Antiradical and antidiabetic activity of Pleurotus ostreatus extracts

Mushrooms have been an important part of the diet for centuries. There are more than 2,000 different species of mushrooms found in the nature, but only 25 species are generally used in the human diet, and even fewer are grown commercially. One of the more popular mushrooms for cultivation and culinary use are mushrooms of the genus Pleurotus. The objectives of this study were: (i) preparation of isolates from the basidiomycetes Pleurotus ostreatus by sequential extraction with cold and hot water, extraction with hot water and extraction with hot alkali solution for determination of antiradical activity and (ii) preparation of water and 70% ethanol extracts for determination of antidiabetic activity. The antiradical activity of the extracts was determined using spectrophotometric method based on inhibition of free radical 2,2- diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl. Antidiabetic activity was determined using α- amylase inhibition assay with DNSA reagent and spectrophotometric determination. As a result of the work carried out, it was found that the preparations obtained by extraction exhibit antiradical activity. Regarding antidiabetic activity, all tested extracts showed considerable antidiabetic activity. Moreover, water extracts were inhibiting α-amylase significantly more than ethanol extracts at higher concentrations of dry extract (50 and 100 mg/mL), whereas at lower concentrations (1 and 10 mg/mL) of ethanol extracts were more efficient than water ones.