Antioxidant activities of selected medicinal mushroom submerged cultivated mycelia

Medicinal mushrooms fruiting bodies have been used as food or medicine for years but cultured myce-lium is faster to grow and costs less. This research studied the antioxidant activities of three species (five strains) of medicinal mushroom mycelia (Cordyceps militaris, Ganoderma tsugae I and II, Trametes versicolor I and II). Two-stage extractions were performed: first the sample was extracted with 70% ethanol, and then the residue was extracted with 95ºC hot water. Both ethanolic and hot water extracts showed effective concentration (EC₅₀) values of 0.29–4.22 mg/mL, indicating that these extracts were remarkably effective in antioxidant activities. The ethanolic extracts dis-played more effective reducing power, scavenging, and chelating ability (EC₅₀ 0.33–2.37 mg/mL) than hot water extracts (EC₅₀ 0.58–4.22 mg/g). Besides, ethanolic extracts contained higher total phenol content (75.49–144.99 GAE mg/g) than the hot water extracts (22.77–58.68 GAE mg/g). Furthermore, the ethanolic extracts contained flavonoids but not the hot water extract. Overall, these mycelia were highly effective in the antioxidant activities and might be potent antioxidants.