Abstract: In this paper, the antioxidant activities in vitro of polysaccharides (MEMP) and zinc-containing polysaccharides (MEMZP) from Morchella esculenta mycelium cultured in liquid PDA medium with and without added zinc were studied using the Fenton method, the pyrogallol self-oxidation method and the 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) scavenging method. Moreover, in order to evaluate the antioxidant activities in vivo, aging mice induced by intraperitoneal injection of D-galactose (100 mg/(kg·d)) served as control and aging mice treated with MEMP and MEMZP (320 mg/(kg·d)) as treatment groups. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) and malondialdehyde (MDA) content were measured in liver, kidney and serum after 30 consecutive days of administration. The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of MEMP and MEMZP were 0.56 and 0.36 mg/mL for scavenging of hydroxyl radical, 0.62 and 0.46 mg/mL for scavenging of superoxide anion radical, and 0.68 and 0.58 mg/mL for scavenging of DPPH radical, respectively. MEMZP could improve SOD and CAT activities (by 9.32% and 36.73%) in the liver of aging mice, decrease significantly MDA content (by 90.71%) (P < 0.05) when compared with MEMP. The antioxidant activities of MEMZP were higher than those of MEMP in a dose-dependent manner in a certain dose range.

Key words: Morchella esculenta, polysaccharose, zinc-enriched culture, antioxidant activity