Abstract
One strategy to manage resistant pathogens and develop potential anticancer drugs is the search for new, promising, and cost-effective medicinal benefits in the field of bioactive metabolites derived from mushrooms. In the current study, Egyptian cultivated
Pleurotus ostreatus
fruiting bodies polar extract was prepared to evaluate its antimicrobial activities as well as its cytotoxic effect on various cancer cell lines. The
Pleurotus ostreatus
polar extract (PoPE) was characterized by its phenolic and flavonoid content. The phenolics and flavonoids of PoPE were 6.94 and 0.15 mg/g, respectively.
P. ostreatus
polar extract showed potent antimicrobial activity against four pathogens, including
Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus
,
Micrococcus luteus
, and
Escherichia coli
. PoPE was found to inhibit
Fusarium oxysporum
(47%),
Fusarium solani
(28%) as well as
Rhizoctonia solani
(21%). PoPE was found to be 13 times more selective and toxic to MCF-7 cells than Vero normal cells, with the lowest IC50 value (4.5 μg/mL), so they were selected to examine the potential cytotoxic effects of PoPE. In MCF-7 cells, PoPE appeared to promote cell cycle arrest in the sub-G1 stage, as well as apoptosis. It significantly increased TNF-α production while decreasing IL-6 levels. PoPE’s total antioxidant capacity, lipid peroxide, and glutathione reductase activity were recorded 0.14 ± 0.02 mM/L, 15.60 ± 0.015 nmol/mL, and 9.50 ± 1.30 U/L, respectively. The existence of different bioactive metabolites was investigated
via
GC-MS, which confirmed the presence of 15 compounds with well-known biological activity.