Effects of fermented Asterina pectinifera using Cordyceps militaris mycelia on antioxidant

Cordyceps militaris is a species of fungus in the family Clavicipitaceae, and the type species of the genus Cordyceps. The medicinal mushroom (Cordyceps species) is an abundant source of useful natural products with various biological activities. Asterina pectinifera (A. pectinifera) is a species of starfish in the family Asterinidae. It is found in the northern Pacific Ocean along the coasts of Korea, Japan, China and Russia. It is used as a model organism in developmental biology. The advantages it has for this purpose are that it is common, easy to collect, and easy to maintain in the laboratory. In this study, A. pectinifera was fermented with Cordyceps militaris (C. militaris) mycelia at solid-state. The various radical scavenging activities of the extracts from fermented A. pectinifera (APCM) were evaluated by electron spin resonance (ESR). The antioxidant activities of the extracts of APCM were also determined based on the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), 2, 2'-azinobis-(3-ethybenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radical scavenging activity. The free radical scavenging activity and the antioxidative effects of APCM extracts were higher than A. pectinifera or C. militaris mycelia alone. These results indicate that APCM extracts have different chemical ingredients from the A. pectinifera and might provide beneficial antioxidant activity. The APCM extracts could be suitable as an antioxidant in the food industry.