Antiradical and antioxidant activities of methanolic extracts of indigenous termitarian mushroom from Tanzania

Termitomyces mushrooms grow symbiotically with termites. They are abundantly distributed in the country, mostly consumed and liked by people. However, their antiradical and antioxidants activities are not yet established. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative values of antiradical and antioxidant of crude methanolic extracts of six Termitomyces species (T. titanicus, T. aurantiacus, T. letestui, T. clypeatus, T. microcarpus and T. eurhizus) were investigated. The investigation used DPPH (1, 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl) free radical as a substrate to determine both scavenging abilities and antiradical activities. Antioxidant was further analysed quantitatively for β-carotene, flavonoid content, total phenolic compounds and vitamin C content in the crude methanolic extracts using spectrophotometric assay at 515 ηm. The result showed that they all exhibited scavenging ability and antiradical activity although the ability differed markedly among the species. The highest antiradical activity unit (EAU515) was from T. microcarpus (EAU515 1.48) followed by T. aurantiacus (EAU515 1.43) while the lowest was from T. eurhizus (EAU515 0.7). The scavenging power was also highest in T. microcarpus (EC50 < 0.1 mg/ml) followed by T. letestui (EC50 = 0.14 mg/ml); while T. eurhizus showed the least power (EC50 = 0.36 mg/ml). In quantitative analysis, T. microcarpus was also found having high content of phenols, Flavonoid, and β-carotene except lycopene and Vitamin C content which were high in T. aurantiacus and T. eurhizus respectively. Based on these results, all studied termitarian mushroom are good source of antioxidants while T. microcarpus could be considered as potential antiradicals of high profile thus thought for selection in preparation of mushroom-based nutraceutics. The results also endorse the continuing harvesting of these wild mushrooms for including them in our daily food for healthy diets.