Antioxidant and Cytotoxic Activity of Lentinus fasciatus

The genus Lentinus is one of the most studied and medicinally significant groups among mushrooms. Lentinus fasciatus is a considerably understudied species and a methanolic formulation was evaluated for its medicinal potential. Phytochemical analysis unveiled the presence of a high amount of phenolic substances in the methanolic extract of the basidiocarps of L. fasciatus. The extracted fraction showed notable scavenging properties in in-vitro antioxidant property estimation assays. In the ABTS and DPPH assay, respectively, the EC50 values were 332.12 and 180.78 μg/mL. The mushroom extract was also screened for cytotoxic activity against the human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF-7). The biocidal activity against cancer cells is further proven by the low LD50 value of 246 g/mL in the WST-1 experiment. The background mechanism behind the cytotoxicity was predicted to be mediated by the apoptotic pathways.