Shroom Scan #118: Swiss psilocybin therapy, brain inflammation brakes, and mushroom leather

Hi Shroomers. So it seemed that arriving later was actually preferable, given your feedback. Thank you for bearing with me and the technical difficulties of last week.

This week, I stumbled into one of my favorite new ways to explain how mushrooms help our bodies. To put it simply, mushrooms are like your body’s personal trainer that gets your immune system into fighting shape. Unlike something like antibiotics that introduce net-new systems to your physiology, mushrooms ignite your body’s inherent immune and modulatory systems.

Gut food shift 🦠 Myco-foods, including mycelial extracts, biomass, and mold-fermented foods, changed the gut microbiome in all 4 human trials reviewed, including 2 extract trials, 1 biomass trial, and 1 fermented food trial. Across 20 total human, animal, and in vitro studies, these fungal foods often increased beneficial gut microbes like Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, lactobacilli, Roseburia, and Eubacterium, with several studies also raising short-chain fatty acids tied to fiber metabolism. Mycoprotein from Fusarium venenatum contains 45% protein and 25% fiber by dry weight, making fungi-based foods a serious gut-health and protein story.

Brain inflammation brake 🧠 King oyster mushroom (Pleurotus eryngii) reduced inflammatory activity in brain immune cells, with mushroom extracts and compounds like ergothioneine lowering stress signals tied to brain aging and cognitive decline. One compound, N-acetyltryptamine, reduced NLRP3 activation at 50 µM, while ergothioneine also suppressed inflammation at 500 µM, helping calm overactive microglia linked to memory problems and neurodegenerative disease. The strongest mushroom extracts performed similarly to blueberry extract, a well-known brain-health benchmark.

Gut barrier support 🦠 Split gill mushroom (Schizophyllum commune) compounds reduced Salmonella invasion into human gut cells at doses up to 400 µg/mL while also helping immune cells clear infected bacteria more effectively. Instead of acting like a traditional antibiotic, the mushroom strengthened the body’s own gut defense response by activating macrophages and increasing protective immune signaling. This matters because Salmonella is one of the most common foodborne pathogens worldwide, and antibiotic resistance keeps rising.

Wound repair gel 🩹 A guar gum hydrogel carrying 1 mg each of seven mushroom extracts, including wood ear (Auricularia auricula), porcini (Boletus edulis), cordyceps (Cordyceps sinensis), shiitake (Lentinula edodes), turkey tail (Coriolus versicolor), reishi (Ganoderma lucidum), and snow fungus (Tremella fusiformis), was tested on 10 mm full-thickness wounds in rats. Wounds were checked on days 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20, and the mushroom-hydrogel site was described as “perfectly healed” by day 20 with no visible blood stain, pus, or inflammation compared with slower saline healing. The sample size was only 2 rats per group, though, so these results require a grain of salt.

Mouth ulcer relief 👄 Tiger milk mushroom (Lignosus rhinocerus) oral gel used 3 times daily for 7 days reduced mouth-ulcer pain scores to 3.10 compared with 3.93 for placebo, while healing damaged tissue in 5.4 days versus 6.8 days in the placebo group. The mushroom gel healed ulcers faster than the steroid treatment group and caused no reported side effects in adults ages 20–50.

Real-world psilocybin care 🇨🇭 Swiss physicians surveyed had treated 1,048 patients under legal psychedelic-assisted therapy exemptions, using psilocybin in 85.4% of practices, MDMA in 70.7%, and LSD in 65.9%. Patients received an average of 5.1 substance sessions, usually spaced 3 months apart, with psilocybin most often preferred for depression, somatic issues, and substance use disorder. This is one of the clearest looks at how psychedelic therapy actually works outside clinical trials, including preparation, integration, music, co-sitters, consent, adverse effects, and real access barriers.

Aggression drop 🐟 Psilocybin given through water immersion at 3,000 µg/L for 20 minutes significantly reduced movement and aggressive swimming bursts in mangrove rivulus fish (Kryptolebias marmoratus), with 16 fish per treatment group. Treated fish moved less than controls with a large effect size and showed fewer aggressive bursts with a medium effect size, while whole-body psilocin levels reached about 7 ng/mL, near the 11 ng/mL peak reported after a low-to-moderate human dose. This is a weird but useful model story because it shows psilocybin calming social aggression in a naturally aggressive, self-fertilizing fish.

Psilocybin data map 🗺 PsiConnect released the largest single-site psilocybin neuroimaging dataset to date, with 62 first-time psychedelic users scanned before and after a 19 mg dose. Participants completed brain scans during rest, meditation, music, and movie watching, with EEG, MRI, mental health, personality, mindfulness, and psychedelic-effect measures tracked up to 12 months. There are no treatment results yet, but this gives researchers the data needed to test how setting, music, meditation, and brain connectivity shape the psychedelic experience.

Uranium root lock ☢️ Root fungi (Funneliformis mosseae) helped Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) survive soil contaminated with 44 mg/kg uranium by calming oxidative stress and keeping more uranium trapped in the roots. The inoculated plants nearly doubled root uranium storage, while leaf uranium stayed below 50 mg/kg. Root damage markers dropped sharply, making this a practical fungi-assisted cleanup tool for contaminated land.

Mushroom leather leap 👜 Button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) waste was turned into flexible leather-like sheets strong enough to approach real animal leather, with comparable tensile strength and tear resistance. The material was scaled into sheets as large as 490 × 305 mm, sewn into wearable fashion pieces, and recycled through 5 reuse cycles instead of being discarded. This pushes mushrooms further into mainstream fashion and biomaterials by transforming agricultural waste into durable textiles without animal hides or petroleum-based synthetics.

Beach soil boost 🏖️ Enoki mushroom (Flammulina filiformis) waste was converted into biochar that improved water retention, organic matter, and microbial activity in nutrient-poor coastal sand. When combined with Bacillus megaterium, the treatment helped beach morning glory (Ipomoea pes-caprae) grow more successfully in harsh shoreline conditions where plants often struggle to survive. This creates a practical reuse pathway for mushroom-farm waste while helping stabilize vulnerable coastlines and degraded sandy soils.

Better-for-you cookies 🍪 Oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) waste was turned into a high-fiber ingredient that replaced half the fat in cookies while lowering the predicted glycemic response and reducing overall calories. The reformulated cookies also boosted protein and fiber while still keeping the strongest taste and texture scores among the healthier versions tested.

Gluten-free glow-up 🍝 Shiitake mushroom (Lentinula edodes) and maitake (Grifola frondosa) extracts improved the antioxidant content, taste, and texture of gluten-free pasta and crackers. Lower mushroom concentrations produced the best balance of flavor and appearance, while higher amounts boosted nutrition but made the products darker and less shelf-stable.