The phenolic composition and antioxidant capacity of four Tunisian lichen species, Cladonia rangiformis, Flavoparmelia caperata, Squamarina cartilaginea and Xanthoria parietina, were determined in order to provide a better understanding of their lichenochemical composition. Powdered material of F. caperata was the richest in total phenolic content (956.68 μg GAE g−1 DW) and S. cartilaginea in proanthocyanidin content (77.31 μg CE g−1 DW), while the acetone extract of X. parietina showed the highest flavonoid content (9.56 μg CE g−1 DW). The antioxidant capacity of all lichen extracts and crude material was evaluated by DPPH. scavenging, iron‐chelating, and iron‐reducing powers. Results showed that methanol extracts of S. cartilaginea had the highest DPPH. antioxidant capacity (IC50=0.9 μg mL−1) and the highest iron‐reducing power was attributed to the acetone extract of this species. All extracts of all species were further screened by Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FT‐IR) and nuclear resonance spectroscopy (NMR); results showed an abundance of phenols, aromatic compounds, and fatty acids. Overall, our results showed that the investigated species are a rich source of potentially bioactive compounds with valuable properties.

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The lichen's special symbiotic structure enables it to produce bioactive substances. They have historically been recognized for their aesthetic and medicinal benefits. Furthermore, in recent years, they have performed in various fields, including perfumery, dyeing, and pharmacology due to their rich secondary metabolites. From our study, four compounds were isolated from organic extracts of Parmotrema hypoleucinum, Roccella phycopsis, and Xanthoria parietina and identified by spectroscopic investigation as atranorin, (+)-iso-usnic acid, methyl orsellinate, and parietin, respectively. The anti-inflammatory effects of lichens extracts, and pure compounds were evaluated on RAW 264.7 macrophages cells at different concentrations. At 25 μg/mL all treated samples did not show any effect on cell viability. Atranorin and (+)-iso-usnic acid showed an inhibitory effect on nitric oxide (NO) levels in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages. Nitric oxide (NO) production was measured using Griess reagent, atranorin and (+)-iso-usnic acid showed a high anti-inflammatory potential (75.99 % and 57.27 % at 25 μg/mL). On the other hand, methyl orsellinate and the organic extracts of three lichens showed good anti-inflammatory activity ranging from 29.16 % at 25 μg/mL to 86.91 % at 100 μg/mL.

In conclusion, we showed that there was no appreciable degradation and that the activity was kept constant after gastric and pancreatic juice digestion.

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This study is, to our knowledge, the first to investigate the pharmacological importance of wild Tunisian mushrooms. Ethanolic extracts of 5 Tunisian mushrooms-Phellinus torulosus, Fomes fomentarius, Trametes versicolor, Pisolithus albus, and Fomitopsis pinicola-were collected from the Kroumirie Region (North Tunisia). The dry basidomes of mushrooms were extracted using ethanol and evaluated for total polyphenol, flavonoid, flavonol, tannin, proanthocyanidin, and anthocyanin content. In addition, their antioxidant activities were determined using 3 assays (testing 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl [DPPH] radical scavenging, the reducing power of iron, and the iron-chelating power). Their antimicrobial activities were assessed against 8 bacterial species. The results revealed the presence of significant differences between the secondary metabolites and biological activities of the different tested extracts. In addition, significant correlations were observed between antioxidant activities and phenolic contents. Crude ethanol extracts prepared from basidomes of F. fomentarius and Ph. torulosus have higher total phenolic content and antioxidant activity per the DPPH and metal-chelating activity assays. The reducing power assay showed that the ethanolic extract of F. pinicola had the highest activity. Ethanolic extracts of the 5 mushrooms have antibacterial activity against the evaluated strains.

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