The prospection of unusual sources and undiscovered habitats is valuable
in natural product research. Indeed, the fungi kingdom has received special attention
since its ability to produce novel and intriguing secondary metabolites with various biological uses. Among secondary metabolites, alkaloid-derived structures present a
wide range of bioactivities, including antineurodegenerative, antidepressive, anxiolytic,
anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, and insecticidal properties. Furthermore, various
studies showed particular properties of those alkaloids in reducing nicotine addiction
and alcohol dependence. Alkaloids are categorized into several groups based on their
heterocyclic ring system and biosynthetic precursor, such as indole, isoxazoles, and
muscarine. Therefore, this chapter focuses on those fungi’s bioactive alkaloids with
emphasis on pharmacokinetics as well as the current analytical approaches for
extraction and compound identification. Furthermore, the main biological activities
and action mechanisms of these fungus alkaloids will also be discussed.
This work was founded by FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia and
by Fundação BPI La Caixa, within call POCI-01-0145-FEDER-031309 and project titled
“AquaeVitae—Água Termal Como Fonte de Vida e Saúde” and “AquaValor—Centro de
Valorização e Transferência de Tecnologia da Água” (NORTE-01-0246-FEDER-000053),
supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The authors would like to thank the project UIDB/04033/2020 (CITAB—Center for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, and R & D project Fungi4Health—Valorization of agro-industrial co-products by mushroom production and development of functional food and natural cosmetics (NORTE-01-0247-FEDER-070171), with the financial support of the European Development Fund Regional (FEDER) through the Competitiveness and Internationalization Operational Program (POCI). AB would like to thank the Operational Programme from the budget of the Central Region of Portugal (ref. CENTRO-04-3559-FSE-000162) and the Research Unit for Inland Development from the Polytechnic of Guarda.
