Hericenones and Erinacines: Lion's Mane's Key Compounds Explained

What are hericenones and erinacines? They're the two families of small compounds that made lion's mane famous. Both stimulated nerve growth factor (NGF) production in lab and animal studies. The key difference is where they come from. Hericenones were found in the fruiting body, the shaggy white mushroom you can cook. Erinacines were found in the mycelium, the root-like network grown in culture. That split matters when you read a label, because the human studies used different parts of the fungus.

This guide explains what each compound family is, where it's found, what the evidence shows and what it means for choosing a product. For the bigger picture on NGF, see our review of lion's mane NGF research in humans.

What Are Hericenones?

Hericenones are aromatic compounds found in the lion's mane fruiting body. Japanese chemist Hirokazu Kawagishi and colleagues first isolated them and named them hericenones C, D, E, F, G and H. In their work, these compounds stimulated NGF synthesis in cell experiments (Wang 2025).

They're fat-soluble rather than water-soluble. That's one reason why some products use alcohol as well as water for extraction. A plain hot-water tea extracts the polysaccharides well but is less suited to fat-soluble compounds.

Hericenones also turn up in other forms. An Italian study measured hericenones C and D in several kinds of fruiting bodies. Cultivated fruiting bodies held more of them than wild ones in that strain (Corana 2019). The amount clearly depends on the strain and how it's grown.

What Are Erinacines?

Erinacines are diterpenoids, a different chemical family. Kawagishi's group isolated erinacines A to I from lion's mane mycelium (Wang 2025). Erinacine A is the best studied. In the Italian study above, it was measured in the mycelium, not in the fruiting bodies (Corana 2019).

Erinacine A is hard to produce in quantity. A 2026 review notes that its clinical use is held back by low natural yields and high production costs. Much of the current research is about growing mycelium under conditions that raise erinacine A content (Wang 2026).

The good news for researchers is that erinacine A gets into the brain, at least in rats. After an oral dose, it appeared in rat brain tissue within an hour and peaked at eight hours. Its oral bioavailability was about 24% (Tsai 2021). We don't have the equivalent data in humans.

How Do Hericenones and Erinacines Compare?

The simplest way to see the difference is side by side:

• Source: hericenones come from the fruiting body. Erinacines come mainly from the mycelium.
• Chemistry: hericenones are aromatic compounds. Erinacines are cyathane diterpenoids.
• Lab evidence: both stimulated NGF synthesis in cells and animals (Wang 2025).
• Brain access: erinacine A crossed the blood-brain barrier in rats (Tsai 2021). We haven't seen equivalent data for hericenones.
• Human data: fruiting-body products were used in Mori 2009. Erinacine A-enriched mycelium was used in Li 2020.

Neither family is the single "active ingredient". Lion's mane also contains beta-glucans and many other compounds. It's likely that several of them contribute, and no study has isolated which one does what in people.

There's also a gap between the dish and the body. Most of the NGF findings come from cells grown in a dish, where a compound can be added at whatever concentration the researchers choose, or from rodents given doses scaled far above what a person would take in a capsule. Whether a mug of tea or a spoonful of powder gets enough of either compound to the right place in a human brain is still an open question. Keep that in mind whenever a product page jumps straight from a lab result to a promise about memory.

Do Hericenones Actually Work?

The picture is mixed. In a 2014 Malaysian study, hericenones B to E were isolated from the fruiting body and tested on nerve-like cells. On their own, they didn't promote nerve-cell growth. When the cells were given a small amount of NGF as well, the hericenones boosted the effect so much that it matched a ten-times-larger NGF dose. Hericenone E also raised NGF secretion (Phan 2014).

So hericenones may work more as amplifiers than as direct triggers. Think of them as turning up a signal that's already there rather than creating one. That's a lab result, in rat cells, at concentrations that may not match what reaches the human brain. It's interesting, but it isn't proof of a benefit from eating the mushroom.

The main human trial with fruiting-body material came from Japan. Thirty adults aged 50 to 80 with mild cognitive impairment took 3 g a day of dried lion's mane powder or placebo for 16 weeks. Cognitive scores improved in the lion's mane group, then fell again four weeks after stopping (Mori 2009). It was small, and it didn't measure hericenones at all.

What Did the Erinacine A Trial Find?

A Taiwanese pilot study tested erinacine A-enriched mycelium in people with mild Alzheimer's disease. Participants took three 350 mg capsules a day, with 5 mg of erinacine A per gram, or a placebo, for 49 weeks (Li 2020).

The placebo group's scores on one cognitive test fell over the year. The mycelium group improved on the Mini-Mental State Examination and on a daily-living scale, and had better contrast sensitivity. Four people dropped out because of stomach discomfort, nausea or skin rash. The study was led by researchers from Grape King Bio, the Taiwanese company that makes the extract, and it was a pilot. Our article on lion's mane and Alzheimer's disease covers it in context.

It's an encouraging start, but it needs repeating in a larger, independent trial. It also tells us nothing about ordinary mycelium-on-grain products, which aren't standardised for erinacine A.

Does This Mean Mycelium Is Better Than Fruiting Body?

Not on its own. The erinacine A study used a specialised, standardised mycelium extract. Most mycelium products on the market are different. They're mycelium grown on oats or rice and milled together with the grain, which leaves a powder that's largely starch. They rarely state erinacine content. Our explainer on mycelium on grain covers this.

Fruiting-body products contain hericenones, beta-glucans and the full mushroom. They're also what people have eaten as food for centuries. Our comparison of lion's mane fruiting body vs mycelium goes into the trade-offs.

For transparency: all our lion's mane products, including the dried mushroom, powder, capsules and tincture, are made from fruiting bodies. They aren't standardised for erinacine A, and we don't claim they deliver the amount used in Li 2020.

How Should You Read a Lion's Mane Label?

Start with the basics. Look for three things. First, which part of the fungus is used: fruiting body, mycelium, or both. Second, whether the mycelium was grown on grain. Third, whether any compound is given as a number, such as beta-glucan percentage or milligrams of erinacine A per gram.

Be wary of labels that name hericenones or erinacines without numbers. Their presence alone says little, because the amounts vary widely between strains, growing methods, harvest timing and the way the material is dried and extracted. A certificate of analysis that reports a specific compound by a named method, such as HPLC, is far more useful than a marketing claim. If a brand can't tell you how much is in a dose, assume it's an unknown amount. Our guide on how to read a lion's mane label walks through a real example.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is more important, hericenones or erinacines?

Nobody knows. Both stimulated NGF in lab work. Erinacine A has better brain-access data from rats and a human pilot trial behind it. Hericenones have the fruiting-body trial, although that study didn't measure them. Neither has been proven on its own in people.

Does lion's mane fruiting body contain erinacines?

Mainly no. Erinacines were isolated from the mycelium, and erinacine A was measured in mycelium rather than fruiting bodies in a study of Italian strains. Fruiting bodies are the main source of hericenones.

Does cooking lion's mane destroy hericenones?

We haven't found a study that measured this directly. Hericenones are fat-soluble, so cooking in oil may carry them into the fat rather than the water. Gentle drying and cooking are sensible, but claims about exact losses aren't backed by data.

How much erinacine A should I take?

There's no established dose. The pilot trial used about 5 mg of erinacine A a day, from roughly 1 g of a standardised mycelium extract. Most retail products don't state their erinacine A content.

Are hericenones and erinacines safe?

Lion's mane is generally well tolerated. In the erinacine A pilot, four people left the study because of stomach discomfort, nausea or rash. See our guide to lion's mane side effects and interactions.

Related Articles

• Lion's Mane NGF: What Human Research Shows
• Lion's Mane Fruiting Body vs Mycelium
• How to Read a Lion's Mane Label
• Lion's Mane Dosage Guide
• Mycelium on Grain Explained

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