Targeted isolation of photoactive pigments from mushrooms yielded a highly potent new photosensitizer: 7,7'-biphyscion.

ABSTRACT: Pigments of fungi are a fertile ground of inspiration: they spread across various chemical backbones, absorption ranges, and bioactivities. However, basidiomycetes with strikingly colored fruiting bodies have never been explored as agents for photodynamic therapy (PDT), even though known photoactive compound classes (e.g., anthraquinones or alkaloids) are used as chemotaxonomic markers. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that the dyes of skin-heads (dermocyboid Cortinarii) can produce singlet oxygen under irradiation and thus are natural photosensitizers. Three photosensitizers based on anthraquinone structures were isolated and photopharmaceutical tests were conducted. For one of the three, i.e., (-)-7,7'-biphyscion (1), a promising photoyield and photocytotoxicity of EC₅₀

SUBMITTER: Hammerle F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8782903 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature