Neolentinus lepideus is a fungus consumed by rural communities in Central America and Asia due to its rich flavor; however, little information on its chemical composition is available. With this in mind, the objective of this work was to determine the content of vitamin E and C, ergosterol, phenolic compounds of this fungus as well as its antioxidant capacity. The quantified bioactive compounds were two isoforms of vitamin E highlighting &#945;-tocopherol (3370.35 mg/100 g dry weight (DW) and ergosterol (11.70 mg/100 g DW). The total phenolic content was 164.80 mg gallic acid equivalents/100 g and nine phenolic compounds were identified (protocatechuic, p -hydroxybenzoic, caffeic, vanillic, ferulic, salicylic, p -anisic, t -cinnamic acids, and scopoletin). The highest antioxidant capacity was detected in the lipophilic extract with TEAC (27688 µmoles Trolox equivalents/100 g). These results suggest that lipophilic compounds are among the main bioactive compounds in N. lepideus and they might exhibit the highest radical scavenging properties in non-polar extracts.
Contribution of Bioactive Compounds to the Antioxidant Capacity of the Edible Mushroom Neolentinus lepideus