The fungal mycelium-based composite is a new biomaterial to replace the existing composite material. To compete with lightweight, high-performance composites represented by fiber-reinforced plastic, various physical and chemical properties and functionality must be secured. Especially, the composite material made by using mushroom mycelium (or fruting bodies) is called mushroom plastic. Currently, Ecovative, Mycoworks, and Muskin in USA and Europe are launching new products including structural materials and leathers. Products utilizing mushroom mycelium can be launched in the market for construction materials, automobile interior materials and artificial leather substitutes. In spite of this high possibility, mass production using FMBC has not yet been reported. This presentation introduces the mycelium-based materials, a material that can replace existing plastics, inorganic building materials and animal skins in an environmentally and economically viable way, and looks at the possibility of future biomaterials by summarizing recent research contents.

Mushrooms including Mycoleptodonoides aitchisonii are used as foods and employed as folk remedies for diabetes and inflammatroy diseases. This study analyzed anti-diabetic effects of Mycoleptodonoides aitchisonii, which grows in some areas such as Gangwon-do and Jeju-do in Korea, as insulin-derived phosphorylation. When 100 ng/ml of IL-6, inflammatory cytokine was given to SK-hep1, HepG2, Akt phosphorylation by insulin was found to be remarkably reduced. In addition, metformin, Antidiabetics serving as positive control in liver was used. Mycoleptodonoides aitchisonii used for analyzing anti-diabetic effects in this test didn’t give a great impact on the decrease in Akt phosphorylation by IL-6 at high concentration. However, fruit body in Mycoleptodonoides aitchisonii inhibited the decrease in Akt phosphorylation by IL-6 according to the concentration. At the highest concentration 100㎍/ml, it had an effect of increasing Akt phosphorylation to 77%, which was decreased by 50% compared to the insulin treated group by IL-6. Therefore, Mycoleptodonoides aitchisonii fruit body used in this test activated Akt phosphorylation inhibited by IL-6 and showed a possibility of significant anti-diabetic effects compared to positive control(metformin).

Sparassis crispa is an edible and a medicinal mushroom, which commonly called cauliflower mushroom and this mushroom, has recently become popular in Asian countries like Korea and Japan. S. crispa can establish to be a good source material for foods and nutraceuticals due to their rich flavor compounds and much amount of b-glucan. Basidiomycetes mushrooms hold the biologically active polysaccharides in fruit bodies, cultured mycelium, and culture broth. Many factors are amenable for the antitumor activities of polysaccharides such as water solubility, molecular size and their branch form. The antitumor activity was examined mainly in the β-glucan (1-3) branched moiety. The researchers suggest that the primary structure of purified β-glucan from the S. crispa possess the backbone structural units as β-(1,3)-D-glucan with single β- (1,6)-D-glucosyl side branching units in every three residues. Polysaccharide derived from S. crispa play an significant role in the antitumor activity. In vitro study revealed that the oral administration of S. crispa β -glucan results in suppressive effect on tumor growth and metastasis in lung cancer through the inhibition of tumor induced-angiogenesis. The researchers also suggests that this effects are not a result of direct action on the endothelial cells because cell growth, migration and capillary-like tube formation were not affected in the human umbilical vein endothelial cells by S. crispa β-glucan application.