• The Korean Journal of Mycology
• /
• v.21 no.2
• /
• pp.94-105
• /
• 1993

The genus Cordyceps known as an insect parasite forms a sclerotium in insect bodies and then produces perithecia on the single or multiple stromata produced from sclerotium. Collected Cordyceps were identified into 5 species: Cordyceps militaris, C. nutans, Cordyceps sphecocephala, Isaria japonica, and Torrubiella sp. The fruit bodies of Cordyceps in petri-dish cover were fixed by tape and put the lid on water agar plates to isolate these collected Cordyceps. The germinated spores were transferred from water agar to Potato dextrose agar(PDA) after six hours. Mycelial growth of C. nutans and C. militaris was the most successful on Hamada media and was also good on Complete media and PDA. Mannose as a carbon source was good for two species and Glutamic acid as a nitrogen source was satisfactory to C. militaris and Asparagine gave a good result to C. nutans. C. militaris and C. nutans showed similar mycelial growth rate on the media that contained thiamine-HCI, biotine or nicotinic acid as a vitamine. When conidia of C. nutans were inoculated to insects, mortality was high in Artogeia napi L, Hemiptera, Plutella xylostella and 50% in Orthoptera, 12% in Acantholyda posticalise M, but not Agelastica coerulea B. in Aphididae, C. nutans was collected from only Hemiptera in nature, but killing effect on other insects was proved. Mycelial growth and fruit-body formation were good on the media that consist of rice powder 5g, wheat flour 5g, water 100ml, but formed fruit-body was not complete stromata but a mass of conidia according to results of observing microscope.

• Food Science and Preservation
• /
• v.9 no.1
• /
• pp.109-113
• /
• 2002

The purpose of this study was to investigate antioxidative and nitrite scavenging activities of extracts of Cordyceps militaris. Fruiting body and mycelia of artificially cultivated Cordyceps militaris were extracted with water and 70% ethanol. In Cordyceps militaris mycelia, electron donating ability (EDA) of water extract ranged from 37% to 47% and ethanol extract ranged from 57% to 70% at 300∼1,000 ppm. In Cordyceps militaris fruiting body, EDA of water extract and ethanol extract were similar, ranged from 19% to 48% at 300-1,000 ppm. Nitrite scavenging ability (NSA) of extracts measured at various pH (1.2, 3.0, 4.2, 6.0) was the highest at pH 1.2 and decreased with increasing pH, suggesting it is pH dependent. In Cordyceps militaris mycelia, NSA of water extract 1,000 ppm was 23% and that of ethanol extract 1,000 ppm was 37% at pH 17. In Cordyceps militaris fruiting body, NSA of water extract 1,000 ppd was 12% and that of ethanol extract 1,000 ppm was 37% at pH 1.2. EDA and NSA of Cordyceps milituis were higher in extract of mycelia than fruiting beds and higher in ethanol extract than water extract of each part.

• Journal of Mushroom
• /
• v.2 no.3
• /
• pp.140-144
• /
• 2004

Traditionally, Cordyceps species have been used as a part of herbal medicine in Oriental countries, including Korea for internal health, vigor and to cure different diseases related to heart, lung etc. In recent years, research on artificial fruiting of some species of the genus Cordyceps including C. militaris has been carried out extensively because of their medicinal value. Instability observed in the in vitro fruiting of C. militaris is reported in the present study.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
• /
• v.34 no.2
• /
• pp.158-161
• /
• 2005

We have isolated fractions from Cordyceps militaris and Paecilomyces japonica and investigated their effects on the activity of rat liver cytosolic glucokinase, a key metabolic enzyme involved in carbohydrate metabolism. The dried powder of the C. militaris and P. japonica were successively extracted with ethanol and with 70% ethanol. The residue was exhaustively extracted with hot water. The extract was dialyzed against water, and to the non-dialyzable solution was added 2 volumes of ethanol. The precipitate was collected by centrifugation dispered in water, and lyophilized to afford fraction A. The residue after hot-water extraction was suspended in 5% sodium carbonate. The final residue was suspended in 5% NaOH. The alkaline suspension was purified in a similar manner as described above to afford fraction B. Hepatic glucokinase activities of the fraction A extracted from C. militaris and P. japonica were 371.4 and 379%, respectively. The fraction B was 314.2 and 147.4%. The activity of fraction B of C. militaris extracts was higher than that of P. japonica. Liver cytosolic glucokinase activity of rats fed normal diet supplemented with 0.1% C. militaris was 1316%. In conclusion, the present study has demonstrated that C. militaris extracts were able to prevent sudden postprandial peaks in blood glucose as a result of a marked increase in the liver cytosolic glucokinase activities.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.226-231
• /
• 2012

The effect of cordycepin-enriched Cordyceps militaris JLM 0636 ($CM{\alpha}$) and Cordyceps militaris (CM) on fibrinolytic activity was investigated. The bioactive compounds and nutritional materials such as polyphenolic compounds, flavonoids, glutathione, minerals, and fatty acids were also measured. Concentrations of polyphenol compounds, flavonoids, and glutathione were higher in $CM{\alpha}$ than that in CM. The major minerals of both materials were K, Ca, Mg, and Na. The major fatty acids of both materials were linolenic acid, linoleic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid. Fibrinolytic activity was higher in $CM{\alpha}$ than that in CM. These results may provide the basic data to understand the fibrinolytic activity and bioactive compounds of $CM{\alpha}$.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
• /
• v.22 no.3
• /
• pp.341-346
• /
• 2013

The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of Cordyceps militaris extract supplementation on the improvement of blood glucose, lipid compositions and hepatic functional enzyme activities in the serum of streptozotocin(STZ, 50 mg/kg BW, IP injection)-induced diabetic rats fed the experimental diets for 5 weeks. The concentrations of blood glucose and lipid compositions(total cholesterol, ${\beta}$-lipoprotein, free cholesterol, cholesteryl ester, triglyceride and phospholipid) and atherosclerotic index in serum were significantly lower in the DM+CM group than in the DM group, whereas the ratio of HDL-cholesterol concentration to total cholesterol in the DM+CM group were higher than in the DM group. The activities of hepatic functional enzymes(aminotransferase, LDH and ALP) in serum were lower in the Cordyceps militaris extract administration group(group DM+CM) than in the hyperglycemic DM group. The results shown above suggested that Cordyceps militaris extract supplementation effectively improves blood glucose and atherosclerosis in the serum of diabetic rats.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
• /
• v.34 no.3
• /
• pp.265-270
• /
• 2001

The effects of Cordyceps militaris on the weight gain, the food intake, the food efficient ratio, and the lipid concentrations of serum, liver, pancreas, heart and aorta in male rats fed cholesterol diet were studied. Male Sprague-Dawley rats were received 4 types of diets for 4 weeks, respectively : a normal diet(without cholesterol), a control diet(hypercholesterolemic diet), a hypercholesterolemic diet supplemented with 3% fruiting body of Cordyceps militaris(CF), a hypercholesterolemic diet supplemented with 3% mycelium of Cordyceps militaris(CM). The body weight gain of rats fed the control diet were significantly increased compared to those of the rats fed diets with CF or CM. But, the hepatic and pancreatic weights of rats fed diets with CF or CM were heavier than those of rats fed the normal diet. In serum of rats fed the CM diet, the concentrations of total cholesterol, triglyceride, LDL-cholesterol and the atherogenic index were significantly lower than those of rats fed the control diet. Also, serum HDL-cholesterol concentration and HDL-cholesterol/total cholesterol ratio were significantly lower in rats fed the control, CF or CM diets than those in rats fed the normal diet. Whereas, the hepatic concentrations of the total lipid, the total cholesterol and the triglyceride were significantly higher in rats fed 3 hypercholesterolemic diets than those in the rats fed normal diet. The heart and pancreatic concentrations of total cholesterol were the highest in the rats fed diet with the CR among rats fed experimental diets. In conclusion, the CM feeding decreased the concentrations of the cholesterol, triglyceride, and LDL-cholesterol and the atherogenic index in the serum of the rats. But the CF or CM feeding could not decrease the hepatic concentrations of the total lipid, cholesterol, triglyceride in the rats fed hypercholesterolemic diets. (Korean J Nutrition 34(3) : 265∼270, 2001)

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Culture
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.217-222
• /
• 2004

Feeding effects of Cordyceps militaris extract powder in rats were as follows. Triglyceride content was appeared a superior decreasing effect, total cholesterol and phospholipid content were showed relatively low decreasing effect. At this time, 3%(w/w) level of Cordyceps militaris extract powder contents was most effective to decrease these lipids content. As increasing the treating amount of Cordyceps militaris extract powder, the level of plasma glucose was decreased. But these decreasing ratio was not proportioned to the increased treating amount directly. The change of insulin level on plasma, pancreas and femur was proportioned to the plasma glucose concentration also. The Treating amount of Cordyceps militaris extract powder was very close to the decreased ratio of insulin level.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.8 no.5
• /
• pp.536-539
• /
• 1998

The anti-complementary activity (immuno-stimulating activity) was tested for the exo-polymers (extra-cellular polymer) produced from submerged mycelial cultures of 21 types of higher fungi. Anti-complementary activity of the exo-polymer from Cordyceps militaris showed the highest (69.0%) followed by Pleurotus ostreatus (63.7%) and Trametes suaveolens (61.4%). The mycelial growth rate and biomass doubling time of C. militaris in a 5 I air-lift fermenter were 0.0255 $h^{-1}$ and 27.2 h, respectively. The yield of the exo-polymer produced from the culture broth of C. militaris was 2.95 mg of dry weight/ml of culture broth. Sugar and amino acid compositions of this exo-polymer were analyzed.

• Mycobiology
• /
• v.33 no.2
• /
• pp.69-76
• /
• 2005

Conidial development of Cordyceps militaris was observed from germinating ascospores and vegetative hyphae through light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Ascospores were discharged from fresh specimens of C. militaris in sterile water as well as Sabouraud Dextrose agar plus Yeast Extract (SDAY) plates. We observed ascospore germination and conidial formation periodically. Under submerged condition in sterile water, most part-spores germinated unidirectionally and conidia were developed directly from the tips of germinating hyphae of part-spores within 36 h after ascospore discharge, showing microcyclic conidiation. First-formed conidia were cylindrical or clavate followed by globose and ellipsoidal ones. Germination of ascospores and conidial development were observed on SDAY agar by SEM. Slimy heads of conidia on variously arranged phialides, from solitary to whorl, developed 5 days after ascospore discharge. Besides, two distinct types of conidia, elongated pyriform or cylindrical and globose, were observed in the same slimy heads by SEM. Conidia were shown to be uninucleate with 4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining. Conidiogenous cells were more slender than vegetative hyphae, having attenuated tips. Microcyclic conidiation, undifferentiated conidiogenous hyphae (phialides), polymorphic conidia and solitary, opposite to whorled type of phialidic arrangement are reported here as the characteristic features of asexual stage of C. militaris, which can be distinguished from other Cordyceps species.