Anti-fatigue property of Cordyceps guangdongensis and the underlying mechanisms.
BACKGROUND
Cordyceps guangdongensis T.H. Li, Q.Y. Lin & B. Song (Cordycipitaceae) is a nontoxic folk medicine and can be cultivated, with noticeable effects of anti-H9N2, life-prolonging and treating chronic renal failure.


OBJECTIVE
The anti-fatigue effect of C. guangdongensis, possible mechanism and active constituent were investigated.


METHODS
Treatment mice were treated with C. guangdongensis powder (0.455, 0.91 and 1.82 g/kg bw daily for low, middle and high doses, respectively); treatment rats were fed, respectively, with ethanol, petroleum ether, ethyl acetate, n-butanol, aqueous phase and hot water extract fractions, for 30 d. Forced swimming time to exhaustion, blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and hepatic glycogen (HG) levels of mice and blood lactic acid (BLC) levels of rats were determined.


RESULTS
The swimming times to exhaustion of mice were very significantly (p < 0.01) longer in low-, middle- and high-dose groups (respectively 1.87-, 1.94- and 1.88-times), and significantly (p < 0.05) longer in the n-butanol fraction group (1.52-times), hot water extract group (1.88- times) and refined polysaccharide group (2.66-times) than in blank control; the BLC levels of rats were significantly (p < 0.05) lower in the ethyl alcohol partition group (84.8%), the n-butanol fraction group (84.0%) and the hot water extract group (84.4 %) than in blank. The BUN and HG levels were not significantly different.


CONCLUSIONS
Cordyceps guangdongensis can potently alleviate fatigue through reducing the accumulation of BLC; a functional constituent was the refined polysaccharide. This might become a new functional food for fatigue resistance.
Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Microbial Culture Collection and Application, Guangdong Open Laboratory of Applied Microbiology and State Key Laboratory of Applied Microbiology (Ministry - Guangdong Province Jointly Breeding Base), South China, Guangdong Institute of Microbiology , Guangzhou , China.
Wenjuan
W
Yan
Taihui
T
Li
Jinghui
J
Lao
Bin
B
Song
Yaheng
Y
Shen
D000818:Animals; D001806:Blood Urea Nitrogen; D032661:Cordyceps / Q000737:chemistry*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005221:Fatigue / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D008112:Liver Glycogen / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008519:Medicine, Traditional / Q000379:methods; D051379:Mice; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry; D013550:Swimming; D013997:Time Factors
D008112:Liver Glycogen; D010936:Plant Extracts; D012997:Solvents; D019344:Lactic Acid