Physiological activity of tofu fermented with mushroom mycelia

Tofu was fermented with Lentinus edodes (TLE) and Pleurotus ostreatus (TPO) mycelia to improve physiological functionality, and the isoflavone content and α-glucosidase inhibition activity, as well as the anti-cancer and anti-inflammation activities, were investigated. Most of the isoflavones (89.9%) in unfermented tofu occurred in the form of glycosides, whereas TLE and TPO contained higher percentages of aglycone forms (51.3% and 89.1%). α-Glucosidase inhibitory activities in TLE (60.7%) and TPO (80.3%) were 1.6 and 2.1 times higher than those (39.0%) in unfermented tofu, respectively. The inhibitory activities of TPO, against cell growth in the human colon adenocarcinoma grade II cell line (HT-29) and the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7), were 42% and 95% at 1000 μg/ml, respectively. The highest inhibitory activity (44%) for nitric oxide production in lipopolysaccharide-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells was found for TPO at 500 μg/ml. It was concluded that fermentation might enhance the physiological function of tofu.