Bioassay-guided fractionation of mushroom (Schizophyllum commune) extract using vacuum column chromatography

Abstract

This study was carried out to evaluate the tyrosinase inhibition activity, which represents anti-pigmentation/browning property and bioactive compounds of sub-fractions of Schizophyllum commune extracts. In this study, two types of crude extracts, namely K4C and K30C, were subjected to chromatographic fractionation in vacuum column chromatography packed with silica gel. The columns were stepwise eluted with different ratios of solvent acetone: methanol (A:M) to obtain several fractions. Anti-pigmentation activity was measured by tyrosinase inhibition assay. The fraction with the highest activity for K4C extract was 7A:3M (30.46±3.22%) while fraction 100M (34.32±2.14%) was the highest for K30C extract. Biological components such as organic acids, amino acids, as well as phenolic acids were also assessed by ultra and high-performance liquid chromatography (UPLC and HPLC). The results revealed that the amounts of bioactive compounds were varied; the major organic acids detected were citric acid (313.142±1.069 mg/L), tartaric acid (37.656±8.807 mg/L) and L-malic (23.748±2.565 mg/L) in the fraction K4C-7A:3M compared to fraction K30C-100M. The same fraction showed the highest amount of amino acids while phenolic acids were detected in low amounts in K4C -7A:3M and K30C-100M fractions. The fraction with the highest biological activity has the potential to be used as a bio-ingredient in food applications and nutricosmetic product formulations. The potential product derived from this project may diversify mushroombased downstream products available in Malaysia, and subsequently further expand our mushroom industry.