Free radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory activities of the extracts of Astraeus hygrometricus (Pers.) Morg.

The present study was aimed to evaluate free radical scavenging and anti-inflammatory potential of extracts of Astraeus hygrometricus - a tropical wild edible mushroom. Free radical scavenging potential of crude, boiled and ethanolic extracts was studied using different in vitro antioxidant models. The anti-inflammatory activity of the potential extract was evaluated in carrageenan and dextran induced acute and formalin induced chronic inflammatory model in mice. Among all the extracts, ethanolic extract possesses significant in vitro superoxide anion, hydroxyl radical scavenging and lipid peroxidation inhibition activities. The IC50 values of ethanolic extracts of A. hygrometricus represented 357.95, 81.2 and 87.96 μg/ml respectively. Furthermore, the ethanolic extract showed remarkable anti-inflammatory activity in all models comparable to the standard reference drug diclofenac. The results suggest that anti-inflammatory activity of the ethanolic extract of A. hygrometricus is possibly attributed to its free radical scavenging properties. Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aires