OTENTIAL drugs from mushrooms are useful for mankind. The
…. scientific basis for their traditional medicinal uses, the antimicrobial
activities of the crude polysaccharide extract from the
mushroom Pleurotus ostreatus were investigated. In this study,
ethanol and methanol were tested for extraction of mushroom fruit
bodies. Ethanolic and methanolic extracts of fungal fruit bodies
showed somewhat low antagonism towards Staphylococcus aureus
and Salmonella typhi. No anti-biosis due to either ethanolic or
methanolic extracts was detected against Enterobacter faecalis or
Lactobacillus bulgaricus. The fungal members Aspergillus flavus and
Candida albicans, as well, did successfully withstand the existence of
three extracts with no apparent inhibition. Total phenols and ascorbic
acid contents as antioxidant components in the mushrooms fruit
bodies were also detected.