Fatty acid composition and antioxidant capacity of some medicinal mushrooms in Turkey

Abstract

Turkey has a very rich fungal flora due to its phytogeographical position. The screening of chemical content and active substances of mushrooms becomes an important subject not only for Turkey but also for all over the world. In the last decade, Analyses on phytochemical and biological activity of fungi have gradually increased as a result of improvement in the number and quality of facilities. In the scope of the present research, four medicinal mushrooms; Morchella elata, Lactarius volemus, Cantharellus cibarius and Tricholoma terreum were analyzed for their fatty acid compositions and antioxidant capacities. The fungal species have been found with unsaturated fatty acid/saturated fatty acid ratio of 6.73 for Morchella elata, 4.12 for Lactarius volemus, 5.21 for Cantharellus cibarius, 3.73 for Tricholama terrum. In addition, the concentration of malondialdehyde which was an indicator of lipid peroxidation was also determined in these species. According to the results, free radical scavenging activity of Morchella elata and Lactarius volemus were found higher than the other species. Any of the mushroom species investigated were found having very high metal chelating activity. The results showed that the extract of Morchella elata and Lactarius volemus exhibited significant antioxidant activities. Hence, the mushrooms have a potential to be a natural antioxidant in food industries as antioxidant agent.