Abstract: The antioxidant activities of ethyl acetate extracts (EAE) and absolute ethyl alcohol extracts (AEAE) from the fruiting bodies of Phellinus vaninii (PV), Phellinus himalayensis (PH), Phellinidium aciforum (PA), Nigroporus ussuriensis (NU) and Inonotus obliquus (IO) were evaluated by determining their scavenging rates against 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2-azino-bis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) free radicals. The antioxidants BHT, TBHQ and Trolox were used as positive controls. The results indicated that EAEs from the fruiting bodies of the five Phellinus species significantly differed from AEAEs in their free radical scavenging rate (P ＜ 0.05).  The free radical scavenging rate of AEAE from each Phellinus species was higher than that of EAE. The AEAE from PV exhibited the strongest free radical scavenging capacity with IC50 of 60.74 mg/L for DPPH free radicals and 32.26 mg/L for ABTS free radicals, respectively. However, the IC50 of BHT was 90.51 mg/L for DPPH free radicals. Therefore, the fruiting bodies of PV have stronger antioxidant capacity, and can be used in the food industry as a promising natural substitute for synthetic antioxidants.

Key words: Phellinu, ethyl acetate extract, ethyl alcohol extract, antioxidant, free radical, Phellinus vaninii