Antioxidant properties of two Lactarius wild species from the Northeast of Portugal
Conference Paper
Overview
Overview
abstract
FCT (Portugal) and COMPETE/QREN/EU for financial support through
PTDC/AGR/ALI/11 0062/2009 research project and PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011 CIMO strategic
project
Wild mushrooms are widely appreciated not only for their organoleptic and nutritional properties,
but also for their medicinal potential due to the accumulation of bioactive compounds. They have
been described as a source of many antioxidant compounds such as phenolic compounds,
tocopherols, ascorbic acid and carotenoids (1]. In the present work, the antioxidant properties of
two wild Lactarius species from the Northeast of Portugal (Lactarius citroleus and Lactarius
plumbeus) were evaluated for the first time, allowing the comparison between these two species.
The antioxidant properties were determined through five different assays. The reducing power of
the samples was assessed through the Folin-Ciocalteu (or total phenolics) and the
Ferricyanide/Prussian blue assays. To evaluate the radical scavenging activity, the DPPH-2,2-
diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazylassay was applied. Lipid peroxidation inhibition was measured through
two different assays: β-carotene/linoleate (or β-carotene bleaching inhibition) and TBARSthiobarbituric-
acid-reactive-species assays. Although L. plumbeus has shown the highest content
in total phenolics (22.02 mg of gallic acid equivalents/g extract), L. citroleus presented the highest
reducing power determined by the Ferricyanide/Prussian blue assay (EC50=1 .53 mg/ml ). L.
plumbeus revealed the highest radical scavenging activity (EC50=4.18 mg/ml) as also the highest
lipid peroxidation inhibition measured by β-carotene/linoleate assay (EC50=4.92 mg/ml).
Nevertheless the lowest EC50 value for TSARS assay was revealed by L. citroleus (0.57 mg/ml).
This study contributes for the inventorying of the wild mushroom species from the Northeast of
Portugal, providing more information about the antioxidant potential of these natural matrices.
