Cytotoxicity of blended versus single medicinal mushroom extracts on human cancer cell lines: contribution of polyphenol and polysaccharide content.

The use of mushrooms contributes to human nutrition by providing low lipid content of lipids and high dietary fiber content, as well as significant content of other biologically active compounds such as polysaccharides, minerals, vitamins, and polyphenolic antioxidants. This study aimed to determine the content of polyphenols and polysaccharides, as well as the cytotoxic and antioxidative properties of several medicinal mushroom preparations. The content of total phenols and flavonoids of preparations of blended mushroom extracts (Lentifom, Super Polyporin, Agarikon, Agarikon Plus, Agarikon.1, and Mykoprotect.1) was evaluated quantitatively by using ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy spectrophotometric methods. The antioxidant capacity of the preparations was evaluated using the ABTS (2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) and ferric reducing/antioxidant power assays. The content of water-soluble polysaccharides was determined using a specific gravimetric method, based on ethanol precipitation. To determine cytotoxic effects of single and blended mushroom extracts, MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and neutral red assays were conducted using human small cell lung cancer, lung adenocarcinoma, colon cancer, and brain astrocytoma cancer cells. The obtained results suggest that due to the significant content of beneficial polyphenolic antioxidants and soluble polysaccharides, use of these mushroom preparations is beneficial in maintaining good health, as well as in the prevention and adjuvant biotherapy of various human pathological aberrations. These results reveal that these extracts exhibit different cytotoxic effects on tumor cells originating from different tissues. In addition, the comparison of investigated blended mushroom extracts with three well-known commercial mushroom products derived from single mushroom species or single mushroom compounds shows that blended mushroom extracts exhibit significantly stronger cytotoxic effects on human tumor cell lines.