Antrodia cinnamomea has commercially been used in the formulation of nutraceuticals and functional foods. A. cinnamomea was fed exogenous sterols including squalene, cholesterol, and stigmasterol to enhance its triterpenoid content. Four triterpenoids were identified in A. cinnamomea, namely dehydrosulphurenic acid (De-sul), zhankuic acid A (ZaA), 15 alpha-acetyl-dehydrosulphurenic acid (15 alpha) and dehydroeburicoic acid (De-eb), and one polyphenyl compound, 4,7-dimethoxy-5-methyl-1,3-benzodioxole (4,7-D). Maximum ZaA and 15 contents of 2.84 and 48.07 mu g/mg dry weight, respectively were achieved by 100 mu M squalene-feeding, and maximum De-sul and De-eb contents of 69.08 and 47.91 mu g/mg dry weight were achieved by 10 and 100 mu M stigmasterol-feeding, respectively. To study the anti-inflammatory potential of A. cinnamomea, lipopolysaccharide-induced nitric oxide (NO) production, NADPH oxidase (NOX), inducible NO synthetase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression in murine microglial cells, BV-2, were evaluated. ZaA and 50 mu M squalene-feeding of A. cinnamomea inhibited LPS-induced NO, iNOS and COX-2 expression in BV-2 cells. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.