Nutritional Properties, Antioxidant and Anti-Acetylcholinesterase Activities of <i>Pleurotus ostreatus</i>

Abstract

Pleurotus ostreatus, the worldwide edible mushroom, has a potent economic values and medicinal properties. In this study, nutritional properties, antioxidant, and anti-acetylcholinesterase activities of P. ostreatus were investigated. The extracts were prepared by maceration and soxhlet extraction with ethanol and decoction with distilled water. Nutritional analysis showed that P. ostreatus has high content of fibers (45.5%), proteins (20.8%) and carbohydrates (68.4%) with low content of lipids (0.56%). HPLC analysis revealed that P. ostreatus has high content of the potential health promoting of β-glucan (42.8%). Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) is a key enzyme in nervous system. Inhibition of this enzyme is used for the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most common disease in aging population. Ellman colorimetric method was used to determine Acetylcholinesterase inhibitory (AChEI) activity. All extracts found containing high AChEI activity (IC50 = 1.75-5.91 mg/ml). Oxidative stress plays a major role in the pathogenesis of AD, thus antioxidant activity was also performed in this study. DPPH assay exhibited all P. ostreatus extracts had high antioxidant activity (IC50 = 0.59-5.47 mg/ml). The results suggested that P. ostreatus should be beneficial for AD treatment and the most efficient nutraceutical and functional foods.