The Pharmacological Effects Of Cordyceps Sinensis From Different Origins

Cordyceps sinensis, a traditional Chinese medicine, is well known and has been widely used in Asian countries since the fifteenth century. It contains many valuable medicinal components which have defined by modern pharmacological science. Cordyceps sinensis only appears on High-altitude area,like the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. As we all know,different origins, seasons,medicinal parts and other factors have great influence on the quality of traditional Chinese medicine. Therefore, this article selected cordyceps sinensis from two different regions(qinghai and Tibet) as the research object and compare their pharmacological effects,which include the content of nucleosides, heavy metals, and chemical speciation of heavy metals in Cordyceps Sinensis,the protective effects of liver injury induced by Carbon Tetrachloride(CCL4),renal damage induced by gentamicin in rats,and enhancing the immune response in mice.Objective: In order to provide a reference for further research on the toxicity, biological effectiveness and absorption of heavy metals in body,we researched the chemical speciation of four kinds of heavy metal including lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium in cordyceps sinensis. Meanwhile, compare the differences between cordyceps from qinghai and cordyceps from tibet in many aspects,such as the content difference of nucleoside,cordycepin and heavy metals, the protective effects of liver injury caused by CCL4,kidney damage model established by gentamicin in rat, and influence on immune response of C57 BL / 6 mice. Then,comprehensive evaluating the quality of Cordyceps from two different origins,and selecting out the better one. Moreover,these will provide a scientific basis for the selection of raw herbs and make contributions to further development of Cordyceps sinensis.Methods:We analyzed the content of nucleosides and cordycepin in cordyceps sinensis by HPLC. We determinated the content of lead and cadmium by atomic absorption spectrophotometry, arsenic by hydride atomic fluorescence spectrophotometry and mercury by atomic fluorescence spectrometry for the determination of content of heavy metals.Sequential extraction Procedure combined with atomic absorption and atomic fluorescence spectrometry has been applied to analyze the chemical speciation and content of heavy metals including lead, arsenic, mercury and cadmium in cordyceps sinensis.Then, studied the protective effect of Cordyceps from two different origins on animal models of acute liver damage induced by CCL4 and kidney damage established by gentamicin,respectively.There were 8 groups per experiment and rats were divided into control group, model group,low, medium and high dose groups of Qinghai and Tibet Cordyceps.Finally,this paper made a research of cordyceps from two different origins on influence of cellular immunity,humoral immunity, mononuclear macrophage function and NK cell activity in C57 BL / 6mice.Results:HPLC method could determinated the content of adenosine, uridine, guanosine,inosine, uracil, and cordycep in cordyceps sinensis,simultaneously. The content of lead,cadmium, arsenic, mercury in Tibet cordyceps was 0.076, 0.061, 0.38, 0.0062 mg·kg-1 and0.46, 0.079, 5.9, 0.24 mg·kg-1 in Qinghai cordyceps, respectively. The results revealed that Pb was given priority to HCL extractable form;As mainly existed in the form of residue,followed by ethanol and deionized water extractable forms; Hg was mainly residue form;the content of Cd was very low,and existed in the form of Na CL extractable form.Compared with model group, the levels of AST and ALT in serum significantly reduced,SOD and GSH of liver tissue increased markedly, and liver cells necrosis were improved for all of low, medium and high dose groups of Cordyceps Sinensis from different origins(P<0.05),but the difference between two different habitats were not significant(P> 0.05).Similarly,Compared with model group, the levels of BUN and Scr in serum and NAG enzyme, urine total protein in urine were significantly reduced,and kidney cells necrosis were improved for all of low, medium and high dose groups of Cordyceps Sinensis from different origins(P <0.05),but the difference between two different habitats were not significant(P> 0.05).In addition,The middle and high dose group of Two different origins cordyceps could significantly enhance the ability of spleen lymphocyte proliferation induced by Con A,carbon clearance and peritoneal macrophages Swallow fluorescent microspheres, as well as the activity of NK cells.Furthermore,the difference was significant(P <0.05)when compared with normal control group. Additionally, the medium dose group of both origins cordyceps obviously increased the number of antibody-producing cells in mice.However,the high dose group showed out inhibition phenomena(P < 0.05).The middle and high dose group of Qinghai cordyceps significantly improved DTH in mice while Tibet cordyceps sinensis had no obvious effect,and there existed significant difference(P < 0.05)between the high dose group of Qinghai and three dose groups of Tibet Cordyceps sinensis.In addition, The middle and high dose group of Qinghai and high dose group of Tibet Cordyceps sinensis significantly increased level of serum hemolysin in mice(P <0.05),and the differences of corresponding medium and high doses of two origins were significant(P < 0.05).Conclusion: The content of nucleoside and cordycepin in cordyceps sinensis, and the content and mainly chemical speciation of four heavy metals in Cordyceps had many differences.Both the two different regions of cordyceps sinensis had certain protective effects on acute liver injury caused by CCL4 and acute kidney injury induced by gentamicin in rats,and significantly improved the immune response of mice compared with the control group.However,the pharmacological effect between the two origins was roughly equivalent and had no significant difference.