Some Wild Mushrooms with High Antioxidant Capacity Exhibit Potent Anticancer Activity on Cancer Cells using the Apoptotic and Antimigration Cell Death Mechanisms.

AIM: This study aims to provide in vitro experimental evidence that wild mushrooms have the potential to be used as a pharmaceutical that could be effective against various types of cancer. BACKGROUND: Throughout human history, besides food, traditional medicine and natural poisons obtained from mushrooms have been used for the treatment of many diseases. Clearly, edible and medicinal mushroom preparations have beneficial health effects without the known severe adverse side effects. OBJECTIVES: This study was designed to reveal the cell growth inhibitory potential of five different edible mushrooms and the biological activity of Lactarius zonarius was shown here for the first time. METHODS: The mushrooms fruiting bodies were dried and powdered then extracted with hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol. The mushroom extracts were screened for possible antioxidant activities by the free radical scavenging activity (DPPH) method. Antiproliferative activity and cytotoxicity of the extracts were investigated in vitro on A549 (human lung carcinoma), HeLa (human cervix carcinoma), HT29 (human colon carcinoma), Hep3B (human hepatoma), MCF7 (human breast cancer), FL (human amnion cells), and Beas2B (normal human cells) cells lines by using MTT cell proliferation assay, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) assay, DNA degradation, TUNEL, and cell migration assay. RESULTS: Using proliferation, cytotoxicity, DNA degradation, TUNEL, and migration assay, we displayed that hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol extracts of the Lactarius zonarius, Laetiporus sulphureus, Pholiota adiposa, Polyporus squamosus, and Ramaria flava were effective on the cells even so at low doses (< 45.0 - 99.6 µg/mL) by acting in a way that represses migration, as a negative inducer of apoptosis. It was also demonstrated that mushroom extracts with high antioxidant effect have within the acceptable cytotoxic activity of 20%-30% on the cell membrane at concentrations higher than 60 µg/mL. Overall, all of the mushroom extracts with high antioxidant effects had strong antiproliferative activity and low toxicity for cells. These findings, at least, highlight that these mushroom extracts can be used for the treatment of cancer disease, especially as a supportive therapy against colon, liver, and lung cancer.

Erythrocyte Membrane Fatty Acid Composition in Premenopausal Patients with Iron Deficiency Anemia.

Iron deficiency anemia (IDA) is one of the most common nutritional disorders in the world. In the present study, we evaluated erythrocyte membrane fatty acid composition in premenopausal patients with IDA. Blood samples of 102 premenopausal women and 88 healthy control subjects were collected. After the erythrocytes were separated from the blood samples, the membrane lipids were carefully extracted, and the various membrane fatty acids were measured by gas chromatography (GC). Statistical analyses were performed with the SPSS software program. We used blood ferritin concentration <15 ng/mL as cut-off for the diagnosis of IDA. The five most abundant individual fatty acids obtained were palmitic acid (16:0), oleic acid (18:1, n-9c), linoleic acid (18:2, n-6c), stearic acid (18:0), and erucic acid (C22:1, n-9c). These compounds constituted about 87% of the total membrane fatty acids in patients with IDA, and 79% of the total membrane fatty acids in the control group. Compared with control subjects, case patients had higher percentages of palmitic acid (29.9% case versus 25.3% control), oleic acid (16.8% case versus 15.1% control), and stearic acid (13.5% case versus 10.5% control), and lower percentages of erucic acid (11.5% case versus 13.6% control) and linoleic acid (15.2% case versus 15.4% control) in their erythrocyte membranes. In conclusion, the total-erythrocyte-membrane saturated fatty acid (SFA) composition in premenopausal women with IDA was found to be higher than that in the control group; however, the total-erythrocyte-membrane unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) composition in premenopausal women with IDA was found to be lower than that in the control group. The differences in these values were statistically significant.

Chemical composition and antimicrobial activity of the essential oils from the gum of Turkish pistachio (Pistacia vera L.).

The essential oil from the gum of Pistachio (Pistacia vera L. (Anacardiaceae)) grown in Turkey was obtained by the hydro-distillation method, and its chemical composition was analyzed by GC and GC-MS. Moreover, the antimicrobial activities of the oil against the growth of 13 bacteria and 3 pathogenic yeasts were evaluated using the agar-disk diffusion and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) methods. The results showed that the essential oil contained about 89.67% monoterpenes, 8.1% oxygenated monoterpenes and 1.2% diterpenes. alpha-Pinene (75.6%), beta-pinene (9.5%), trans-verbenol (3.0%), camphene (1.4%), trans-pinocarveol (about 1.20%), and limonene (1.0%) were the major components. The antimicrobial results showed that the oil inhibited nine bacteria and all the yeasts studied, and the activities were considerably dependent upon concentration and its bioactive compounds such as carvacrol, camphene, and limonene. Moreover, the essential oil of the gum was found to be more effective yeastcide than Nystatin, synthetic yeastcide. Furthermore, the antibacterial activities of the oil were lower than those of standard antibiotics, ampicillin sodium, and streptomycine sulfate under the conditions studied.