Proceedings of the 5 th Congress of the Ecologists of Macedonia, with international participation (Ohrid, 19 th —22 nd October 2016) Special issues of the Macedonian Ecological Society 13 pp. 8-13 Skopje (2017) ISBN-13 978-9989-648-37-3 Original scientific article Available online at: www.mes.org.mk Phenolic content and antioxidant activity of selected wild mushrooms from Tricholomataceae family, collected in Macedonia Daniela Nikolovska-Nedelkoska 1 , Oliver Tusevski 2 , Katerina Rusevska 2 , Sonja Gadzovska Simic 2 , Mitko Karadelev 2 1 Faculty of Technology and Technical Sciences, St. Kliment Ohridski University, D. Vlahov bb, 1400 Veles, Republic of Macedonia 2 Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University, Arhimedova 5, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia Abstract. Macrofungi have long been valued as nutritional food and an important part of the traditional medicine by different cultures worldwide. They contain large number of secondary metabolites which have antioxidant properties. Phenolic compounds are widely distributed secondary metabolites in mushrooms, that are correlated with their antioxidant activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the content of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of three wild species belonging to two genera of Tricholomataceae family: Collybia peronata, Tricholoma aurantium and T. stans. Antioxidant properties of the selected fungi were assayed using DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl) radical scavenging capacity method. Total phenolic content in the methanolic extract of the mature fruiting bodies was determined by Folin-Ciocalteu’s colorimetric method, while for the determination of the flavonoid content was used aluminium chloride colorimetric method. The highest content of total phenolic compounds was found in Tricholoma stans (19.43±0.70 mg GAE/g DW), followed by T. aurantium and Collybia peronata (15.93±0.58 and 10.60±0.26 mg GAE/g DW, respectively). The highest flavonoid content was also determined for the extract of T. stans (3,47±0.18 mg QE/g). Among the tested samples, T. aurantium fruiting body extract was the strongest DPPH scavenger with the lowest EC 50 value (0.30), followed by the extracts of T. stans and C. peronata (0.32 and 0.61, respectively). This study demonstrated that the analysed wild macrofungi (Collybia peronata, Tricholoma aurantium and T. stans) have the potential to accumulate phenolics as bioactive secondary metabolites that possess antioxidant activity . Key words: Collybia, Tricholoma, Antioxidant, Phenolics, Flavonoids. 8 I ntroduction Fungi form an important component of different ecosystems, with roles to serve as food for a variety of organisms, enhancing the soil structure and biodegrading dead plant and animal remains (Anderson & Lake 2013). Higher fungi, namely macrofungi or macromycetes are characterized by the production of macroscopic fruiting bodies, which generate and distribute mushroom spores. Fruiting bodies of mushrooms have long been appreciated not only for unique flavor and texture, but also for their nutritional value (Kalač 2012). In addition, higher fungi synthesize a multitude of low-molecular -weight compounds known as secondary metabolites that unlike the primary metabolites, are not directly required to ensure growth of the organism, but have an important role as chemical signals for communications, to defend organism habitat or to inhibit the growth of competitors (Brakhage 2013). Studies have shown that some of these metabolites have anticancer, anticholesterolenic, hepatoprotective, antidiabetic, antimicrobial, and immunomodulatory activities (Rai et al. 2005). Mushrooms accumulate a variety of secondary metabolites including phenolic compounds, polyketides, terpenes, indole alkaloides and steroids (Keller et al. 2005). Phenolic compounds, widely distributed metabolites in mushrooms, have been shown to act as an excellent antioxidants (Cheung et al. 2003; Barros et al. 2007; Bai 2013). They are multifunctional antioxidants, that may act as reducing agents by donating hydrogen and as singlet oxygen quenchers (Dubost 2007). The dietary intake of mushroom phenolics may help the * Author for correspondence: daniela.nedelkoska@uklo.edu.mk Proceedings of the 5 th Congress of the Ecologists of the Republic of Macedonia with international participation