Kombucha is a natural antibiotic from a jar. The use of mushrooms in medicine and veterinary medicine

Top 10 most useful mushrooms from the magazine "site"

The benefits of mushrooms for the human body are undeniable. From time immemorial, folk healers treated various ailments with forest gifts: porcini fungus extract was used for frostbite, chanterelle infusion fought boils, morels soothed nerves, and with the help of oil they got rid of headaches.

Main beneficial features mushrooms

1. Mushrooms are an excellent source of protein. Some varieties are not inferior in nutritional value to beef. Only 150 g of dried mushrooms are able to provide the body with the daily need for meat;
2. Mushrooms are a low-calorie product that is 90% water, practically does not contain starch, sodium and cholesterol, helps the body get rid of excess fluid(due to the presence of potassium), improves metabolism, and all this contributes to weight loss;
3. Miraculous hats play an important role in strengthening immunity. With regular use, mushrooms prevent oncological and cardiovascular diseases. The antioxidant selenium they are a source of is found only in certain vegetables and fruits;
4. Due to the abundance of zinc and B vitamins, mushrooms are useful for the nervous system, they prevent emotional disorders help to avoid mental exhaustion;
5. The presence of vitamin D makes mushrooms beneficial for healthy skin, bones, teeth, nails, and hair.

The most valuable in terms of their nutritional and healing qualities porcini mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, boletus mushrooms, volnushki, boletus, milk mushrooms, chanterelles, honey mushrooms, mushrooms and even the ubiquitous russula are considered.

TOP 10 most useful mushrooms

1. White mushrooms (porcini mushrooms)
White mushrooms are a valuable source of proteins, enzymes and dietary fiber. Sulfur and polysaccharides in their composition can provide significant support in the fight against cancer, lecithin and hercedin alkaloid are very important for the health of the cardiovascular system, riboflavin is responsible for the growth of hair, nails, skin renewal, correct work thyroid and overall health. Of all the mushrooms, it is in mushrooms that the most complete set of amino acids, including essential ones, was found. The vitamin and mineral composition of these noble mushrooms is also rich. They contain potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, iron, calcium, manganese, zinc, tocopherol, niacin, thiamine, folic and ascorbic acid. Mushrooms have wound healing, immunomodulatory and antitumor properties.

2. Aspen mushrooms (red mushrooms)
In terms of their nutritional and taste qualities, boletus mushrooms are practically not inferior to boletus mushrooms. These mushrooms contain a lot of potassium, phosphorus, iron, vitamins A and C, fiber, lecithin, enzymes and fatty acid. According to the content of nicotinic acid, they are not inferior to the liver, and in terms of the concentration of B vitamins, they are close to grain crops. There are more proteins in boletus than in meat. Valuable amino acids, the source of which they are, are especially important for people whose body is weakened by surgeries, infectious diseases, different kind inflammatory processes. Dry powder from red mushrooms is taken to purify the blood and lower cholesterol.

These mushrooms have been collected in Russia since ancient times. If gourmets assigned the title of “king of mushrooms” to the boletus mushroom, then the saffron mushroom is called the “grand prince”. Both peasants and kings valued these mushrooms for original taste and wonderful aroma. Its useful properties are also multifaceted. According to the digestibility of the human body, mushrooms are among the most valuable mushrooms. They are rich in carotenoids, valuable amino acids, iron, contain fiber, B vitamins (riboflavin, thiamine and niacin), ascorbic acid and the valuable antibiotic lactorioviolin, which has a detrimental effect on the growth of many bacteria. The health benefits of mushrooms are also explained by the abundance of mineral salts in them - potassium, sodium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium. Ryzhik treat diseases caused by metabolic disorders, rheumatism, vitiligo, lung disease.

In Russia, milk mushrooms were considered the most the best mushrooms over the centuries. The value of these forest gifts is that they are one of the few non-animal sources of vitamin D. Soaked milk mushrooms traditional medicine recognized as one of the best means for the prevention of urolithiasis: bio active substances, which are contained in these mushrooms, prevent the formation of axalates and urates in the kidneys. Milk mushrooms are a source of vitamins C, PP and group B, provide the body with beneficial bacteria, contain natural antibiotics, which strengthen the mucous membranes of the respiratory system and inhibit the reproduction of tubercle bacillus. Preparations from milk mushrooms are used to treat gallstone disease, kidney failure, emphysema and diseases of the stomach.

With yellow, gray, green, pink-red, purple and brown caps, these modest mushrooms are loved for their pleasant taste and multifaceted health benefits. Russula is rich in fatty acids, dietary fiber, various mono- and disaccharides, vitamins PP, C, E, B1 and B2, of the minerals they contain the most magnesium, calcium, phosphorus and iron. Of great importance for health in the composition of these mushrooms is the substance lecithin, which cleans blood vessels, prevents the accumulation of cholesterol in the body, and helps with metabolic disorders. Some types of russula have an antibacterial effect, help cleanse the stomach and intestines. The enzyme russulin, found in russula, is in great demand in cheese making: only 1 g of this substance is required to curdle 200 liters of milk.

Fans of mushroom dishes know that the wonderful taste is not the only advantage of boletus mushrooms, the health benefits of these mushrooms are also great. Boletus is especially valued for its perfectly balanced protein content, including arginine, tyrosine, leucine and glutamine. The vitamin composition of these mushrooms is also rich, it includes ascorbic and nicotinic acid, tocopherol, B vitamins and vitamin D. The ability of boletus to remove toxins from the body is ensured by the presence of dietary fiber, and the value of this product for the health of the musculoskeletal system is due to the content of a large amount of phosphoric acid involved in the construction of enzymes. Boletus is used to regulate blood sugar, treat renal pathologies and disorders in the functioning of the nervous system.

Mushrooms are rich in vitamins C and B1, in different types These mushrooms contain natural antibiotics, anti-cancer substances, tocopherol and nicotinic acid, potassium, sodium, magnesium and iron. Autumn mushrooms are used as a laxative, and meadow mushrooms have a positive effect on the functioning of the thyroid gland and have a detrimental effect on E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Honey mushrooms are especially useful for people who have problems with hematopoiesis, for those suffering from coronary heart disease and diabetes. 100 g of these mushrooms can fill the body's daily need for honey and zinc. According to the content of phosphorus and calcium, mushrooms are close to fish, and the protein they contain has antitumor activity.

In my own way useful composition oyster mushrooms are close to meat: these mushrooms contain B vitamins, ascorbic acid, tocopherol, as well as a rather rare vitamin D2, which is involved in the absorption of calcium and phosphorus in the intestines, and the content of nicotinic acid (a particularly important vitamin for nursing mothers) oyster mushroom is considered the most valuable mushroom. 8% of oyster mushrooms consist of minerals, only 100 g of the product can fill the body's daily need for potassium. These mushrooms have bactericidal properties, help remove radioactive substances from the body, strengthen blood vessels, regulate blood pressure, and reduce bad cholesterol in the blood. And recently, scientists have discovered another curious property of these mushrooms - the ability to increase male potency.

Mushroom lovers know that a delicate nutty flavor is not the only advantage of chanterelle dishes. The benefits of these mushrooms are manifested in the immunostimulating and antitumor effect, beneficial effect on the condition of the mucous membranes, improving vision, the ability to remove radionuclides from the body and restore damaged pancreatic cells. Chanterelles are rich in copper, zinc, vitamins D, A, PP and group B, are a source of valuable amino acids, and surpass carrots in beta-carotene content. The natural antibiotics found in these mushrooms are detrimental to staphylococci and tubercle bacilli. Extracts from chanterelles treat liver diseases. If cooked properly, these mushrooms can help treat obesity (caused by a malfunctioning liver).

These wonderful mushrooms are a source of lecithin, organic acids, minerals and valuable proteins. Of the vitamins in champignons, there are tocopherol, vitamin D, nicotine and folic acid. In terms of phosphorus content, champignons can compete with fish, and there are more B vitamins in these mushrooms than in fresh vegetables. Useful substances contained in champignons help fight fatigue, regulate mental activity, keep the skin in good condition, activate the immune system, have a beneficial effect on nerve cells, the circulatory system and the condition of the mucous membranes. Mushrooms have antitumor and antibacterial activity, help the body to get rid of toxins, excess cholesterol and heavy metals.

Calorie content of mushrooms

All mushrooms are safe for the figure products. Russula has the lowest calorie content - 15 kcal per 100 g. Camelina contains 17 kcal per 100 g, chanterelles and mushrooms - 19 kcal, boletus mushrooms - 20 kcal, mushrooms and aspen mushrooms - 22 kcal, champignons - 27 kcal, white mushrooms - 30 kcal, in oyster mushrooms - 38 kcal per 100 g.

Harm of mushrooms

Since mushrooms are a difficult to digest product, you should not lean on them in case of acute inflammatory processes. digestive system(pancreatitis, ulcers, gastritis, liver problems). Pickled and salted mushrooms are not recommended to eat more than 100 g per day. It is not recommended to feed children with any mushrooms; babies do not have the enzymes necessary for their breakdown. It is highly discouraged to collect old mushrooms. The gifts of the forest, collected in industrial areas, near busy highways, military training grounds, and chemical industries, will not benefit either.

For wonderful gastronomic qualities, an abundance of vitamins, many-sided useful properties, mushrooms are loved in different countries, they prepare various dishes from them, make medications. Forest gifts are fraught with many more mysteries. One thing is certain - the health benefits of mushrooms. The main thing is to understand them, collect them in ecologically clean areas or buy in proven places.

Antibiotics (from the Greek anti - against, bios - life) are the waste products of living organisms that can selectively kill microorganisms or suppress their growth.

The production of antibiotics by microorganisms is one of the most important manifestations of microbial antagonism (from the Greek antagonizomai - I fight, I compete). The largest number of microorganisms with antagonistic properties is found in the soil, especially among fungi, actinomycetes, and spore-bearing bacteria. Antagonists are also detected in water bodies (rivers, lakes), as well as among representatives normal microflora man and animals. For example, E. coli, bifidum bacteria, lactobacilli in the intestines of people (see chapter 6). The first attempts at the practical use of microbial antagonism belong to L. Pasteur and I. I. Mechnikov.

L. Pasteur in 1877 found that putrefactive bacteria inhibit the growth of anthrax bacilli when they are grown together on a nutrient medium. As a result of his observations, Pasteur suggested the possibility of using the phenomenon of bacterial antagonism to treat infectious diseases.

II Mechnikov (1894), studying the role of putrefactive intestinal bacteria, found that they systematically poison the body with the products of their vital activity and this contributes to premature aging of people. He also found that lactic acid bacteria (Bulgarian bacillus) found in yogurt inhibit the development of putrefactive intestinal bacteria and suggested using the antagonistic relationship of microorganisms as one of the methods of combating old age.

Russian scientists V. A. Manassein and A. G. Polotebnov (1871-1872), many years before the discovery of antibiotics, used the green mold penicillium to treat festering wounds and other skin lesions.

The idea to use one type of microorganism in the fight against another (antagonism) has brought significant results. From Pseudomonas aeruginosa, the first antibiotic, pyocyonase (R. Emmerich, O. Lev), was obtained, but it did not find wide application.

The beginning of the doctrine of antibiotics was laid in 1929, when the English scientist A. Fleming discovered lysis of colonies near the accidentally grown mold Penicillium notatum on cups with inoculations of Staphylococcus aureus. Fleming found that mold broth culture filtrate kills not only staphylococci, but also other microorganisms. For 10 years, Fleming tried to get penicillin in a chemically pure form. However, he did not succeed. A purified preparation of penicillin suitable for clinical use was obtained by English researchers E. Cheyne and G. Flory in 1940.

The Soviet microbiologist Z. V. Ermolyeva used another type of mold, Penicillium crustosum (1942), to obtain penicillin and was one of the organizers of the production of penicillin during the Great Patriotic War.

The discovery of penicillin and its successful use for the treatment of pyoinflammatory processes and a number of other infectious diseases prompted scientists to search for new antibiotics that have a detrimental effect on various microorganisms. Currently received over 2000 various antibiotics. However, in clinical practice far from all are used, since some turned out to be toxic, others were inactive in the conditions of the human body.

The source of antibiotics are a variety of microorganisms with antimicrobial activity. Antibiotics are isolated from mold fungi (penicillin, etc.), actinomycetes (streptomycin, tetracycline, etc.), bacteria (gramicidin, polymyxins); Substances with antibiotic action are also obtained from higher plants (phytoncides of onion, garlic) and animal tissues (lysozyme, ecmolin, interferon).

Antibiotics can have a bacteriostatic and bactericidal effect on microorganisms. The bactericidal action of antibiotics causes the death of microorganisms, and the bacteriostatic action inhibits or delays their reproduction. The nature of the action depends on both the antibiotic and its concentration.

The classification of antibiotics can be based on various principles: according to the source of receipt, chemical structure, mechanism and spectrum of antimicrobial activity, method of preparation. Most often, antibiotics are classified according to the spectrum of antimicrobial activity and sources of production.

The mechanism of the antimicrobial action of antibiotics is diverse: some disrupt the synthesis of the bacterial cell wall (penicillin, cephalosporins), others inhibit the processes of protein synthesis in the cell (streptomycin, tetracycline, chloramphenicol), others inhibit the synthesis of nucleic acids in bacterial cells (rifampicin, etc.).

Each antibiotic is characterized by a spectrum of action, i.e. the drug can have a detrimental effect on certain types microorganisms. Broad-spectrum antibiotics are active against various groups of microorganisms (tetracyclines) or inhibit the reproduction of many gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria (streptomycin, etc.). A number of antibiotics act against a narrower range of microorganisms, for example, predominantly gram-negative bacteria are sensitive to polymyxin.

According to the spectrum of action, antibiotics are divided into antibacterial, antifungal and antitumor.

Antibacterial antibiotics inhibit the development of bacteria and constitute the most extensive group of drugs that differ in chemical composition. For the treatment of infectious diseases caused by bacteria, broad-spectrum antibiotics are more often used: tetracyclines, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, gentamicin, kanamycin, semi-synthetic penicillins and cephalosporins and other drugs.

Antifungal antibiotics (nystatin, levorin, amphotericin B, griseofulvin) have an inhibitory effect on the growth of microscopic fungi, as they violate the integrity of the cytoplasmic membrane of microbial cells. Used to treat fungal diseases.

Antitumor antibiotics (rubomycin, bruneomycin, olivomycin) inhibit the synthesis of nucleic acids in animal cells and are used to treat various forms of malignant neoplasms.

biological activity antibiotics are measured in international units of action (IU). The smallest amount of the drug that has an antimicrobial effect on test bacteria sensitive to it is taken as a unit of antibiotic activity (for example, for penicillin - Staphylococcus aureus, streptomycin - Escherichia coli, etc.). Currently, units of antibiotic activity are expressed in micrograms* of pure drug. Thus, 0.6 μg of penicillin is taken per unit of activity, and for most antibiotics, 1 unit corresponds to 1 μg (streptomycin, etc.).

* (1 mcg - 10 -6 g.)

A powerful industry for the production of antibiotics has been created in our country. Natural antibiotics are obtained biosynthetically: strains-producers of fungi, actinomycetes, bacteria are grown in a liquid nutrient medium of the appropriate composition, at a certain pH value, optimal temperature and aeration. Antibiotic substances are the end products of microbial metabolism and are produced by cells into the nutrient medium, from where they are extracted by chemical methods.

The study chemical structure antibiotics made it possible to obtain synthetic drugs by chemical synthesis (levomycetin).

A great achievement is the development of methods for obtaining semi-synthetic antibiotics based on a change in the chemical structure of a natural drug. As a result, it was possible to expand the spectrum of antimicrobial action, eliminate some of the shortcomings of natural antibiotics. AT last years semi-synthetic penicillins, cephalosporins, tetracyclines, rifampicin and other drugs are widely used in clinical practice.

Antibiotic therapy can sometimes be accompanied by complications from the macroorganism, and also cause changes in various properties of microorganisms.

Possible complications with antibiotic therapy. Some antibiotics (penicillin, streptomycin, etc.), introduced into the patient's body, cause a state of hypersensitivity (allergy), which increases with the use of the drug. Allergic reactions develop in the form of a rash-urticaria, swelling of the eyelids, lips, nose, dermatitis. The most formidable complication is anaphylactic shock (see Chapter 13), from which the death of the patient can occur *.

* (The better the antibiotic is purified from ballast substances, the less often and to a lesser extent it causes pronounced allergic actions.)

Attention! Before using an antibiotic parenterally, it is necessary to identify the absence of hypersensitivity to it of the patient's body. This is determined using an intradermal test with this drug: 0.1 ml of an antibiotic is injected into the skin of the inner side of the forearm and observed for 20-30 minutes. If the reaction is positive (the diameter of the papule is more than 1 cm and a large area of ​​redness), then the antibiotic cannot be administered.

Introduction to the body large doses broad-spectrum antibiotics, as a rule, is accompanied by the death of representatives of normal microflora respiratory tract, intestines and other organs. This leads to a change in the usual antagonistic relationship between microorganisms in vivo. As a result opportunistic bacteria(staphylococcus, proteus) and mushrooms genus Candida resistant to this antibiotic can become active and cause secondary infections. This is how fungal infections occur - candidiasis of the skin, mucous membranes, internal organs; dysbacteriosis (violations of the normal composition of the microflora).

To prevent the development of candidiasis, antibiotics are administered with antifungal drugs, for example, nystatin, etc. The use of drugs prepared from representatives of the normal microflora (colibacterin, bifidumbacterin, bifikol) after taking antibiotics prevents the development of dysbacteriosis.

Long-term treatment and use of antibiotics may cause toxic effect on the patient's body: tetracyclines can cause liver damage, levomycetin - hematopoietic organs, streptomycin in some cases affects the vestibular and auditory analyzers, cephalosporins can impair kidney function (nephrotoxicity). Many antibiotics often cause hypovitaminosis and irritation of the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract.

Antibiotics may have harmful action on the development of the fetus, especially in women who used antibiotics in the first period of pregnancy. Antibiotics of the tetracycline group have a direct effect on the fetus.

Microbial resistance to antibiotics. Often, during antibiotic treatment, antibiotic-sensitive microorganisms become resistant (resistant) forms. Acquired bacterial resistance to an antibiotic is inherited by new populations of bacterial cells.

The mechanism of resistance formation is diverse (see Chapter 10). In most cases, resistance is associated with the ability of bacteria to synthesize enzymes that destroy certain antibiotic substances. For example, the resistance of staphylococci to penicillin is explained by their ability to produce the enzyme penicillinase, which destroys the antibiotic. At the same time for coli, Proteus and other bacteria of the intestinal family, penicillinase is a constitutive (permanent) enzyme and determines their natural resistance to penicillin.

Some bacteria are found to be multidrug resistant, i.e. a bacterial cell can be resistant to several antibiotics. Resistance to penicillin and streptomycin, which were the first to be used in clinical practice, is especially pronounced.

The effectiveness of antibiotic therapy is determined mainly by the degree of sensitivity of bacteria to the drug used. Therefore, the sensitivity of cultures of microorganisms isolated from patients is checked for various antibiotics that are used for treatment.

During the action of antibiotics, changes in the morphological, cultural, and biological properties of bacteria are possible; L-shapes may form (see chapter 3).

Antibiotics isolated from mushrooms. Penicillin was obtained from some strains of fungi of the genus Penicillium (Penicillium notatum, Penicillium chrysogenum).

Penicillin - highly active against pathogenic cocci: gram-positive staphylococci, streptococci, pneumococci; gram-negative - meningo- and gonococci. It is used to treat anthrax, tetanus, gas gangrene, syphilis and other diseases. Penicillin is administered parenterally. The drug can not be used orally, as it loses its activity in acidic and alkaline environments and is destroyed in the gastrointestinal tract.

Already at the very beginning of the use of penicillin, it was noticed that it is quickly excreted from the body, and in order to maintain the necessary therapeutic effect concentration of penicillin in the blood, it is administered every 3-4 hours.

Subsequently, penicillin preparations with a prolonged (prolonged) action were created. These include ecmonovocillin, bicillin-1, bicillin-3, bicillin-5. Bicillin-1, 3, 5 are antibiotics that are successfully used to treat rheumatism and syphilis.

At present, semi-synthetic penicillins have been obtained: methicillin, oxacillin, cloxacillin, which are not destroyed by penicillinase and are used to treat infections caused by penicillin-resistant staphylococci; ampicillin is active not only against gram-positive, but also gram-negative bacteria (causative agents of typhoid fever, dysentery, etc.). Oxacillin and ampicillin are resistant to the acidic environment of the stomach, which allows them to be used orally.

Fungi of the genus Cephalosporium produce the antibiotic cephalosporin. Its semi-synthetic derivatives, of which ceporin (cephaloridin) and cefomesin have found the greatest use, are low toxic, have a wide spectrum of action, are not destroyed by penicillinase, do not give allergic reactions in persons sensitive to penicillin, and are widely used to treat many infectious diseases.

Antibiotics produced by actinomycetes. For the first time, the antagonistic action of radiant fungi (actinomycetes) was established by N. A. Krasilnikov (1939). Streptomycin was isolated from Actinomyces globisporus by the American scientist A. Waksman (1943). The discovery of streptomycin marked a new era in the fight against tuberculosis, as Mycobacterium tuberculosis was found to be susceptible to the drug. Streptomycin has a detrimental effect on many gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria and is used to treat plague, tularemia, brucellosis, etc. An antibiotic is administered parenterally.

Bacteria quickly become resistant to streptomycin. Some microorganisms form streptomycin-dependent forms that can multiply on nutrient media only when an antibiotic is added.

Actinomycetes are producers of natural antibiotics of the tetracycline group (tetracycline, chlortetracycline, oxytetracycline). All drugs have a wide spectrum of action, inhibit the reproduction of many types of gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, rickettsia, some protozoa (dysentery amoeba). Tetracycline is rapidly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, it is prescribed with nystatin for the prevention of candidiasis.

In recent years, semi-synthetic derivatives of oxytetracycline (metacycline, doxycycline, etc.) have been widely used, which turned out to be more effective than natural preparations.

Levomycetin is a synthetic drug identical to natural chloramphenicol isolated from the culture fluid of Streptomyces venezuelae. The antimicrobial spectrum of levomycetin includes many gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, rickettsia, spirochetes. The most commonly used chloramphenicol for the treatment intestinal infections- typhoid, paratyphoid, dysentery, as well as various rickettsiosis - typhus and other diseases.

Antibiotics were obtained from actinomycetes: erythromycin, oleandomycin, kanamycin, rifampicin, lincomycin, etc. These drugs are classified as "reserve" antibiotics and are used to treat diseases caused by bacteria resistant to other antibiotics.

Antibiotics produced by bacteria. Polymyxins and gramicidin C are of the greatest practical importance.

Polymyxins combine a group of related antibiotics produced by spore-forming soil bacilli, B. polimixa. Polymyxins B, M and E are active mainly against gram-negative bacteria (enterobacteria, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, etc.).

Gramicidin C was isolated by Soviet scientists G. M. Gause and M. G. Brazhnikova (1942) from various strains of soil bacilli - B. brevis. It is susceptible to Gram-fermenting bacteria. Gramicidin C can cause hemolysis of erythrocytes, therefore it is used only topically for the treatment of suppurative processes.

Antibiotic substances derived from higher plants. Soviet researcher T. P. Tokin (1928) discovered that many higher plants form volatile substances with antimicrobial activity (phytoncides). They protect plants from pathogens. Phytoncides are volatile essential oils that are extremely unstable, as a result of which it is very difficult to obtain pure phytoncides preparations.

Phytoncides are isolated from onion juice, garlic, eucalyptus and lichen leaves, St. John's wort. They are also found in the juice of horseradish, radish, aloe and other plants. The use of phytoncides in medical practice is limited, since it is not possible to obtain well-purified, stable and low-toxic preparations.

Antimicrobial substances isolated from animal tissue. Lysozyme was first discovered by the Russian scientist N. P. Lashchenkov (1909) in the protein of a chicken egg. Later, lysozyme was found in milk, lacrimal fluid, saliva and tissues of various organs (kidneys, spleen, liver); found that it, as a natural protective factor of the body, has a bacteriolytic (dissolving bacteria) effect on many pathogenic and saprophytic microorganisms. It is used to treat eye and skin diseases.

Ekmolin was isolated by Z. V. Ermoleva from fish tissues. It is used in combination with penicillin (ecmonovocillin), as it enhances and prolongs its action in the body.

Of particular interest is interferon, which is formed in the cells of the body under the influence of viruses and is a factor in the natural protection of the cell from the reproduction of viruses. Interferon, discovered by Isaacs and Lindemann (1957), has a wide antiviral spectrum. The study of the mechanism of action of interferon showed that it interferes with the synthesis of nucleic acids of many viruses and causes their death. Interferon is inherent in species specificity: human interferon does not affect viruses in animals.

Interferon is isolated from human leukocytes and designated as If-α. Used to prevent and treat influenza and other viral respiratory diseases. In recent years, there have been reports of the effective action of interferon in some malignant neoplasms.

test questions

1. What are antibiotics?

2. What phenomenon underlies the action of antibiotics?

3. What are the sources of antibiotics?

4. How do antibiotics differ in terms of the mechanism of antimicrobial action?

5. What is the nature of the action of antibiotics?

6. What is called the antimicrobial spectrum of antibiotics?

7. What are the possible complications from the macroorganism during antibiotic therapy?

8. What properties can change in microorganisms under the influence of antibiotics?

The sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics - N. A. Belskaya

(According to the Order of the Ministry of Health of the USSR No. 250 dated March 13, 1975, "On the unification of methods for determining the sensitivity of microorganisms to chemotherapeutic drugs.")

In clinical practice, antibiotic-sensitive microorganisms are considered to be those microorganisms on which antibiotics have a bacteriostatic or bactericidal effect.

For any laboratory research The criterion for the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics is the minimum concentration of an antibiotic that inhibits (delays) the growth of the pathogen under standard experimental conditions.

To determine drug sensitivity, it is optimal to use a pure culture of the pathogen. It is necessary to isolate cultures of microbes from the body for sensitivity testing before starting antibiotic treatment, since under their influence the growth of the causative agent of the disease can be completely inhibited. The sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics is determined by diffusion into agar using standard disks or by serial dilution in liquid and solid nutrient media.

Methods of determination

disk method. A suspension of the studied culture is sown with a "lawn" (see Chapter 7). As inoculum, a daily broth culture or 1 billion microbial suspension prepared according to the optical standard of turbidity No. 10 (see below) can be used. The seeded cups are dried for 30-40 minutes at room temperature. Then paper discs impregnated with solutions of various antibiotics are placed on the surface of the seeded agar with tweezers. Each disc is pressed lightly with the jaws of the tweezers so that it fits snugly against the surface of the agar. The discs are placed at equal distances from each other and at a distance of 2 cm from the edge of the cup. One plate can be used to study the sensitivity of one strain to 4-5 antibiotics.

The seeded cups with discs applied to them are placed in a thermostat at 37 ° C for 18-24 hours. The cups are placed upside down to avoid condensation water getting on the surface of the crops.

Accounting for results. The action of antibiotics is assessed by the phenomenon of growth retardation around the disk (Fig. 25). The diameter of the microbial growth inhibition zones around the discs is determined using a ruler, including the diameter of the disc itself. Between the degree of sensitivity of the microbe to antibiotics and the size of the zone of no growth, there are the following relationships (Table 10).

The answer indicates what sensitivity the studied strain has, and not the size of the zone of growth inhibition.

In some cases, determine the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics in the native material (pus, wound discharge, etc.). In this case, the material is applied to the surface of nutrient agar and evenly rubbed over the surface with a sterile glass spatula *, and then discs are applied. The disk method for determining the sensitivity of microorganisms due to its simplicity and accessibility is widely used in practical laboratories and is regarded as a qualitative method.

* (For those types of microorganisms that do not grow on meat-peptone agar, such as streptococci, pneumococci, and others, agar with blood or serum is used.)

Method of serial dilutions in a liquid nutrient medium. This method is an accurate quantitative method, it is used in scientific work and in especially important cases in the laboratories of hospitals and preventive institutions.

To set up the experiment, it is necessary to have a pure culture of the tested microorganism, the main solution of the antibiotic, meat-peptone broth on Hottinger's digest, containing 1.2-1.4 g/l of amine nitrogen.

The activity of antibiotics is expressed in units/ml or mcg/ml. To prepare the stock solution of the antibiotic, antibiotics are used that are commercially available with an indication of their number in the vial.

If on the label, instead of the number of units in the vial, the dosage is indicated in units of mass, then it should be borne in mind that 1 g of activity for most antibiotics corresponds to 1 million units. From this solution, the required dilutions of antibiotics should be prepared. Directions for the preparation of a stock solution of antibiotics using penicillin as an example are given in Table. eleven.

A suspension of a culture of microorganisms grown on a dense nutrient medium is prepared. The resulting suspension is compared with the optical turbidity standard No. 10 (see below), and then diluted with sterile isotonic sodium chloride solution to 10 6 microbial bodies in 1 ml. To obtain the appropriate dilution of the microbial suspension, a series of consecutive tenfold dilutions is prepared (see below).

Setting up the experience. In 12 sterile test tubes pour 1 ml of liquid nutrient medium. In the 1st test tube, 1 ml of the stock solution of the antibiotic is added, containing, for example, 32 IU per 1 ml. The contents of the 1st tube are mixed and 1 ml is transferred to the 2nd tube, from the 2nd to the 3rd, from the 3rd to the 4th, and so on up to the 10th, from which 1 ml is removed. Thus, the 1st tube will contain 16 units, the 2nd - 8 units, the 3rd - 4 units, etc. A separate pipette is used to prepare each dilution. The contents of the 11th tube serves as a control for bacterial growth, and the 12th tube serves as a control for the sterility of the nutrient medium. Into all test tubes, except for the 12th, add 0.1 ml of the test culture of a certain density. The inoculation is incubated in a thermostat for 18-24 hours and the results of the experiment are recorded.

The results are recorded in the presence of growth in the culture control and the absence of growth in the medium control. Then note the last tube with a complete visible growth inhibition of microbes. The amount of antibiotic in this tube is the minimum inhibitory concentration for the tested strain and determines the degree of its sensitivity to this antibiotic. The response issued by the laboratory indicates the minimum inhibitory concentration.

Method of serial dilutions on solid nutrient medium. Prepare two-fold dilutions of the antibiotic, as in the method of serial dilutions in a liquid nutrient medium. Then take 1 part of each antibiotic dilution and 9 parts of nutrient agar, melted and cooled to 42 ° C (at the rate of 1 ml of antibiotic + 9 ml of MPA), mix well and pour into Petri dishes.

The density (concentration) of the culture is determined according to the optical turbidity standard No. 10 and diluted with a sterile isotonic solution to 10 7 microbial bodies in 1 ml. The test cultures are applied with a bacterial loop to the surface of nutrient agar with an antibiotic. 20-25 strains are inoculated per cup. Seeded cups are placed in a thermostat at 37 ° C for 16-20 hours for most types of microorganisms. The nutrient agar plate without antibiotic, on which the test cultures are applied, is the control.

The results are recorded in the presence of growth in the control dish, and the minimum inhibitory concentration of the antibiotic is determined by the last Petri dish, where a complete delay in bacterial growth is noted.

Fleming's track method. The method is used to determine the spectrum of action of an antibiotic. In a Petri dish with MPA, a path 1 cm wide is cut out with a sterile scalpel and removed. Then, a certain concentration of antibiotic solution is introduced into a test tube with melted and cooled to 42-45 ° C meat-peptone agar. The contents of the tube are mixed and poured into the lane so that the liquid does not go beyond its limits. After solidification of the agar, cultures of several studied microorganisms are inoculated with a loop perpendicular to the lane. Crops are placed in a thermostat for 18-24 hours.

Accounting for results. Cultures sensitive to the drug begin to grow only at a certain distance from the lane, insensitive cultures grow to the very edge.

Optical turbidity standard procedure

Optical turbidity standards are used to determine the number of microbial bodies in 1 ml. They are manufactured by the State Research Institute for Standardization and Control of Medical biological preparations Ministry of health of the USSR them. L. A. Tarasevich (GISK). The following turbidity standards exist:

0.5 billion microbes in 1 ml - No. 5 (5 turbidity units) 0.9 "" "1" - No. 9 (9 "") 1 "" "1" - No. 10 (10 "") 1, 1 "" "1" - No. 11 (11 "")

Before determining the number of microbial bodies in 1 ml, a microbial suspension is first obtained. To do this, pour 5-6 ml of isotonic sodium chloride solution into a test tube with a culture grown on slant agar and, rotating the tube between the palms, wash off the culture from the surface of the medium. Part of the resulting suspension is transferred with a sterile pipette into a sterile test tube, the wall thickness and diameter of which corresponds to the test tube of the optical standard. Then, the density of the resulting microbial suspension is compared with one of the optical turbidity standards. If necessary, the microbial suspension is diluted by adding isotonic sodium chloride solution to the desired turbidity. If the turbidity of the obtained microbial suspension coincides with the turbidity of the optical standard, then the number of microbial bodies in it corresponds to the number of the standard.

test questions

1. What is the criterion for the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics in a laboratory study?

2. When should cultures of microorganisms be isolated from the body of patients to determine sensitivity to antibiotics?

3. What are the methods for determining the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics?

Exercise

1. Take a bottle of penicillin containing 1 ml of 300,000 IU from the teacher and prepare a stock solution of antibiotic in 32 U/ml.

2. Determine the sensitivity of microorganisms to antibiotics using the paper disc method, consider the results and give an answer.

3. Determine the sensitivity of the isolated culture of staphylococci to penicillin by the method of serial dilutions in a liquid nutrient medium, take into account the results and give an answer.

Chemoprophylaxis and chemotherapy

In medical practice, chemicals have long been used to prevent and treat infectious diseases. The Indians used cinchona bark to fight malaria, and in Europe as early as the 16th century, mercury was used to treat syphilis. Chemotherapy is the use for the treatment of a disease of chemicals that have a specific effect on the cells of the causative agent of the disease and do not damage human cells and tissues. The foundations of scientific chemotherapy were formulated by P. Ehrlich. He received the first chemotherapy drugs - salvarsan and neosalvarsan containing arsenic. For several decades, they have been used in the treatment of syphilis.

Chemoprophylaxis - application chemicals to prevent infectious diseases.

The action of chemotherapeutic drugs on the cells of pathogens is based on the similarity of their molecules with a number of substances necessary for the metabolism of microorganisms: amino acids, vitamins, enzymes, etc. The drug is absorbed bacterial cell instead of the component it needs and begins its destructive action. As a result of violation critical systems cells, it dies (bactericidal action), and if the violations are weak, then a bacteriostatic effect is noted.

An important step in the development of chemotherapy was the creation sulfa drugs(streptocide, norsulfazol, sulfadimezin, etc.). They give good healing effect with angina, purulent-inflammatory infections, intestinal diseases. Synthetic chemotherapeutic drugs PASK (para-aminosalicylic acid), tibon, ftivazid, etc. helped in the fight against tuberculosis. Currently, chemical antiviral and antitumor drugs are being developed and used. Of great importance are antibiotics - chemotherapeutic drugs of biological origin.

However, chemotherapy drugs have a number of negative properties. Influencing a certain chain of metabolism, they can, along with the pathogen cell, also affect human cells. As a result of chemotherapy treatment, the human body accumulates a large number of intermediate products with side effects. Cases of changes in blood composition, cell mutations and other functional disorders of the human body as a result of the use of chemotherapeutic drugs are described.

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The most widely used products of the metabolism of fungi began to be used in medical practice in our time, rightly called the era of antibiotics by the famous American microbiologist 3. Ya. Waksman. Antibiotics are substances produced various groups living organisms - bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, plants and animals and inhibiting the growth of other organisms. Their most important property is the selectivity of action: they act on some organisms and are harmless to others. Selectivity is due to different groups organisms differ both in the nature of their structural components and in the characteristics of metabolism. Numerous drugs have now been obtained that inhibit the growth of pathogenic microbes, but are not toxic to humans and animals - penicillin, cephalosporin, streptomycin, tetracycline, etc.

The first antibiotic widely used in medical practice, penicillin, was discovered by the English microbiologist A. Fleming in 1928 in a culture of the microscopic fungus penicillium notatum. However, long before that, penicilli (green mold) attracted the attention of doctors for their medicinal properties. Manuscripts of the 17th century there is evidence that the Maya used it to treat wounds. The great physician, philosopher and naturalist Avicenna in his multi-volume work "The Canon of Medicine" (beginning of the 11th century) mentions the healing effect of green mold in purulent diseases.

First Scientific research effects of microscopic fungi on bacteria were carried out in the second half of the 19th century. In 1871 and 1872 Russian doctors V. A. Manassein and A. G. Polotebnov published their reports on the effect of penicillium on bacteria and the results of their treatment of purulent wounds. A year later, the English scientist W. Roberts discovered that bacteria grew poorly in liquid media on which he grew one of the penicilli. Based on his observations, he concluded that there was an antagonism between fungi and bacteria. At the end of the last century, the first antibiotic, mycophenolic acid, was obtained from fungi, which turned out to be toxic and therefore did not find practical application.

Reports on the antagonistic properties of bacteria and actinomycetes appeared later, in 1877 and 1890. Thus, microscopic fungi were the first group of microorganisms in which an antagonistic effect on bacteria was found and the first antibiotic in history was obtained.

By the end of the 1920s, microbiology had accumulated a great deal of material on the influence of various microorganisms on bacteria. Therefore, the discovery made by A. Fleming in 1928 was not an accident. It was also prepared by his own research on lysozyme (an enzyme found in tears, saliva, egg white etc.), causing the death of various bacteria, including pathogens. In 1928, working with pathogenic staphylococci in bacteriological laboratory one of the hospitals in London, he found in one of the cups with cultures of these bacteria a colony of a mold fungus that had entered it from the air. Staphylococcal colonies around this colony gradually became more and more transparent and disappeared. A. Fleming became interested in this fungus: he isolated it into a pure culture, grew it in meat broth and studied the effect of the culture filtrate on bacteria. It turned out that this filtrate strongly inhibits the growth of bacteria and is not toxic to animals. The isolated fungus was identified by A. Fleming as penicillium notatum, and the active filtrate of its culture was named penicillin.

A. Fleming's discovery was published in 1929, but all attempts to isolate the active substance from the culture fluid failed for a long time. And only in 1940, a group of researchers from Oxford - G. W. Flory, E. B. Cheyne and others - managed to obtain a stable preparation of penicillin and test it in animal experiments. In early 1941, the drug was first tested in the clinic.

Per short period the method of growing the producer was significantly improved: new, cheap and effective nutrient media containing corn extract (waste in the production of corn starch containing substances that stimulate the biosynthesis of penicillin) were developed, and most importantly, the method of deep cultivation of the fungus in fermenters with constant stirring and an influx of sterile air . In 1944, a new producer of penicillin, penicillium chrysogenum, was introduced into production, which is still used today.

In the USSR, research on penicillin was conducted by 3. V. Ermolyeva "at the All-Union Institute of Experimental Medicine in Moscow. During the Great Patriotic War, the country was in dire need of a drug for the treatment of the wounded. Already in 1942, a group led by 3. V. Ermolyeva managed to obtain such a drug - penicillin crustosin, and in 1943 its industrial production was established.

Studies have established that penicillium grizogenum forms not one antibiotic, but a whole group of substances similar in chemical structure, in the future it turned out to be possible to create new variants of the antibiotic. Now many semi-synthetic penicillins with valuable properties for medicine have been obtained. Scientists managed to obtain such semi-synthetic penicillins, which differ from natural ones and in the spectrum of their antibacterial action. The most famous of them - ampicillin acts on many bacteria that are resistant to other penicillins.

In the early 1940s, immediately after the introduction of penicillin into medical practice, laboratories in many countries around the world have launched an intensive search for new antibiotics. In a short time, such antibiotics as streptomycin, which acts on the causative agent of tuberculosis, tetracyclines and chloromycetin, drugs of broad antibacterial action, nystatin, which acts on fungi, and others, were discovered. malignant tumors. Now more than 500 antibiotics of fungal origin have been obtained. in medicine or agriculture not more than 10 preparations formed by micromycetes are used quite widely. These are antibacterial antibiotics cephalosporins and fusidin, antifungal antibiotics griseofulvin (effective in the treatment of dermatomycosis), trichothecin (used to protect plants from fungal diseases and treat dermatomycosis in animals), fumagillin (used in medicine to treat amoebic dysentery, and in agriculture to treat bees). from nosematosis).

A number of interesting and, possibly, promising preparations for practice have been obtained from macromycetes. Researchers began to study this group of fungi a long time ago. Back in 1923, the antibiotic sparassol was obtained from a mushroom cabbage culture, acting on some fungi and close to the metabolic product of lichens - evernic acid. In 1940-1950. in laboratories in England, the USA and other countries, the effect on bacteria and fungi of extracts from fruiting bodies and cultures of more than 2,000 species of macromycetes - tinder fungi, cap mushrooms, etc. was studied. The search for antibiotics of this group of fungi continues.

Antibiotics are now known in many widespread and well-known hat mushrooms and tinder fungi. For several decades, the antibacterial properties of champignons have been known. In 1975, the antibiotic agaridoxin, which has a strong pronounced action on some bacteria, including pathogens. The antibiotic nebularin, obtained in 1954 from the fruiting bodies of the gray talker, inhibits the growth of mycobacteria and acts on some tumors in laboratory animals, but it is highly toxic. The antibiotic lactaroviolin, obtained from camelina, acts on many bacteria, including the causative agent of tuberculosis. You can also name strobilurins, formed by strong strobilurus - one of the earliest spring cap mushrooms - and inhibiting the growth of some microscopic fungi. Common wood-destroying fungi, such as fence fungus and birch sponge, also form antibiotics: the former acts on fungi, while the latter inhibits the growth of some mycobacteria.

Since the 1960s, antitumor antibiotics from macromycetes have been searched for. Compounds such as calvacin, which is formed by giant Langermannia and some species of bigheads, have already been obtained. This substance is found in the fruiting bodies of mushrooms (although in a very small large quantities) and is formed during their growth in culture on nutrient media. Calvacin inhibits the development of certain malignant tumors. Calvatic acid, produced by some species of goby (purple, etc.), as well as the widespread and well-known pear-shaped puffball, inhibits the development of many bacteria and fungi, and also has an antitumor effect. Perhaps it is the presence of this substance that explains the therapeutic effect of some raincoats and golovachs in case of injury. Numerous derivatives of calvatic acid, which also have antibiotic properties, have been obtained by chemical synthesis.

These examples show that the possibilities of fungi as producers of antibiotics are far from being exhausted, and it is not for nothing that numerous research laboratories are now again searching for new biologically active substances in fungi of various groups.

Speaking about the use of metabolic products of mushrooms in medicine, one cannot fail to mention substances with a psychotropic effect - psilocybin and psilocin. They are found in more than 300 species of cap mushrooms from the genera psilocybe, stropharia, etc. These substances greatly affect the activity of the central nervous system and have a hallucinogenic effect. Psilocybin is used to treat certain mental illnesses, to restore memory in patients, and in other cases.

19.01.2017 Nikolay Vovk, scientific consultant site

Mushroom growers often use antibiotics to fight pathogens.

When grown, edible mushrooms can be affected by fungal and bacterial diseases. For the prevention and control of pathogens of such diseases, mushroom producers use various methods:

– physical which provide heat treatment soil, maintaining optimal humidity in the room where mushrooms are cultivated, air irradiation with short wavelengths, etc.;

– biological, which allow you to fight diseases due to extracts from plants containing biologically active substances (for example, tannins from oak bark);

– chemical where, along with fungicides (carbendazim, chlorothalonil, etc.), antibiotics are also used. They are used for various bacterial infections, in particular Pseudomonas tolaasii(development of bacterial spotting), P.agarici, P.aeruginosa etc. In the fight against microorganisms, different classes of antibiotics are effective: streptomycin (streptomycin), oxytetracycline (oxytetracycline), kasugamycin (kasugamycin) and kanamycin (kanamycin).

Although the use of antibiotics is not mandatory in the mushroom growing process, many farms, in particular the mass growing of mushrooms, prefer this method because it is fast, efficient and easy to use. The need for antibiotics usually depends on the type of mushrooms that are cultivated, because the vast majority of fungi have their own antifungal and antibacterial systems protection.

Most often, antibiotics are used in the cultivation of champignons, since they are especially vulnerable to bacterial diseases, in particular brown spot. At the same time, oyster mushroom is highly resistant to viral, bacterial and fungal infections, so when growing it, you can limit yourself to only preventive measures without antibiotics.

The impact of antibiotics on human health

Scientists have found that the remains of antibiotics in food are a threat to the human body. First of all suffer intestinal flora as a result, dysbacteriosis and other gastrointestinal disorders occur.

The constant use of products with antibiotic residues can cause allergies (penicillin), nephropathy (gentamicin). Oxytetracycline and furazolidone can even act on the human body as carcinogens.

Also, one should not forget that with prolonged use, antibiotics can quickly exhaust their antibacterial effect due to the acquisition of resistance by bacteria. Therefore, at a critical moment, medicine can become helpless even in the face of ordinary inflammation. In addition, scientists warn that the uncontrolled use of antibiotics increases the risk of the emergence of new strains of microorganisms that are resistant to known classes of antibiotics, and therefore beyond the control of science and medicine.

How to protect yourself from antibiotics in mushrooms?

To protect yourself from possible antibiotic residues in mushrooms, remember that antibiotics are destroyed when high temperatures. Therefore, experts say that the easiest way to get rid of antibiotics in mushrooms is to pour boiling water over the mushrooms several times. This will help break down and wash off the antibiotic from the product and protect the body from its negative effects.

Everyone has had to take antibiotics at least once in their life. Yes, yes, the very drugs that, fighting with pathogenic bacteria, destroy and useful microflora, without which our body can not do. As a result, the normal functioning of the intestines, liver, kidneys, and other organs and systems is threatened. What to do? Is it possible to do without this group of drugs? If it is necessary for serious medical reasons, definitely not! But if there is no threat to life, it is much more advisable to use the recipes offered by traditional medicine. Moreover, in her arsenal there are such wonderful means as herbs, honey, mummy, mushrooms, onions, garlic and many others, from which there is a huge benefit, and no harm.

A series: Folk methods of treatment

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by the LitRes company.

Fungotherapy - mushroom antibiotics

Currently, fungotherapy is gaining popularity - the science of the healing properties of mushrooms. This is a whole branch of medicine. "Fungo" in Japanese means "mushroom", and the method of treatment with mushrooms has no less than 2 thousand years!

Mushrooms are powerful and ubiquitous organisms. They grow not only in the forest. Their spores hover in masses even in the rarefied atmosphere at great heights. Mold that covers stale food, dark spots on the constantly damp walls of a damp apartment - all these are also mushrooms. The yeast that ferments the dough is also a fungal organism.

Experiments have shown that yeast mushrooms withstand pressure of 8000 atmospheres. different kind radiation, hundreds of times higher than lethal doses for warm-blooded animals, are ineffective in the fight against a number of harmful fungi. Under laboratory conditions, spores of fungal samples stored there do not lose their viability for up to 20 years or more.

Fungal organisms are extremely tenacious. No wonder the pharmaceutical industry is constantly creating more and more new antifungal drugs - fungi are constantly mutating. Some mycologists and fungotherapists are sure that malignant tumors are also caused by fungal organisms. And you can fight them with the greatest success with the help of other mushrooms. Studies have shown: after the use of antitumor fungi, tumors begin to regress, metastasis stops, fungal infections leave.

Back in the 20th century, fungi (mold) opened the era of antibiotics in medicine. A very valuable source of antibiotics are, for example, higher basidiomycetes. It is known that many of them - meadow champignon, hard agrocybe, pink lacquer, common butterdish, violet row, birch tinder fungus and others - have antibiotic activity, releasing antibiotic substances: agrocybin, drosophyllin, nemotin, biformin, polyporin and many others. Such substances are obtained from more than five hundred species of edible and poisonous mushrooms belonging to sixty genera. Aqueous extracts of the fruiting bodies of many fungi have an effect on the wound microflora of patients similar to the identified antibiotics: levomycetin, biomycin, streptomycin.

AT recent times edible and poisonous mushrooms actively studied in many laboratories around the world in order to obtain new valuable substances. The results are encouraging: the number of mushrooms used in medicine is increasing every year.

What are mushrooms treated for?

long time ago folk healers various regions of Russia prescribed water and alcohol tinctures from fresh or dried fruiting bodies veselka ordinary, grays, whites, milkweed, valuya and other common mushrooms for "abdominal pain", "aching suffering", kidney disease, for washing festering wounds. Even ordinary russula, yellow, green, red, purple spots scattered throughout the forest, are used in clinical nutrition.

Famous larch tinder fungus until the 20th century, it was considered a traditional cure for tuberculosis and even served as a profitable commodity for Russia. In 1870 alone, Russia exported 8 tons of dried tinder fungus to Europe.

Back in the days of Vladimir Monomakh were discovered healing properties birch mushroom - chaga. Historians believe that it was chaga that they tried to treat Monomakh from lip cancer.

The medical books of the middle of the 17th century contain information that white mushrooms you can treat frostbitten parts of the body, for which it was recommended to dry these mushrooms a little in the air, then make an aqueous extract from them and lubricate the affected skin. Nowadays, scientists have confirmed positive influence"king" of all mushrooms on the processes of tissue healing, and also found that its fruiting body contains substances with antitumor activity.

Morels treat vision and nervous diseases- "falling, black sickness"; lines used for joint diseases; chanterelles successfully used in liver diseases.

In the folk medicine of our country are known medicinal properties many cap mushrooms. Milk mushrooms from time immemorial, in a slightly fried form, was used in the treatment of urolithiasis and tuberculosis, and raincoats, called in countryside"wolf tobacco" or "hare potato", used as a hemostatic, antitumor and disinfectant.

Few people know that medicinal mushrooms are a powerful shield against cancer and other serious diseases, as they:

Significantly increase the effectiveness of the treatment of oncological diseases of various forms and degrees of severity;

Inhibit the growth of malignant tumors;

Reduce the size of the tumor;

Prevent the formation of metastases;

Weaken side effects radiation and chemotherapy;

Effective for benign (myoma, fibroma, mastopathy, prostate adenoma) neoplasms;

Indispensable in the treatment of hypertension, coronary heart disease, arrhythmia, stroke (for acute and chronic disorders cerebral circulation), heart attack (pre- and post-infarction condition), varicose veins, thrombophlebitis;

They are very effective in liver diseases - acute and chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis of the liver (restore liver function, stimulate the regeneration of liver cells, normalize lipid metabolism with chronic hepatitis);

Effectively help with diseases of the gastrointestinal tract - peptic ulcer, gastritis, colitis, dysbacteriosis;

Significantly facilitate the condition and treatment of allergic and autoimmune diseases - bronchial asthma, eczema, neurodermatitis, psoriasis, rheumatism, multiple sclerosis;

In diabetes, they compensate for the deficiency of essential amino acids, macro- and microelements, vitamins; help lower blood sugar levels;

Indispensable for the suppression of hepatitis B, C, D, J, herpes, influenza; restore immune status.

Today therapeutic properties medicinal mushrooms have already been proven strictly scientifically. These are absolutely safe and have the widest range of indications for the use of natural remedies. Scientists have found that some types of mushrooms are a very valuable source of antibiotics.

From the extract pigs growing near stumps coniferous trees, managed to isolate the brown pigment atrotomentin, which causes the decay of malignant tumors. Some types of inedible mushroom talkers, a smooth, softly colored hat with turned down edges, which can often be found in the forests of the Baltic states, Belarus and in the Siberian taiga, contains antibiotics diatretin, nebularin and clitocytin, which are active against pathogenic fungi, tubercle bacillus and other bacteria. Mushroom clitocybe giant(a kind of talker) is able to fight tuberculosis and various pathogens of other diseases. At the place of growth of clitocybe, even some components of the herbaceous cover disappear, which, apparently, indicates the phytoncidal properties of extracts of the mycelium of the fungus located in the soil.

Typical representatives of deciduous mushrooms (autumn mushrooms) are rows, outwardly similar to purple russula. Sometimes rows grow profusely even in mid-November. The fruiting body of the row contains an antibiotic that inhibits the growth of tubercle bacillus and other pathogenic bacteria.

Among the modest and inconspicuous forest gifts, which not all lovers of quiet hunting pay attention to, include a relative of the milk mushroom - milky gray pink and serushka. The extract from these mushrooms inhibits the growth of microbes that cause purulent inflammation, typhus, paratyphoid and other diseases.

Another popular mushroom common camelina, or gourmet. The violet pigment contained in it - lactaroviolin, which determines its color, also has an antibiotic effect. Ginger significantly delays the growth of tubercle bacillus. In addition, the lactaroviolin contained in camelina, by its chemical nature, belongs to the group of azulenes, a number of which have a therapeutic effect in diseases caused by metabolic disorders, including skin spotting (vitiligo).

It is also known that some lactic mushrooms, which include camelina, contain an antirheumatic substance similar in action to cortisone.

In a mushroom pharmacy, everything is almost the same as in medicinal herbs - each mushroom has its own pronounced specificity. Knowing their medicinal properties, it is possible to make mushroom preparations, effectively treating all kinds of diseases. Here, for example, is an interesting mushroom - a line. A rare mushroom picker will put this “snowdrop” of the mushroom kingdom in his basket, because in the numerous literature on mushrooms it is categorically said about the lines - poisonous! Although not so poisonous, it is quite possible to classify it as an edible mushroom. But its healing properties are very remarkable - it has a pronounced analgesic effect, that is, it relieves pain. Therefore, the lines were used in tinctures for joint diseases, arthritis, myalgia, etc., as well as for the treatment of pancreatitis, in oncology, when anesthesia is needed.

Mushrooms can cure a lot of diseases - from persistent hypertension to neoplasms. The main thing is to be sure of the quality of the raw materials and to prepare the medicine correctly.

The Magnificent Seven

Trutovik larch

The famous Greek physician Dioscorides considered this tree fungus panacea. He recommended using it for all internal diseases. And he was right. Trutovik has served medicine faithfully. King Mithridates owed his life to this mushroom, namely his amazing ability to absorb poisons. Tinder fungus in Antiquity and the Middle Ages was used as the main component of antidotes for all known poisons. And, as the legend says, when Mithridates, who had been taking tinder fungus for a long time, in order to protect himself from poison, decided to commit suicide and drank poison, the poison did not work. Today it is just as relevant: although poisons are not sprinkled now, there are plenty of toxic substances and carcinogens everywhere.

So, the first property of larch tinder is to remove toxins and carcinogens from the body.

The second property of the tinder fungus is the ability to restore the liver, that is, to force it to produce an enzyme that breaks down proteins. This property is well known in Siberia. Siberians used tinder fungus to reduce weight and regulate body weight. The Japanese are also well aware of this mushroom, since in the 19th century they bought it in tons and also for weight loss drugs. The tinder fungus is included in the Japanese system for emergency weight loss, which is called "Yamakiro".

The third property of the tinder fungus is to heal lung diseases: from pleurisy to tuberculosis.

And finally, the tinder fungus is the best remedy from constipation and dysbacteriosis.

Everyone knows that in the hierarchy of domestic mushrooms, the king mushroom is nicknamed the majestic boletus - porcini. Both the article and the taste, it fully corresponds to its title. And among the Japanese and Chinese, the shiitake tree mushroom, which looks like a lonely honey agaric, is considered the king mushroom.

This is the most amazing mushroom, which in China, Japan and the Far East was valued on a par with ginseng, with the only difference that ginseng grows incredibly long, and shiitake can be harvested in large quantities every year. However, this is also a very capricious mushroom: it grows only in certain, favorite places, and that mushroom picker who knew where such a “plantation” was located was happy.

In ancient times, members of the Japanese royal courts considered shiitake to stimulate vitality, so the places where shiitake mushrooms grow were kept in the strictest confidence. The range of medicinal properties of this mushroom is enormous. Preparations from it with constant success cope with a lot of diseases. In addition, the healing properties of shiitake are unique, and this is confirmed by the two thousand-year history of Japanese fungotherapy and many clinical studies in Europe, America, and Russia.

For biochemists, shiitake became a sensation, since two discoveries were made during its study:

1) a previously unknown polysaccharide, lentinan, has been isolated, which has a unique antitumor ability and has no analogues in flora;

2) found volatile compounds, the so-called fungal phytoncides, antibiotics that can fight any viruses, from the most harmless rhinoviruses ( causing a runny nose) to the AIDS virus.

In addition, a unique ability of shiitake has been established:

Remove cholesterol, thereby normalizing blood pressure;

Suppress pathogenic flora in the body;

Treat any inflammatory processes;

Fight lower fungi;

Heal erosion and ulcers of the gastrointestinal tract;

Restore the blood formula;

In neurological and autoimmune diseases, give impetus to remissions.

Shiitake is an excellent immune stimulant and can be used as a prophylactic to prevent viral and colds.

In diabetes, shiitake lowers blood sugar, it is indicated even in the insulin-dependent form. In addition, it is combined with any medicines.

Contraindications to the use of shiitake are pregnancy, lactation (not conducted clinical researches in these groups) and individual intolerance. In addition, the use of shiitake tincture for the treatment of children under 12 years of age is undesirable.

Growing shiitake mushrooms

Shiitake is a traditional delicacy mushroom native to Southeast Asia. For more than a thousand years, shiitake has been grown on tree stumps in the temperate mountainous regions of China, Japan and Korea. At present, the popularity of shiitake has increased greatly, production begins medications based on biologically active compounds isolated from this fungus: ointments, powders, infusions. The properties of the fungus are enhanced by specific culinary processing: drying, roasting, preparing decoctions, infusions, etc.

End of introductory segment.

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The following excerpt from the book natural antibiotics. Maximum benefit and no harm (I. A. Kapustina, 2009) provided by our book partner -