Cytotoxic activity of the crude polysaccharides/exopolysaccharides of Coprinus comatus and Coprinellus truncorum.

Fungi are an important source of polysaccharides (PSH) and phenolic compounds (PC). Numerous studies have highlighted the beneficial effects of fungal consumption, but the impact of submerged cultivated mycelia (M) and filtrate (F) has not been fully investigated. We aimed to investigate the cytotoxic activity of isolated crude PSH and exopolysaccharides (ePSH) of submerged cultivated M and F of edible Coprinus comatus and Coprinellus truncorum species. Both PSH and ePSH exhibited significant cytotoxic activity towards HepG2 cancer cells of human origin (three-way ANOVA). The C. truncorum PSH/ePSH was more efficient inducing maximal reduction in cell viability (≈50% at 450 µg/mL) after 24 h while C. comatus PSH/ePSH needed 72 h to reach similar effect (≈60% at 450 µg/mL). Partial least square regression (PLSR) analysis indicated that specific phenolic composition of the PSH/ePSH could be responsible for the difference in their activity.