
Given the necessity for new oral and inexpensive radioprotective materials coupled with the commercial availability of A. neoformans melanin, with regard to the variable proportions of alkyl chains or oxygenated carbons. auricula melanin manifested structural differences, relative to the C. Validation of the identity of the isolated product as melanin was achieved by EPR analysis. Elemental analysis of melanin indicated C, H, and N ratios consistent with 5,6-dihydroxyindole-2-carboxylic acid/5,6-dihydroxyindole and 1,8-dihydroxynaphthalene eumelanin. Electron microscopy studies show that melanin is associated with the mushroom cell wall in a manner similar to that of melanin from the model fungus C.
#Auricularia auricula free#
auricula is melanin and that the pigment has physicochemical properties consistent with those of eumelanins, including hosting a stable free radical population. Our results show that approximately 10% of the dry mass of A. auricula mushroom preparations for melanin content and carried out structural characterization of isolated insoluble melanin materials using a panel of sophisticated spectroscopic and physical/imaging techniques. Consequently, in this study we have characterized commercial A. We have previously reported that melanin pigment from the edible mushroom Auricularia auricula can protect mice against ionizing radiation, although no physicochemical characterization was reported. Nevertheless, the majority of the reported compounds associated with these desirable properties are non-pigmented. Many of the most widely consumed edible mushrooms are pigmented, and these have been associated with some beneficial health effects.
