nutraceutical genetic resources of mushrooms

http://tinyurl.com/4txett

The influence of Hericium erinaceus extract on myelination process in vitro.

Myelin sheaths, wrapping axons, perform the following important functions:

support, protection, feeding and isolation. Injury of myelin compact

structure leads to an impairment and severe illness of the nerve system.

The search for substances, which provide regulatory and protective effects

on the normal myelination as well as stimulating action on the remyelination

after myelin damage, is of special interest. Recently it was shown that

extract from mushroom Hericium erinaceus had activating action on the nerve

tissue. Obtained data revealed the normal growth of the nerve and glial

cells with extract at cultivating. No pathologic or toxic action of the

extract has been found. The cell ultrastructure was intact and similar to

that observed in vivo. The process of myelination in the presence of the

extract began earlier as compared to controls and was characterised by a

higher rate. Thus, extract of H. erinaceus promoted normal development of

cultivated cerebellar cells and demonstrated a regulatory effect on the

process of myelin genesis process in vitro.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12675022

Nerve growth factor-inducing activity of Hericium erinaceus

neurotrophic factor-like substances or their inducers are expected to be

applied to the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's

disease. In the present study, we firstly examined the effects of ethanol

extracts of four edible mushrooms, Hericium erinaceus (Yamabushitake),

Pleurotus eryngii (gi), Grifola frondosa (Maitake), and Agaricus blazei

(Himematsutake), on nerve growth factor (NGF) gene expression in 1321N1

human astrocytoma cells. Among the four mushroom extracts, only H. erinaceus

extract promoted NGF mRNA expression in a concentration-dependent manner. In

addition, secretion of NGF protein from 1321N1 cells was enhanced by H.

erinaceus extracts, and the conditioned medium of 1321N1 cells incubated

with H. erinaceus extract enhanced the neurite outgrowth of PC12 cells.

However, hericenones C, D and E, constituents of H. erinaceus, failed to

promote NGF gene expression in 1321N1 cells. The enhancement of NGF gene

expression by H. erinaceus extracts was inhibited by the c-jun N-terminal

kinase (JNK) inhibitor SP600125. In addition, H. erinaceus extracts induced

phosphorylation of JNK and its downstream substrate c-Jun, and increased

c-fos expression, suggesting that H. erinaceus promotes NGF gene expression

via JNK signaling. Furthermore we examined the efficacy of H. erinaceus in

vivo. ddY mice given feed containing 5% H. erinaceus dry powder for 7 d

showed an increase in the level of NGF mRNA expression in the hippocampus.

In conclusion, H. erinaceus contains active compounds that stimulate NGF

synthesis via activation of the JNK pathway; these compounds are not

hericenones.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18758067

Myelination and demyelination processes in the rat cerebellum cell culture

We observed manifestations of the myelination process in dissociated culture

of the cerebellar tissue of newborn rats and modifications of the structure

of myelin sheaths after treating the culture with a demyelinating factor,

blood serum of patients suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS). On day in

vitro (DIV) 26, in the control myelin sheaths of the axons demonstrated the

closest resemblance to those observed in vivo, and we selected this term for

inducing demyelination. Addition of the serum of MS patients to the

culturing medium evoked rapid (in 3-6 hours) dramatic changes in the

ultrastructure of myelin sheaths; these were a decrease in the number of the

lamellae, their splitting and invagination, formation of vesicles, etc. The

serum of MS patients in an acute stage of the disease exerted more intensive

demyelination effects than that of patients in a remission stage.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14663898