African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 6 (9), pp. 1144-1150, 2 May 2007   

ISSN 1684–5315 © 2007 Academic Journals        

Full Length Research Paper

In vitro cytotoxicity and antioxidant activity of Agaricus subrufescens extracts

Ricardo J. Lavitschka¹, Carlos R Oliveira³, Douglas Mascara¹, Priscila A. Faria¹, Claudia Bincoletto² and Elisa Esposito ^1*

¹Núcleo de Ciências Ambientais (NCA), Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes (UMC), Mogi das Cruzes, SP, Brasil.

²Centro Interdisciplinar de Investigação Bioquímica (CIIB), Universidade de Mogi das Cruzes (UMC), Mogi das Cruzes, SP, Brasil.

³Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas – IV (ICB-IV), Universidade de São Paulo (USP), São Paulo, SP, Brasil.

*Corresponding authors E-mail: elisa@umc.br.  Tel: +55-11-4798-7106. Fax: +55-11-4798-7106.

Accepted 30 March, 2007

Agaricus blazei Murill, most recently referred as Agaricus subrufescens is a fungus that belongs to the Brazilian diversity and, considered as an important producer of bioactive compounds beneficial to human health. Studies have demonstrated that these compounds present immunomodulatory, antioxidant and antitumor properties. However, there is little information about the appropriate methodology for obtaining extracts with biological activities and their possible citotoxicity. The mushroom extracts were evaluated by cytotoxicity assays using primary cultures of granulocytes and macrophages colony forming cells (CFU-GM) and established V79 cell line. Lipoperoxidation analysis using fibroblast V79 cells were also conducted. The extract fraction that produced a crystalline product was obtained from the alcoholic extraction at 60°C. This fraction exhibited an antioxidant activity on mitochondrial membranes and did not present cytotoxic activity on concentrations lower than 2.5 mg/mL in both cells systems evaluated CFU-GM and V79. Moreover, no significant alterations on the fibroblast V79 adhesion or proliferation capacity was observed. We suggest that the alcoholic fraction obtained from A. subrufescens at 60°C has a great potential for biotechnological application since it is easily obtained and presented low cytotoxicity potential.

Key words: Agaricus subrufescens, lipoperoxidation, CFU-GM, cytotoxicity, V79 cells.