Abstract
The ethanol extracts of 47 mushroom species from the order Boletales were tested for their free radical scavenging activities by means of the DPPH free-radical scavenging and hydrogen peroxide-induced luminol chemiluminescence assays. In the DPPH radical scavenging test, 26 species gave EC50 values of less than 1 mg/mL. The highest activity was exhibited by Gyrodon lividus (0.05 mg/mL). However, in the hydrogen peroxide-induced luminol chemiluminescence assay, only 4 species had EC50 values of less than 1 mg/mL, with the highest activity being exhibited by Strobilomyces floccopus (0.26 mg/mL). When compared with known antioxidants, all the mushroom extracts exhibited relatively low activity in both assays. The free radical scavenging results appeared to be correlated with the total phenol contents of the extracts.