Toxicological screening of seven Nigerian mushrooms

Toxicological studies were carried out on seven Nigerian mushrooms, namely, Chlorophyllum molybditis (Mayer ex. fr.) Masse, Cortinarius melliolens Fries, Lentinus subnudus Berk, Pleurotus tuber-regium (Fries) Singer, Termitomyces robustus (Beeli) Heim, Tricholoma lobayensis Heim and Volvariella esculenta (Mass) Singer. Amatoxin spot test and Chromatographic screening of the mushrooms revealed the absence of amatoxins and phallotoxins. None of the mushroom extracts tested killed the experimental rats. In fact, some of the rats which fed on or were injected intraperitoneally which mushroom extracts showed some significant gain in dry weight. The significance of these findings is discussed in relation to consumption of these mushrooms.