Coprinellus disseminatus (Pers.) J.E. Lange 1938: In vitro antioxidant and antiproliferative effects

Coprinellus disseminatus (Pers.) J.E. Lange 1938 is an edible saprotrophic fungal species with bioactive potential which is not extensively investigated, mostly due to its small size. Accordingly, the aim of this study was to determine chemical and biological properties of crude ethanol (CdEtOH) and water extracts (CdAq). The bioactivity screens included antioxidant and antiproliferative (human breast MCF-7 cancer cell-line; MTT and SRB assays) activity. In addition, CdAq and CdEtOH were primarily characterized by UV-VIS spectrophotometry, with an aim of determining its chemical composition (total phenol and flavonoid contents). The best antioxidant activities were obtained for hydroxyl radicals (OH∙) and superoxide anion radical (SOA) assays for both crude extracts (IC50 =4.02 μg/ml for CdAq and IC50 =1.40 μg/ml for CdEtOH) while total phenolic (TP) and total flavonoid (TF) content was higher in CdEtoH than in CdAq. Both crude extracts have shown activity against MCF-7 cell line although CdEtOH showed better effect than CdAq extract after 72h in MTT and SRB assay, reaching IC50 at 217.90 and 205.90 μg/ml, respectively. Based on obtained results, the saprotrophic fungal species Coprinellus disseminatus (Pers.) J.E. Lange 1938 could be considered as a good potential alternative source of nutraceuticals and biologically active compounds.