FUNCTIONAL STUDY OF BIOACTIVE PROPERTIES OF GLUCANS FROM WILD MUSHROOMS FROM THE TEOLOCHOLCO REGION, TLAXCALA
Resumen
Edible and medicinal mushrooms have great cultural, economic, and ecological significance globally. They are valued for their nutritional and functional properties, particularly their antioxidant, antimicrobial, anticancer, and antidiabetic properties, among others. Among the main bioactive compounds responsible for a significant portion of these bioactivities are ß-glucans. ß-glucans are polymers formed exclusively by glucose units in their main chain, linked by 1,3, 1,4, or 1,6 ß-glucosidic bonds. Mexico is a megadiverse country home to more than 200,000 endemic mushroom species. In Tlaxcala, mushrooms hold great ethnomycological relevance; however, there is limited documentation on the species used and their medicinal properties, as studies primarily focus on ethnomycological aspects and nutritional properties, without exploring their bioactive or functional properties. This research project aims to evaluate the antimicrobial, antioxidant, probiotic, antihyperglycemic, anticancer, and immunomodulatory potential of ß-glucans. A survey was designed for this period to obtain ethnomycological information on mushrooms from the study area (Teolocholco, Tlaxcala). Furthermore, the ß-glucan extraction process was optimized using two methods: hot water extraction and ultrasound-assisted extraction. It was found that the highest percentage of glucan extraction from the mushrooms evaluated was obtained using the hot water extraction method.