Some biological activities of Lactarius vellereus (Fr.) Fr. in Turkey.

Lactarius vellereus is a well known macro fungus used for food in Turkey. Although it has been consumed as food, there is no information on the biological properties. Therefore we aimed to reveal phenolic substances, antioxidant capacity and antimicrobial effect of L. vellereus. Seven phenolics were analysed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) in L. vellereus and four of them were determined to be catechin, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid and cinnamic acid. The scavenging effect of L. vellereus on 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl radicals (DPPH) was measured as 86% at 1 mg mL(-1) concentration and its reducing power was 0.205 at 0.4 mg mL(-1) concentration. The IC50 values were determined as 0.68 mg mL(-1) of L. vellereus, 0.43 mg mL(-1) of BHA and 0.72 mg mL(-1) of BHT. Chloroform, acetone and methanol extracts of L. vellereus were tested for its antimicrobial activities using a micro dilution method against four gram-positive and five gram-negative bacteria. The Minimum Inhibitory Concentration (MIC) was observed with the acetone extract (MIC, 19 microg mL(-1)) against K. pneumoniae. All extracts of the fungus was usually found to be antimicrobial activity against the test microorganisms. The results showed that L. vellereus can be recommended as a source of natural antioxidants and antimicrobials.