Planta Med 2010; 76 - P91
DOI: 10.1055/s-0030-1251853

Sulfated Modification of the Water-soluble Polysaccharides from Cordyceps gunnii (berk.) Berk. Mycelium and their Potential Biological Activities

ZY Zhu 1, 2, CL Si 1, 2, 3, J Yuan 1, J Xu 3, Y Zhang 3, L Wu 3, YM Zhang 4
  • 1Key Laboratory of Food Nutrition and Safety, Ministry of Education, College of Food Science and Biotechnology, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China
  • 2State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, Peking University, Beijing 100191, China
  • 3Tianjin Key Laboratory of Pulp & Paper, College of Material Science and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Science and Technology, Tianjin 300457, China
  • 4Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Paris 6, Laboratoire de Chimie Organique (UMR CNRS 7611), Tour 44/45, C. 181, 4 place Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France

Cordyceps sinensis (C. sinensis) is a well known tonic food or invigorant with broad-spectrum medicinal properties that is widely used in China [1–2]. Cordyceps gunnii (berk.) Berk (C. gunnii), is also widely known as the Chinese rare caterpillar fungus and has similar pharmacological activities to C. sinensis. A water-soluble polysaccharide CPS50-I was extracted from the mycelia of C. gunnii. Chemically sulfated polysaccharides were derived from the water-soluble polysaccharide by chlorosulfonic acid-pyridine method. Their characteristics were determined by chemical analysis, gas chromatography and IR spectroscopy. Their antitumor activities were compared by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. The results showed that when the degrees of sulfation (DS) are within the scope of 1.2 to 1.5, the sulfated derivatives exhibited relatively strong antitumor activity in vitro. Acknowledgements: Financial support from Natural Science Foundation of Tianjin City (09JCZDJC21800, 08ZCGHHZ00800, 09JCYBJC15800). Reference: [1] Hou AI, et al. (2008) Chem Res Chinese U 24(5): 584–587. [2] Wang BJ, et al. (2003) Chem Res Chinese U 19(1): 37–34.