Anti-inflammatory activity of mushrooms extracts, identified phenolic acids and their possible metabolites
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abstract
Mushrooms are rich sources of many bioactive compounds, such as phenolic acids, that play
an important role in the organism, acting as antioxidants, antitumors, antimicrobials,
immunomodulators, among others. However, their anti-inflammatory activity has not been
deeply studied. In the present study, the ethanolic extracts of fourteen edible mushroom
species were firstly characterized in terms of phenolic acids and related compounds by
HPLC-PDA, followed by the study of the anti-inflammatory activity of those extracts and
corresponding identified compounds, by using LPS (lipopolysaccharide) activated RAW
264.7 macrophages and measuring the inhibition in NO production. Furthermore, methylated
and glucuronated derivatives of the identified compounds (p-hydroxybenzoic, p-coumaric
and cinnamic acids) were synthesised and evaluated for the same bioactivity to understand
the contribution of these compounds for the overall activity of the extracts, and to establish
structure-activity relationships. Pleurotus ostreatus, Macrolepiota procera, Boletus impolitus
and Agaricus bisporus revealed the strongest anti-inflammatory potential, presenting also the
highest concentration in cinnamic acid, which was also the individual compound displaying
the highest activity. The derivative compounds of p-coumaric acid revealed the strongest
properties, especially the compound CoA-M1 (presenting an ester instead of the carboxylic
group), that exhibited a very similar activity to the one showed by dexamethasone, used as
anti-inflammatory standard. On the contrary, p-hydroxybenzoic acid derivatives revealed the
lowest activity. Overall, the conjugation reactions change the chemical structure of phenolic
acids and may increase or decrease their activity; nevertheless, the glucuronated and
methylated derivatives of the studied compounds are still displaying anti-inflammatory
activity.
