Transubstantiating commercial mushroom market with ultrasonically ultrasized mushroom powders showcasing higher bioactivity.

Mushrooms that have been restricted to fresh markets have now entered commercial and pharmaceutical markets. However, not much research has been targeted on testing the efficiency of these commercialized mushroom powders or capsules. For the first time, efforts were made to study the bioactive properties and antimicrobial properties of four predominant mushroom capsules available for commercial purposes. Then, these commercial mushroom powders were downsized to ultrasized fine powders by sonication and then their properties were compared against the commercialized ones. The results indicated that the bioactive properties and the antioxidant properties of these powders when used as marketed capsules was very less. It was following ultrasonication assisted size reduction that the cumulative bioactivity related properties got accelerated. Micro size reduction of the mushroom powders lead to significant enhancement of antiviral properties compared to antibacterial and antifungal properties. This work demonstrates that commercialization of mushroom as powders could realize higher impact through sonication assisted ultrasizing and even nanosizing.
(Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.)