GC-MS determination of sterols in dried morel mushrooms | Poster Board #1323

In this paper we report that commercially procured dried morel (Morchella) mushrooms have substantially similar sterol profiles to those reported previously for fresh morels with both types containing significant proportions of ergosterol 1 (17-33%), brassicasterol 2 (38-61%), and campesterol 3 (4-8%) as well as a number of other sterols (4-11). However, we only detected trace amounts (<0.5%) of two sterols reported in significant amounts (2-4%) in fresh morels, ergosta-5,7-dienol 4 and ergosta-7-enol 5,. A previously unidentified sterol reported in relatively high amounts (5-16%) in fresh morels was also detected (4-26%) and identified as 24-methylenecholesterol 6. Furthermore, five other previously unidentified morel sterols were identified as ergosta-5,22,24(28)-trienol 7, episterol 8, epiergosterol 9, ergosta-5,7,9(11),24(28)-tetraenol 10, and ergosta-5,7,9(11),22-tetraenol 11. The amount of the extremely rare sterol 7 was highly variable (mean = 4.0%, σ = 4.2, n = 30) and its presence in larger relative concentrations (6-11%) was associated with samples described as “sun dried” or as “burn” morels.