Antioxidant properties of fungal chitosan from shiitake stipes

Fungal chitosan B or C was prepared by alkaline N-deacetylation of crude chitin B or C for 60, 90 and 120 min, which was obtained from air-dried shiitake stipes and its antioxidant properties studied. Chitosan showed antioxidant activities of 61.6-82.4% at 1 mg/ml and showed reducing powers of 0.42-0.57 at 10 mg/ml. At 10 mg/ml, scavenging abilities of chitosan B60 and C60 on 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals were 28.4-31.3% whereas those of chitosan B90, B120, C90 and C120 were 44.5-53.5%. With regard to the scavenging ability on hydroxyl radicals at 0.1 mg/ml, chitosan B60 and C60 were 61.9% and 63.6%, chitosan B90 and C90 were 68.3% and 69.9% and chitosan B120 and C120 were 77.7% and 77.2%, respectively. At 1.0 mg/ml, chelating abilities of chitosan B60 and C60 on ferrous ions were 88.7-90.3% whereas those of the rest chitosan were 97.8-103%. EC₅₀ values of antioxidant activity were below 1 mg/ml whereas those of reducing powers and scavenging abilities on DPPH radicals were 7.69-16.3 mg/ml. EC₅₀ values of scavenging abilities on hydroxyl radicals were below 0.1 mg/ml whereas those of chelating abilities on ferrous ions were 0.58-0.69 mg/ml.