Composition and Antitumor Activity of the Mycelia and Fruiting Bodies of Cordyceps militaris

Cordyceps militaris contains many kinds of bioactive components with the various physiological activities, but has less natural sources of fruiting bodies. Compared with the fruiting bodies from the same origin, the fermented mycelia contained significantly higher amount of protein, crude fat and polysaccharides. The mycelia had more amount of the total amino acids, with proline (3.84 ± 0.12 g 100g), leucine (2.96 ± 0.10 g 100g), and aspartic acid (2.68 ± 0.06 g 100g) as the top three aboundant amino acids, while glutamic acid (3.56 ± 0.07 g 100g ), aspartic acid (2.52 ± 0.13 g 100g), and valine (2.35 ± 0.11 g 100g) in fruiting bodies. The tested minerals in the mycelia were much more than those in fruiting bodies, especially Selenium which was nondetectable in fruiting bodies. However, the mycelia had lower level of cordycepin and mannitol. The mycelia also exhibited higher antitumor activity against six tested human cancer cell lines, with the range of IC50 (μg ml) from 25.03 ± 1.37 to 39.81 ± 0.54. In the animal test for liver cancer cell Hep G2, even high-dose treatment (250 mg kg-1 BW/day) of the extract of the mycelia inhibited the growth of tumor by only 27.6%, significantly lower than the positive control, CTX (30 mg kg BW/day), but had no influence on body weight. The results confirm the potential of cultivated mycelia to be a good substitute of natural products.