Compared to plants, nowadays mushrooms attract more attention as functional foods, due to a number of advantages in manipulating them. This study aimed to screen the chemical composition (fatty acids and phenolics) and antioxidant potential (OH•, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH•) and ferric reducing ability of plasma (FRAP)) of two edible mushrooms, Coprinus comatus and Coprinellus truncorum, collected from nature and submerged cultivation. Partial least square regression analysis has pointed out the importance of some fatty acids—more precisely, unsaturated fatty acids (UFAs) followed by fatty acids possessing both short (C6:0 and C8:0) and long (C23:0 and C24:0) saturated chains—and phenolic compounds (such as protocatechuic acid, daidzein, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, genistein and vanillic acid) for promising anti-OH•, FRAP and anti-DPPH• activities, respectively. However, other fatty acids (C16:0, C18:0 and C18:3n3) along with the flavonol isorhamnetin are actually suspected to negatively affect (by acting pro-oxidative) the aforementioned parameters, respectively. Taken together, design of new food supplements targeting oxidative stress might be predominantly based on the various UFAs combinations (C18:2n6, C20:1, C20:2, C20:4n6, C22:2, C22:1n9, etc.), particularly if OH• is suspected to play an important role.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are well known for their physicochemical properties that recommend them for many purposes. However, many ILs are not environmentally friendly. Bearing these facts in mind, a series of imidazoliumand salicylate-based ILs with low general toxicity were designed and their pharmacological potential studied. Herein, their antiproliferative effect against human cancer cell lines and antimicrobial activity on selected Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and Candida strains are presented. ILs with 1-butyl--3-methylimidazolium or imidazolium cation (IL 1 and compound 5), with the lowest dipole moments and highest lipophilicity, exerted highest cytotoxicity against colon and/or lung cancer cells, manifesting high selectivity to the normal cells. The most non-polar IL with the 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium cation expressed the strongest anticancer potential, but it was also toxic against normal cells, although its cytotoxicity was less than the cytotoxic effect of commercially used chemotherapeutic agents. The same compounds, IL 1 and compound 5, expressed modest effect on the bacterial strain that causes serious lung diseases and pulmonary infections (Staphylococcus aureus) or which are included in colon cancer formation (Esherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis). Salicylate itself was toxic against lung cancer cell line A549 and affected some Candida strains.

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 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 were 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.