A factorial randomised design was used with five concentrations of LiCl, three harvests, and three replicates, to obtain the following variables: biological efficiency (BE), crude protein content and mineral contents. The data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA), Tukey test or regression at 5% significance using SAS statistical software FRAX597 mouse Version 9.1, licensed to Federal University

of Viçosa. The BE of the mushrooms was affected only by the harvest (P < 0.05), with a higher EB at the first harvest ( Table 1). The minerals most abundant in the substrate, coffee husk, were Ca and K (Table 2). In the mushrooms K was also the most abundant, followed by P, S, and Mg (Table 2). Additionally Al, Cd, Cu, Cr, Ni and Pb concentrations were below the limit of detection, respectively, 3.0, 1.0, 0.4, 2.0, 5.0 and selleck chemicals llc 10.0 μg L−1 in the P. ostreatus mushrooms enriched or not with Li. The percentage of crude protein ( Table 2) was not altered by the LiCl concentration in the coffee husk nor by the harvesting time (P > 0.05). Presence of Li was also observed

in coffee husk without LiCl addition and in the non-enriched mushrooms ( Table 2, Fig. 1). Lithium added in the substrate was efficiently accumulated in the mushrooms. The concentration of Li in the mushroom increased 2–5 times by adding the mineral in the growth substrate. However, the time of harvest did not influence the accumulation of Li in the mushrooms. Fig. 1 shows the linear increase of Li concentration in the mushrooms as a function Resminostat of increasing the concentrations of Li chloride added to the growth substrate (P < 0.05). Li found in enriched mushrooms was associated with the water-soluble fraction, followed by the reducible, exchangeable and soluble acid fraction, whereas the Li in the non-enriched mushrooms was totally from the water-soluble fraction. However, all of the recovered Li from the

drug Li2CO3 was present in the residual fraction, which is not considered bioavailable (Fig. 2). From the six recovered fractions after the extraction steps, only 3.81% was obtained from the non-enriched mushrooms, 45% from the mushrooms enriched with 500 mg kg−1 LiCl and only 0.02% from the drug Li2CO3, which represents a very low percentage of Li compared to the enriched and non-enriched mushrooms. The percentage of digested Li that was obtained after the simulation in vitro gastrointestinal digestion of the mushrooms enriched with 500 mg kg−1 was higher than that observed for the non-enriched mushrooms ( Table 3). In this simulation no Li was detected after digestion of the psychiatric drug containing Li2CO3 ( Table 3). Although many metals are essential for the growth and metabolism of fungi, they can be toxic when present above certain concentrations. Metals that have no known biological functions, such as Pb, Cd, Hg and Li, can also accumulate and be toxic (Gadd, 2007).