Botanical source: Cordyceps militaris(L.Exfr) Link

Color: light yellow powder

Particle Size: NLT 95% through 100 mesh

Cordycepin: NLT3.0% HPLC

Key words: Cordyceps militaris, Cordyceps, Cordycepin, dong chong xia cao, north Chinese caterpillar fungus, Troopin cordyceps

Title: Cordyceps militaris, Cordyceps, Cordycepin, cordyceps sinensis, Cordyceps Mushroom,

Two species of cordyceps mushroom most widely used and valued in traditional Asian medical practice are Cordyceps sinensis and Cordyceps militaris. Although Cordyceps sinensis may be the most famous and expensive fungus, it is comparatively rare and cannot be easily grown in culture whereas Cordyceps militaris is the most successfully cultivated species. 

 

Cordyceps militaris (an entomopathogenic fungus), is one of the most important medicinal mushrooms, belonging to the class Ascomycetes, has been used popularly as a crude drug and a folk tonic food in East Asia. It possesses many kinds of active components (such as cordycepin, polysaccharides, ergosterol,mannitol, 3'-deoxyadenosine, cordycepic acid, and aurantiamides named cordyceamides A and B), and due to its several physiological activities, it is currently using for multiple medicinal purposes.

 

The main nucleosides include thymine, adenine, adenosine and cordycepin. The main active constituent of cordyceps militaris fruiting bodies is cordycepin, which was first extracted from Cordyceps militaris and then found to be present in Cordyceps sinensis and Cordyceps kyushuensis. The cordycepin, a nucleoside analogue, is considered as a nucleic acid antibiotic that might inhibit canceration of cells and thus contribute to the normalization of cancer cells as one of constituents of gene DNA.

Cordyceps militaris has been found to contain proteins, vitamins A, B1, B3, B6, B12, as well as zinc, copper, selenium, cordycepin, cordycepic acid, polysaccharides, superoxide dismurse, etc. There are many medical values as anticancer agent, antioxidant, improvement of sperm production, anti-influenza virus, etc.

Cordycepin (3′-deoxyadenosine) exhibits antimicrobial, anticancer, antimetastatic, immunomodulatory and insecticidal effects, and is one of the most important bioactive anticancer agents found in Cordyceps species (summer grass-winter worm). However, due to the requirements of specific hosts and strict growth environments, Cordyceps militaris is very scarce in nature. Therefore, the production of the anticancer agent cordycepin from Cordyceps militaris in a large scale is currently an acute issue that might be solved by a repeated batch operation of surface liquid culture

The present study shows that the CM supplement increased the total sperm number, the percentage of motile sperm cells and normal morphology in subfertile adult boars. The beneficial effect of CM supplement continued after stopping the supplement for 2 weeks. Since plasma concentration of cordycepin was increased by the supplementation with CM mycelium, it is suggested that cordycepin might be responsible for the increased semen production and sperm quality in boars.

A cytotoxic antifungal protease was purified from the dried fruiting bodies of C. militaris using anion-exchange chromatography on a DEAE-Sepharose column. Electrophoretic analyses indicated that this protein, designated C. militaris protein (CMP), has a molecular mass of 12 kDa and a pI of 5.1. The optimum conditions for protease activity were a temperature of 37oC and pH of 7.0 -9.0. The enzyme activity was specifically inhibited by the serine protease inhibitor phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride. Amino acid composition of intact CMP and amino acid sequences of three major peptides from a tryptic digest of CMP were determined. CMP exerted strong antifungal effect against the growth of the fungus Fusariumoxysporum, and exhibited cytotoxicity against human breast and bladder cancer cellsCordycepin for liver function

Following are results of fundamental studies of Cordycepin.

•Anti-viral:Inhibits the replication of western equine encephalitis virus, herpes simplex virus , and influenza virus.

•Anti-bacterial:Inhibits growth of Clostridium spp. without adverse effects on the growth of Bifidobacterium spp..

•Anti-fungal:  Inhibits Candida albicans and Candida krusei .

•Immune-regulatory:Up-regulates Interleukin-10 production and inhibits Interleukin-2 production.

•Apoptotic:Induces apoptosis in ADA-inhibited TdT-positive leukemia cells .

•Radiation damage enhancement:Inhibits the repair of X-ray induced DNA damage