Nutritional and medicinal characteristics of Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus) for applications in healthcare industry by artificial cultivation: A review

Publication date: Available online 12 March 2018 Source:Food Science and Human Wellness Author(s): Dong He, Wenming Zhu, Wen Zeng, Jun Lin, Yang Ji, Yi Wang, Chong Zhang, Yuan Lu, Daoquan Zhao, Nan Su, Xin-Hui Xing Andrias davidianus, i. e. Chinese giant salamander (CGS), is one of the largest and oldest amphibians existing in the world and is also one of the valuable biological resources of China. Wild CGS has been threatened with extinction in the past decades due to over capturing, deterioration of natural environment, the slow breeding and growth of the wild species in nature. However, in the past twenty years, with the breakthrough and progress of artificial breeding technology by artificial insemination, the number of artificially cultivated CGS has increased rapidly. Artificially cultivated CGS can either be released to the CGS living environment to increase the population in nature or legally applied in food and medicinal industry as a feedstock due to the unique nutritional and medicinal values of CGS as recorded historically. In this review, the nutritional components, bioactive components and medicinal activities of the artificially cultivated CGS will be summarized. The mucus, skin, meat and bone of CGS contain many different bioactive substances thereby having various medicinal activities including anti-aging, anti-fatigue, anti-tumor, therapy of burn and anti-infection and other physiological functions. This paper will further discuss the potential ...
Source: Food Science and Human Wellness - Category: Food Science Source Type: research