Hepatoprotective Principles and Other Chemical Constituents from the Mycelium of Phellinus linteus

The ethanol extract of cultured mycelium of Phellinus linteus exhibited protective effect against hepatic fibrosis in experimental animals. In the present study, ten new ionone derivatives, phellinulins D-M ( 4 - 13 ), were characterized from the mycelium of P. linteus and their structures were established on the basis of spectroscopic and spectrometric analysis. Part of the purified compounds were subjected to the examination of their effects on activated rat hepatic stellate cells and several isolates exhibited significant inhibition of hepatic fibrosis. The results indicated that the mycelium of P. linteus had potential to be developed as hepatoprotective drugs or healthy food in the future. Fig. 1: Structures of compounds 1 – 13.