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Published on: June 14, 2016
Chemical components in cultivated Cordyceps sinensis and their effects on fibrosis
Zhonghua Dong1, Xiao Sun2,3,4,5
1Department of Clinical Pharmacy, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Provincial Qianfoshan Hospital, Shandong Engineering and Technology Research Center for Pediatric Drug Development, Shandong Medicine and Health Key Laboratory of Clinical Pharmacy, Jinan 250014, China.
Objective:
Cultivated Cordyceps sinensis powder has been used as clinical drug and healthy food to nourish the lung and kidney, which solves the problem of serious shortage of wild C. sinensis. This study aims to explore the chemical components and compared their anti-fibrotic effects in cultivated C. sinensis.
Methods:
Nucleosides, sterols and polysaccharides were separated and purified from cultivated C. sinensis, and analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and chemical chromogenic methods, respectively. In high glucose-induced rat mesangial cell models, fibronectin and type 1 collagen were used as evaluation indicators.
Results:
There were 10 kinds of nucleosides and one sterol in cultivated C. sinensis. The contents of nucleosides, sterols and polysaccharides in the cultivated C. sinensis were close to 2%, 0.55% and 4.4%, respectively. Furthermore, nucleoside, sterol and polysaccharide components exhibited varying degrees of anti-fibrotic activity. The nucleoside components and sterol components inhibited the expression of extracellular matrix more effectively in the three main components.
Conclusion:
Cultivated C. sinensis remains the similar compounds with the wild C. sinensis, and nucleosides and sterols may be the main active substances that contribute to its anti-fibrotic effects. The project of this study may provide valuable information on further optimization of more effective remedies with few side effects based on cultivated C. sinensis.
