Bioactive compounds and in vitro evaluation of antioxidant capacities, antimicrobial properties, and effectiveness of cytotoxicity of three edible mushrooms from Egypt

Many edible mushrooms have been evaluated as new therapeutic alternatives with various activities. We focused this work to estimate the antioxidant, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity effects of three edible aqueous mushroom extracts: Agaricus bisporus (white button mushroom), Pleurotus ostreatus (pearl oyster mushroom), and Pleurotus pulmonarius (Phoenix mushroom). The biochemical analysis of extracts revealed marked variations for total carbohydrate, protein, phenolic, and flavonoid contents. The three extracts were tested for antioxidant activities using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl-hydrazyl-hydrate (DPPH) radical scavenging assay. Pleurotus ostreatus had a potential antioxidant capacity with lowest IC50 value (13.26 µg/mL). Distinct variable degrees of antimicrobial activity were detected against five reference microbial strains, exerting the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) ranging from 28 to 89 mg/ml. Agaricus bisporus exhibited the highest cytotoxicity against EAC cells with cell viability 68% and showed an evidenced inhibitory action against human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7) based on Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay.