Neurohealth Properties of Hericium erinaceus Mycelia Enriched with Erinacines

Table 3

The safety of H. erinaceus mycelia.

Material studied (dose used)	In vivo models	Effects	Reference
Erinacine A-enriched mycelia	Normal ICR mice	No adverse effects in; (1) Bacterial reverse mutation test (Ames test) up to 5 mg/plate; (2) In vitro chromosome aberration test up to 2.5 mg/ml; (3) In vivo erythrocyte micronucleus test up to 5 mg/kg body weight	[56]
Erinacine A-enriched mycelia	Normal Sprague-Dawley rats	(1) Ethanolic extract induced neuritogenesis in postnatal cortical neurons; (2) No adverse effect up to 5 g/kg body weight/day after acute exposure; (3) No adverse effect up to 2625 mg/kg body weight/day for prenatal developmental study	[55]
Erinacine A-enriched mycelia	Normal Sprague-Dawley rats	No adverse effect up to 3 g/kg body weight/day for 28 days	[32]

Based on these results, the toxicity profile of H. erinaceus mycelium enriched with its active compound is extremely low and therefore has the potential to be developed into a functional ingredient or food associated with improved brain and nerve health. With this idea in mind, the first erinacine A-enriched H. erinaceus mycelium product was introduced to the market in 2015 in Taiwan [57].