Search results for "POLYPORACEAE"
showing 4 items of 4 documents
Chemical Constituents and Pharmacological Properties ofPoria cocos
2011
Poria cocos (Polyporaceae) is a saprophytic fungus that grows in diverse species of Pinus. Its sclerotium, called fu-ling or hoelen, is used in traditional Chinese and Japanese medicine for its diuretic, sedative, and tonic effects. Various studies of this fungus have demonstrated its marked anti-inflammatory activity in different experimental models of acute and chronic inflammation. It is widely used as a constituent of many preparations in Asian medicine, but the number of research papers on its clinical properties is insufficient for establishing its efficacy and safety from a scientific point of view. In this review, we have compiled all the published data concerning the chemistry, pha…
Hot spots, indicator taxa, complementarity and optimal networks of taiga
2000
If hot spots for different taxa coincide, priority-setting surveys in a region could be carried out more cheaply by focusing on indicator taxa. Several previous studies show that hot spots of different taxa rarely coincide. However, in tropical areas indicator taxa may be used in selecting complementary networks to represent biodiversity as a whole. We studied beetles (Coleoptera), Heteroptera, polypores or bracket fungi (Polyporaceae) and vascular plants of old growth boreal taiga forests. Optimal networks for Heteroptera maximized the high overall species richness of beetles and vascular plants, but these networks were least favourable options for polypores. Polypores are an important gro…
Imprints of latitude, host taxon, and decay stage on fungus-associated arthropod communities
2022
Interactions among fungi and insects involve hundreds of thousands of species. While insect communities on plants have formed some of the classic model systems in ecology, fungus-based communities and the forces structuring them remain poorly studied by comparison. We characterize the arthropod communities associated with fruiting bodies of eight mycorrhizal basidiomycete fungus species from three different orders along a 1200-km latitudinal gradient in northern Europe. We hypothesized that, matching the pattern seen for most insect taxa on plants, we would observe a general decrease in fungal-associated species with latitude. Against this backdrop, we expected local communities to be struc…
Two fungal lanostane derivatives as phospholipase A2 inhibitors.
1996
The hydroalcoholic extract of Poria cocos and two lanostane derivatives isolated from it, pachymic acid (1) and dehydrotumulosic acid (2), were active as inhibitors of phospholipase A2 from snake venom when a polarographic method was used. Dehydrotumulosic acid exhibited an IC50 of 0.845 mM. These two compounds are structurally related to certain triterpenoids from Ganoderma and Schinus that have previously been described as competitive inhibitors of phospholipase A2. These comprise a new group of natural potential antiinflammatory agents due to their interaction with that enzyme.