Total Phenol, Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Properties of Wild Macrofungi Collected from Akure Southwest Nigeria

Three wild macrofungi, Lenzites betulina (Fries), Trametes vesicolor (Lloyd) and Coriolopsis polyzona (Pers) collected in Akure southwest of Nigeria were assessed for their total phenol, antioxidant and cytotoxic activities. The antioxidant and cytotoxic properties of the hexane, ethyl acetate and ethanol extracts from the fruit bodies of these macrofungi were assessed using DPPH scavenging capacity, inhibition of the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS), and the protein-binding dye sulforhodamine B (SRB) microculture assay to measure cell growth using six human cancer cell lines. Total phenol content ranged from 8.22μgGAE/mg to 60.54 μgGAE/mg. The DPPH and inhibition of the formation of TBARS ranged between 7.97% to 91.18% at 1000μg/mL. Ethanolic extracts (LET, TET and CET) with higher phenol content exhibited better antioxidant property. The inhibition of human cancer cell lines varies from one extract to the other. However, ethanolic extract of Trametes vesicolor (TET) demonstrated the best cytotoxic activity with 100% inhibition of HCT-5, MCF-7 and SKLU-1 human cancer cell lines. The study suggests that these three wild macrofungi could be source of effective antioxidant and anticancer agents