## 3 Results and Discussion
### Antioxidant Activity  
The inhibition of free radicals by _F. antarctica_ extracts showed a decreasing trend in the following order: freeze-dried samples (with the best percent inhibition activity in the \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Mushroom**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Drying Methods**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Reduction in TPC (\%)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Reduction in Antioxidant Activity (\%) (Compared to Fresh Frozen)**} \\ \cline{3-3} \cline{5-7}  & & & & & \(\mathrm{t\,24}\) & \(\mathrm{t\,48}\) \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{_F. antarctica_} & 50 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 36.57 & 21.00 & 31.52 & 43.33 & nd & nd \\  & 60 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 29.76 & 11.31 & 29.80 & 23.59 & nd & nd \\  & 70 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 39.47 & 28.46 & 64.73 & 42.85 & nd & nd \\  & Freeze-dried & nrd & nrd & 37.03 & 9.60 & 4.25 & 19.34 \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{_R. patagonica_} & 50 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 35.45 & 8.34 & 18.18 & 25.67 & 11.41 & 17.38 \\  & 60 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 7.51 & 7.51 & 16.84 & 0.49 & 4.73 & 13.64 \\ \cline{1-1}  & 70 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 24.83 & 6.26 & 17.86 & 9.23 & 15.28 & 15.67 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Freeze-dried & 28.82 & 9.11 & 16.99 & 1.57 & 5.33 & nrd \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Antioxidant activity in fresh frozen, dried, and freeze-dried samples. Different letters indicate significant differences (_p_ < 0.05). nd = not detected. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline \multirow{2}{*}{**Mushroom**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Drying Methods**} & \multicolumn{2}{c}{**Reduction in TPC (\%)**} & \multirow{2}{*}{**Reduction in Antioxidant Activity (\%) (Compared to Fresh Frozen)**} \\ \cline{3-3} \cline{5-7}  & & & & & \(\mathrm{t\,24}\) & \(\mathrm{t\,48}\) \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{_F. antarctica_} & 50 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 36.57 & 21.00 & 31.52 & 43.33 & nd & nd \\  & 60 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 29.76 & 11.31 & 29.80 & 23.59 & nd & nd \\  & 70 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 39.47 & 28.46 & 64.73 & 42.85 & nd & nd \\  & Freeze-dried & nrd & nrd & 37.03 & 9.60 & 4.25 & 19.34 \\ \hline \multirow{5}{*}{_R. patagonica_} & 50 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 35.45 & 8.34 & 18.18 & 25.67 & 11.41 & 17.38 \\  & 60 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 7.51 & 7.51 & 16.84 & 0.49 & 4.73 & 13.64 \\ \cline{1-1}  & 70 \(\mathrm{\SIUnitSymbolMicro C}\) & 24.83 & 6.26 & 17.86 & 9.23 & 15.28 & 15.67 \\ \cline{1-1}  & Freeze-dried & 28.82 & 9.11 & 16.99 & 1.57 & 5.33 & nrd \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 3: Percentage of loss of TPC and antioxidant activity for the different drying methods. nd = not detected. ABTS and ILP assays, at 82.35 \(\pm\) 0.11% and 82.35 \(\pm\) 0.11% at 48 h, respectively), fresh-frozen samples (with the best percent inhibition activity in DPPH and FRAP assays, at 68.94 \(\pm\) 1.99% and 43.01 \(\pm\) 0.21%, respectively), and samples that were heat-dried. In the ILP assay, no activity was detected for any of the dried _F. antarctica_ samples. In _R. patagonica_, the samples produced by the fresh-freezing, freeze-drying, and 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C methods showed the best inhibition of free radicals (in all assays: 99.03 \(\pm\) 0.87% for ABTS, 99.31 \(\pm\) 4.23% for DPPH RSA, 98.08 \(\pm\) 0.70% for FRAP, and 99.03 \(\pm\) 0.87% for ILP for fresh-frozen samples; 90.01 \(\pm\) 1.16% for ABTS, 82.43 \(\pm\) 0.44% for DPPH RSA, 96.54 \(\pm\) 2.06% for FRAP, and 99.55 \(\pm\) 1.20% for ILP for freeze-dried samples; and 91.59 \(\pm\) 1.83% for ABTS, 82.58 \(\pm\) 0.66% for DPPH RSA, 97.60 \(\pm\) 2.28% for FRAP, and 85.52 \(\pm\) 1.20% for ILP for the 60 \({}^{\circ}\)C air-dried samples) in comparison with the other hot-air-dry methods (Table 2). The antioxidant activity of the methanolic extract of the two analyzed mushroom species were evaluated using different antioxidant activity assays because no single method can provide a complete overall evaluation [39].