Context: Terfezia boudieri Chatin (Pezizaceae), Agaricus brunnescens Peck (Agaricaceae) and Lactarius vellereus (Fr.) Fr. (Russulaceae) are well-known species in Turkey, and are used both for food and traditional medicine. Objective: The powdered fruit bodies of T. boudieri, A. brunnescens and L. vellereus were used to evaluate the antimicrobial activities. Materials and methods: Chloroform, acetone and methanol extracts of T. boudieri, A. brunnescens and L. vellereus were tested for their antimicrobial activities against four Gram-positive bacteria, five Gram-negative bacteria and yeast using a micro-dilution method. Results: The strongest minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) value observed against the test microorganisms was with the chloroform extract of T. boudieri (MIC 2.4 mg/mL) against Streptococcus pyogenes. Maximum antimicrobial effects were observed with the acetone extracts of T. boudieri and L. vellereus (MIC 4.8 mg/mL) against Bacillus subtilis. The strongest antifungal activity was observed with the acetone extracts of T. boudieri (MIC 2.4 mg/mL) and A. brunnescens (MIC 19.5 mg/mL) against Candida albicans. The strongest MIC values for all fungal extracts were observed between 78 and 2.4 mg/mL. Discussion and conclusion: Present results demonstrated that these three mushroom species have excellent antimicrobial and antifungal activities, and thus have great potential as a source for natural health products.

Despite considerable recent work to reveal different features of mushrooms species, the few studies of antiviral activities are inadequate and therefore further studies are required. Morchella conica, M. esculenta, Terfezia boudieri, Pleurotus ostreatus, Tricholoma anatolicum, Fomes fomentarius, Laetiporus sulphureus, Phellinus igniarius, Porodaedalea pini, and Pyrofomes demidoffii from Turkey were investigated to reveal their in vitro cytotoxic and anti-herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) activities. The crude methanol extracts (MEs) and aqueous extracts (AEs) of fungal species and acyclovir (ACV) were used. Various dilutions were used to assess the cytotoxic effects of fungal species (50-0.10 mg/mL) and ACV (500-0.98 μg/mL) on uninfected Vero cells. Maximum nontoxic concentrations were determined for all extracts and ACV by comparing the optical densities of their cell controls. The concentration providing 50% protection against the cytopathic effect caused by the virus, extracts, and ACV (EC50) was calculated, and the half-maximal cytotoxic concentration (CC50) and the selectivity index (SI) were determined, the latter as the ratio of CC50 to EC50. While the AEs of F. fomentarius (EC50, 11.22 mg/mL; SI > 4.46), Ph. igniarius (EC50, 9.71 mg/mL; SI > 5.15), and P. pini (EC50, 7.16 mg/mL; SI > 6.98) showed considerable antiherpetic activity, MEs and AEs of the other fungal species did not showed any effects. The EC50 and SI of ACV were determined as 0.20 μg/mL and 3085, respectively. The results demonstrate that F. fomentarius, Ph. igniarius, and P. pini have important anti-HSV-1 activity.

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The trend towards natural products in the world is increasing due to the increased drug resistance of infectious diseases, the high prices for drugs and the difficulty of access. Also, bacterial or viral diseases that are difficult to treat and need a long time for proper treatment cause important infections in people. Since effective drugs could not be developed for most viral infections, it is very important to find natural products against viruses to introduce them to the world of science. The antiviral activities of the aqueous and methanol extract from Ferula halophila Peşmen, an endemic species to Turkey, has been investigated against human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV, ATCC-VR-26). The cytotoxic and antiviral properties of plant extracts were investigated in HRSV / HEp-2 cell systems, respectively by the colorimetric MTT assay. In the study, the titer of RSV was used as 100 TCID50 (50% tissue culture infective dose). While MNTC (Maximum non-toxic concentration) of methanol extract was 195.313 µg/mL and CC50 (50% cytotoxic concentration) was 4366.22 µg/mL, it was determined as MNTC = 390.625 µg/mL and CC50 = 4366.22 for aqueous extract. According to the results, methanol extract showed more toxicity than the aqueous extract. The MNTC of Ribavirin used as a positive control was determined as 0.98 µg/mL and CC50 was 110.40 µg/mL. As a result of the study, it was determined that the methanol extract was not effective, whereas the aqueous extract had a significant anti-HRSV activity with the values of 50.69 µg/mL EC50 (50% Effective Concentration) and 97.54 Selectivity Index (SI). The EC50 and SI values of Ribavirin were 2.39 µg/mL and 46.19, respectively. According to the results, we can explain the presence of antiviral activity only in the aqueous extract and the absence in the methanol extract by the high toxicity of it and the insolubility of the antiviral compounds in the methanol extract. Özet: Dünyada doğal ürünlere yönelik eğilim, enfeksiyöz hastalıkların ilaç direncindeki artış, yüksek ilaç fiyatları ve erişim zorluğu nedeniyle artmaktadır. Ayrıca, tedavisi zor ve uzun süren bakteriyal veya viral hastalıklar insanlar üzerinde önemli enfeksiyonlara neden olur. Çoğu viral enfeksiyon için etkili bir ilaç geliştirilemediğinden, virüslere karşı doğal ürünlerin bulunması ve bilim dünyasına tanıtılması çok önemlidir. Bu amaçla, Türkiye'ye endemik bir tür olan Ferula halophila Peşmen'den elde edilen su ve metanol ekstrelerinin antiviral aktiviteleri, insan solunum sinsityal virüsüne (HRSV, ATCC-VR-26) karşı araştırılmıştır. Çalışmada, bitki ekstrelerinin sitotoksik ve antiviral özellikleri sırasıyla, HRSV/HEp-2 hücre sistemlerinde kolorimetrik MTT deneyi ile araştırılmıştır. RSV'nin titresi 100 DKID50 (%50 Doku kültürü infektif doz) olarak kullanılmıştır. Metanol ekstresinin MNTC'u (Maksimum non toksik konsantrasyon) 195,313 µg/mL ve CC50'u (%50 sitotoksik konsantrasyon) 4366,22 µg/mL, su ekstresinin ise MNTC'u 390,625 µg/mL ve CC50 4366,22 olarak belirlenmiştir. Sonuçlara göre metanol ekstresi su ekstre...