Plants and Mushrooms as Possible New Sources of H[sub.2]S Releasing Sulfur Compounds

Hydrogen sulfide (H[sub.2]S), known for many decades exclusively for its toxicity and the smell of rotten eggs, has been re-discovered for its pleiotropic effects at the cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular level. Therefore, great attention is being paid to the discovery of molecules able to release H[sub.2]S in a smart manner, i.e., slowly and for a long time, thus ensuring the maintenance of its physiological levels and preventing “H[sub.2]S-poor” diseases. Despite the development of numerous synthetically derived molecules, the observation that plants containing sulfur compounds share the same pharmacological properties as H[sub.2]S led to the characterization of naturally derived compounds as H[sub.2]S donors. In this regard, polysulfuric compounds occurring in plants belonging to the Alliaceae family were the first characterized as H[sub.2]S donors, followed by isothiocyanates derived from vegetables belonging to the Brassicaceae family, and this led us to consider these plants as nutraceutical tools and their daily consumption has been demonstrated to prevent the onset of several diseases. Interestingly, sulfur compounds are also contained in many fungi. In this review, we speculate about the possibility that they may be novel sources of H[sub.2]S-donors, furnishing new data on the release of H[sub.2]S from several selected extracts from fungi.