Acetone extract of Flammulina velutipes caps: A promising source of antioxidant and anticancer agents

Diversity and Ethno-Mycopharmacological Insights of Medicinal Mushrooms of the Bangus Valley of Jammu and Kashmir, India

The present study was carried out in various regions of Jammu and Kashmir, India, for the diversity and pharmacology of wild mushrooms. The valley is bestowed with alpine meadows and dense coniferous forest. Because of its isolation, security concerns, and line of control, most of these locations either have been little investigated or are entirely undiscovered. During the intensive survey of various locations, 20 mushroom species were collected from the surveyed areas. The ethno-mycological information was gathered from tribal communities and local herbalists (hakims). It was observed that 16 species were used against cold, constipation, liver and skin disorders, digestion problems, wound healing, and the like. However, these medicinal mushrooms are losing their relevance, so there is an urgent need to explore and preserve this knowledge for future use as medicine.

Plasma-Treated Flammulina velutipes-Derived Extract Showed Anticancer Potential in Human Breast Cancer Cells

Natural products with medicinal properties are among alternative therapies of interest due to their high body tolerance. We aimed to determine whether nonthermal gas plasma could enhance the medicinal value of Flammulina velutipes mushrooms. Generated gas plasma was characterized by its emission spectrum in ambient air, pH, temperature, and H2O2 and NOx concentrations after exposure for various periods. Phenolic and flavonoid contents in the extracts were measured using antioxidant assays and Fourier transform infrared and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy. We analyzed the effects of the plasma-treated mushroom-derived extracts against breast carcinoma using the MCF7 and MDA-MB231 cell lines. The extracts significantly and concentration dependently inhibited the growth of breast cancer cells without inducing toxicity in normal MCF10A cells, and induced apoptosis via oxidative stress, evidenced by DNA damage (γ-H2AX foci formation), and increased the population of MCF7 breast cancer cells arrested in the G2/M phase of the cell cycle. The extracts also induced mitochondrion-mediated apoptosis of MCF7 cells through cytochrome c release and caspase cleavage activity. The plasma improved the biological activity of mushrooms by increasing their phenolic compounds that prevented the growth of breast cancer cells in vitro.